New hi-tech bionic hand helps amputee Tabitha Mullings get her life back

BY John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, April 5th 2010, 4:00 AM

A Brooklyn mom's struggle to reclaim a normal life after a medical nightmare left her a quadruple amputee now has the ability to applaud her own progress.

Tabitha Mullings, 33, has been fitted with two prosthetic hands, one a bionic limb allowing her to turn doorknobs and hold her fiancé's hand.

"I miss that," said Mullings, who is now able to wear the engagement ring that her 36-year-old fiancé, Kahseem (Moe) Davis, gave her. "It will be more like a couple."

Mullings, who has been walking with prosthetic legs for more than a year, was fitted with two hands last week by technicians at Ortho Remedy Inc. in Cliffside Park, N.J.

Her left hand is a high-tech robotic device she controls by flexing the muscles in her arm. Sensors deliver electric impulses that activate the motorized hand, enabling her to do tasks that in her darkest days she feared she'd never do again.

Demonstrating, Mullings picked up a glass of iced tea and drank from it, admitting to some trepidation.

"It's like a mental game," she said, sweat beading on her face. "I'm afraid if I think, 'Open hand,' I'm going to let the glass fall. I don't have feeling in the hand, so that's what gets me nervous."

For now, the right hand is a cosmetic, flesh-colored limb that fits over the arm stump.

"I look at myself in the mirror now, and I think people will look at me, not my missing hands," Mullings said as her fluffy poodle, Powder, licked her robotic fingers.

"He's very protective of me," she said of the pooch.

The Daily News has chronicled the ups and downs of Mullings' 18-month recovery.

Her ordeal began in September 2008, when she went to Brooklyn Hospital Center for pain and was misdiagnosed with kidney stones.

Just days after doctors sent her home, she developed a sepsis infection that lapsed into gangrene, destroyed her limbs and robbed her left eye of sight.

Lengthening the delay in getting a correct diagnosis were city ambulance medics who twice refused to take her back to the hospital after she called 911 in agonizing pain, she said.

Mullings said her resiliency has been fueled by her determination to be an able mother to her three sons - Charles, 15, Enrique, 14, and Matthew, 10.

"This courageous woman sets an example for all of us, how to deal with adversity," said her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.



From: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/04/05/2010-04-05_new_hitech_hand_helps_bklyn_amputee_get_life_back_shes_bionic_mom.html

Dogs 'killed 20 ewes and lambs' in Shropshire

Last updated at 11:44 GMT, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 12:44 UK

Two large dogs are believed to have mauled to death more than 20 ewes and lambs on neighbouring Shropshire farms.

A Chelmarsh farmer found two chocolate brown dogs, possibly Labrador-cross or bull terrier crosses, squaring up to a sheep on Sunday evening, police said.

He discovered four ewes and one lamb had been killed.

Between Sunday evening and about 1200 BST on Monday up to 20 more ewes and lambs had been mauled to death on a farm in Billingsley.

Seen roaming

The Chelmarsh farmer also found two more ewes badly mauled but still alive.

Police believe the same two dogs were responsible for both attacks, as they had been seen by a number of people roaming in the nearby Covert Lane area.

The West Mercia force appealed to the dogs' owner, or anyone who might have information about who the owner might be, to contact police.

A police spokeswoman said: "The owner of these two dogs is likely to know they had attacked something that night, as they would have returned home covered in blood."

Police also renewed calls for dog owners to be responsible and ensure their pets were not allowed into any fields with livestock.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/8604919.stm

Ritual sacrifice of children on rise in Uganda

By JASON STRAZIUSO (AP) – 04/05/2010

JINJA, Uganda — Caroline Aya was playing in front of her house in January when a neighbor put a cloth over her mouth and fled with her.

A couple of days later, the 8-year-old's body was found a short walk away — with her tongue cut out. Police believe she was offered up as a human sacrifice in a ritual killing, thought to bring wealth or health.

"If it is a sickness you try to treat it, and if they die that is one thing," said Caroline's father, Balluonzima Christ. "But when you slaughter a person like a goat, that is not easy."

The practice of human sacrifice is on the rise in Uganda, as measured by ritual killings where body parts, often facial features or genitals, are cut off for use in ceremonies. The number of people killed in ritual murders last year rose to a new high of at least 15 children and 14 adults, up from just three cases in 2007, according to police. The informal count is much higher — 154 suspects were arrested last year and 50 taken to court over ritual killings.

Children in particular are common victims, according to a U.S. State Department report released this month. The U.S. spent $500,000 to train 2,000 Ugandan police last year to investigate offences related to human trafficking, including ritual killings.

The problem is bad enough that last year the police established an Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce. Posters on police station walls show a sinister stranger luring two young girls into a car below bold letters that call on parents to "Prevent Child Sacrifice."

Human sacrifices have been recorded throughout history and occur still in many countries, including India, Indonesia, South Africa, Gabon and Tanzania. One traditional healer in Uganda, when asked about the phenomenon, pointed to the story told in the Bible's book of Genesis, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice a son.

However, the rise in human sacrifices in Uganda appears to come from a desire for wealth and a belief that drugs made from human organs can bring riches, according to task force head Moses Binoga. They may be fueled by a spate of violent Nigerian films that are growing in popularity, and showcase a common story line: A family reaping riches after sacrificing a human.

"I call it a problem of psychological disorientation," said Binoga. "People get disoriented. People stop having respect in humanity and believe more in the worth of money and so-called good fortune, and they lose that natural social respect for people."

The sacrifices are also linked to a deep belief in traditional healers, or witch doctors, who can be found practically every half mile in Uganda.

At the end of a winding dirt road on the edge of Kampala, Uganda's capital, barefoot children scurry past a sign advertising the abilities of Musa Nsimbe, who goes by the trade name Professor Gabogola. The sign in front of his small wood hut reads like a panacea for the world's woes.

"A traditional healer with powers over spirits. Solves all cases, demons, thieves, tooth decay, madness fevers, appelipse, genital affairs."

Sunlight streams in like tiny laser beams through holes in the metal roof of Nsimbe's shrine. Smoke fills the air. Furry hides cover the floor. Animal horns are arrayed before Nsimbe, who chants, hums, murmurs, shakes and bangs his head against the wall in a furious calling of the spirits.

The 38-year-old Nsimbe — a father of 14 children with two women — says it's possible that some witch doctors carry out ritual sacrifices, but that he does not.

Another traditional healer, 60-year-old Livingstone Kiggo, said sacrifice is part of the healer's tool kit — sacrificing a goat, sheep or chicken is considered a call to the spirits, to people's ancestors. But killing humans is not part of the practice, said Kiggo.

He blamed sacrificial deaths on people who "want to destroy the work of traditional healers."

"Those are killers. They are not healers. They are killers," said Kiggo.

In 2008, Kiggo said a man approached him offering to sell a child. He went to the police, who set up a sting operation and snared a man trying to sell his nephew for $2,000. Police and advocates point to several cases where impoverished parents or relatives have tried to sell children to witch doctors for money.

The people of Jinja have seen three suspected cases of child sacrifice in recent months, including Caroline's. When Binoga held a town-hall-style meeting in early February, some 500 people squatted under the shade of five large trees, straining to hear his words.

Many complained of police corruption, slow investigations and a lack of convictions by the country's lethargic courts, words that drew loud cheers from the emotional crowd. Of about 30 people charged with ritual killing last year, nobody has yet been convicted. The last conviction was in 2007.

"There is a lack of political will to protect the children. We have beautiful laws but a lack of political will," said Haruna Mawa, the spokesman for the child protection agency ANPPCAN. "As long as we keep our laws in limbo we are creating a fertile breeding ground for human and child sacrifice to escalate. No convictions. What message are you giving to the police?"

Mawa's agency has helped with several recent cases of child sacrifice. A 2-year-old boy had his penis cut off by a witch doctor in eastern Uganda and now urinates through a tube, Mawa said.

A 12-year-old named Shafik had a knife put to his throat when a female witch doctor realized the boy was circumcised. Witch doctors don't kill children who are circumcised or who have pierced ears because they are considered impure, Mawa said. As a result, some parents have taken their children to get piercings or circumcisions.

The Christ family is protecting their three remaining children in other ways. The siblings no longer walk to school alone and are instead accompanied by their parents. It is a security precaution that the parents can't take forever, said Fred Kyankya, the district criminal intelligence officer.

"You can't keep holding onto a child very tightly. Children move freely," Kyankya said. "So people get scared that there are such vices in the country."

From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVKJwZGbjcGft_IsyTJWdY6UGlCQD9ESCS900

Two women busted for trying to smuggle deceased relative onto plane

By Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, April 6th 2010, 9:29 AM

Talk about dead on arrival.

Two women were reportedly busted at an airport in England trying to board a plane with a 91-year-old deceased relative.

Seated in a wheelchair and adorned with sunglasses, the women claimed he was merely sleeping, the Daily Mail reported.

Airport personnel at Liverpool John Lennon Airport became suspicious, however, and examined the German national.

"The airport staff at the check in were not happy with the situation," a source told the Daily Mail.

Somehow the women, aged 41 and 66, got the dead relative into a taxi and transported him to the airport, reports London's Telegraph.

The two may have been trying to avoid paying several thousand dollars in fees, which are required to ship a deceased person overseas.

"We are still investigating the exact circumstances of the death, but don't believe it is murder or manslaughter at this stage," police told the Daily Mail.

The women were arrested for allegedly failing to report the man's death, which may have occurred the day before.

"The coroner has been informed and police are continuing with their inquiries," officials told the Telegraph.

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/06/2010-04-06_two_women_busted_for_trying_to_smuggle_deceased_relative_onto_plane.html

Hitch-Hike (1977)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hitch-Hike (Italian: Autostop rosso sangue), also known as Death Drive and The Naked Prey, is a 1977 Italian crime film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile. The film stars Franco Nero and Corinne Clery as a couple in a troubled marriage, and David Hess as a fugitive who takes them hostage. The musical score was written by Ennio Morricone. The film is based on Peter Kane's novel The Violence and the Fury.

Background

In The Devil Thumbs a Ride, a short documentary on the film, Nero states that he became involved in the film because he already knew Campanile well, and Campanile had earlier stated his wish to work with him. Nero was in Germany shooting 21 Hours at Munich, in which Hess also had a small role, when Campanile called him and suggested starring in Autostop rosso sangue. Because Hess wanted to work in Italy, Nero suggested him as the second male lead. Hess had earlier played a similar role in The Last House on the Left.

Just a few days before the shooting of the film began, Nero broke his arm at the set of the spaghetti western Keoma while giving a misbehaving horse a punch. Nero approached Campanile with his problem and the script was quickly modified. In the final script, Nero's character hurts his hand in the beginning of the film and Clery's character drives the car.

Because filming in the United States would have been too expensive, the film was shot in the mountains of the Gran Sasso, around the city of L'Aquila in central Italy. The location resembled Northern California, and American-like gas stations and signs were also created.

Plot

Walter Mancini (Nero), an alcoholic reporter, and his wife Eve (Clery) are on a road trip with a trailer heading back to Los Angeles. Along the way, they pick up a hitch-hiker (Hess) who introduces himself as Adam Konitz. Konitz soon turns out to be a sadistic escapee from an institution for the criminally insane, and he is running from the law after robbing two million dollars with his partners. He takes the couple hostage and orders Eve to head to Mexico. They are soon stopped by two policemen and after Walter attempts to signal them by writing "SOS" on his matchbox, Konitz shoots them both.

While the three stop for the night, Konitz's two partners, whom he had betrayed to get all the loot for himself, shoot at Konitz and take control of the money and the car. They decide to keep the Mancinis alive until reaching the Mexican border. While driving, they are attacked by someone in a truck. The attacker turns out to be Konitz who kills his former associates and again takes the Mancinis hostage. After they reach a secluded place, Konitz rapes Eve and forces Walter to watch the act. As Konitz gets ready to kill Walter, Eve shoots him with Walter's hunting rifle.

Despite Eve's opposition, Walter decides to keep the two million instead of going to the police. After the four young motorcyclists the couple met at a gas station pass them and pour oil on the road, the Mancinis' car goes off the road and crashes. One of the youngsters takes three hundred from Walter's pocket, but leaves the suitcase on the back seat untouched. The thieves then ride away. Eve is badly hurt and requests help from Walter. Walter brings Konitz's body from their trailer and plants it on the accident scene. He then tells the dying Eve that the thieves had only helped him. He had planned to stop after 15 to 20 miles, kill her and make it look like an accident. After lighting up a cigarette and setting the car and the trailer on fire, Walter starts walking and, hearing a car come by, thumbs a ride.

Directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile - Produced by Mario Montanari, Bruno Turchetto - Written by Aldo Crudo, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Ottavio Jemma, Peter Kane - Starring Franco Nero, Corinne Clery, David Hess - Music by Ennio Morricone - Cinematography Franco Di Giacomo, Giuseppe Ruzzolini - Editing by Antonio Siciliano - Release date 1977 - Running time 104 minutes - Country Italy - Language Italian

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch-Hike_(film)

Disney resort hit by staff suicides

From The Sunday Times April 4, 2010

Staff at Disneyland Paris, the most popular tourist attraction in Europe, are considering industrial action to improve their working conditions after the suicides of three employees since the start of the year.

Guy-Bruno Mboe, leader of a Disneyland union, has blamed the latest two deaths on “brutal” working conditions. “It’s all about profit, profit, profit,” said Mboe. “The combination of fewer staff and demands for more productivity just pushed this poor man over the edge.”

The directors of the resort denied that the suicide of an employee in his home on March 26 had anything to do with his working conditions. They complained of a union attempt to exploit the tragedy.

The man was identified only as Franck L, a 37-year-old father of four and restaurant manager at Disneyland. He hanged himself on the day he was supposed to return to work after holidays and sick leave.

Another Disneyland restaurant worker had thrown himself in front of a train five weeks earlier. At the beginning of February an employee had committed suicide for what the company called “personal reasons”. After being sacked, another worker recently threatened to kill himself in the theme park.

According to Mboe, the restaurant manager had told colleagues he wanted to leave his job “because of having to work more and more with less and less means”.

The company has said that it will investigate the “possible factors of stress or harassment”.

From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7086719.ece

Politics as Usual

Friday, April 02, 2010

By ROBERT KAHN

Leave it to the professors to explain something by talking about something else. Human nature doesn't change, so find a true expert on something - anything human - and the farther away you get, the closer you are to home. For the student of ancient things has no reason to distort his investigations to gratify today's prejudices.

Suppose you were curious to know how it is that the Disney Co. can make Congress tap dance, curtsey and bend over. There is no need to investigate Disney, or today's Congress. "Authors, Publishers and Politicians: The Quest for an Anglo-American Copyright Agreement, 1815-1854" (London, 1974) will tell you all you need to know.

Congress has always been for sale. And the big money comes not from paying Congress to do something: it's in paying it to do nothing.

I have just read two splendid volumes by professors who are experts in things far away in space and time. Yet the books explain today's U.S. politics far better than anything you will find in daily, weekly or monthly journalism.

They explain, particularly, how it is that Republicans continue to be the dominant voice in the United States today, though they are the minority party.

The books are about sodomy and slander.

"Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600," (2003) is by Professor Helmut Puff. "The Devil in the Holy Water, or the Art of Slander from Louis XIV to Napoleon," by Robert Darnton, an expert in French history and the director of the Harvard University Library, is hot off the press.

Professor Puff wanted to know why sodomy was criminalized as "sexual heresy" in Germany in 1532 - even between men and women. After all, the Renaissance was a time of rediscovery of the glories of Greece and Rome, and the old Greeks and Romans liked a bit of sodomy after dinner as surely as the Renaissance popes did.

It turns out, Professor Puff tells us, that sodomy was criminalized for political reasons after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, and set off the Protestant Reformation.

Luther's followers found it convenient to denounce sodomy as "the Roman sin." The Romans responded, so to speak, in kind. Then as nationalism raised its bloody head, Frenchmen called sodomy "the Italian sin," Italians and Germans called it "the French sin," and so on.

In other words, neither the Lutherans nor the Catholics nor the French or Germans really cared about sodomy - except, perhaps, where to get some. They just wanted to use it for all it was worth. And between you and me, sodomy is worth more in and of itself than it's worth for all the reasons the Lutherans and Catholics used it.

Criminalizing sodomy made it slanderous to call someone a Sodomite, though it did not make sodomy or slander any less fun.

This brings us to Professor Darnton. He tells us that slander, or libel, was not just name-calling to the French of the Ancien Régime - it was an early form of investigative journalism.

The libelle was a literary genre. Generally issued as pamphlets, libels contained real news about illustrious and powerful people, mixed with licentious anecdotes, slander and phony moralistic pontifications. It was a lot like Fox News.

Libels too were issued for political reasons. Darnton says they had great influence in undermining the French monarchy before and during the Revolution.

"When I waded into the texts," Professor Darnton writes, "I found them to be slanderous, tendentious, wicked, indecent, and very good reading: that is why they sold so well."

Libels were written because Jacques Six Pack did not understand foreign or domestic politics. But he understood sodomy and slander. And he'd read about them.

That is the situation we have today.

None of the huffing and puffing Republicans in Congress have ever coherently explained what they think socialism is. For them, it's just a slightly more polite way of saying sodomy.

As proof, consider that for decades the Republican Party denounced Social Security and Medicare as socialism, and did everything it could to prevent both programs, which are, let's face it, socialistic.

Now the Republicans tell us they'll fight to their last noisome breath to defend Social Security and Medicare, but the latest health-care reform is socialism.

The Republicans not only do not know what they are saying, they don't care what they are saying.

They'd call health-care reform sodomy if they thought their followers knew what sodomy is.

All the Republicans know for sure is that socialism and sodomy sound like bad things. But after a while, most normal human beings - even Republicans - have to admit that they like it.

From: http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/02/26112.htm

Two arrested after fight breaks out over praying in former Spanish mosque

Two men were arrested and two guards injured after a fight broke out between police and tourists at a former mosque in Spain.

Published: 12:49AM BST 02 Apr 2010

Trouble broke out when the tourists broke a ban on Muslim prayers at the converted cathedral in Cordoba, according to the local bishop's office.

Six members of a group of 118 Muslim tourists who were visiting the cathedral knelt to pray and were promptly ordered to stop by security guards.

As they refused to stop praying, they were "invited to continue with their visit or leave the cathedral" after they refused to stop praying, the Cordoba's bishop's office said in a statement.

The security guards then called in police, who were attacked by the visiting Muslim tourists, it added. Two policemen were injured and two of the Muslim tourists were detained.

"They provoked in an organised fashion a deplorable episode of violence," the statement said, adding "this was a one time incident that does not represent the genuine Muslim identity as there are many who display attitudes of respect and dialogue with the Catholic Church."

"We deplore the damage done to the image of our city and to the peaceful coexistence of visitors and citizens. We hope and desire that this type of incident will not repeat itself in the future," it added.

The bishop's office did not give the nationality of the two men who were arrested but news radio Cadena Ser said they were Austrian.

Police found a knife on one of the arrested men, it added citing anonymous local police sources.

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez Gonzalez recently reiterated that a ban on Muslim prayers at the former mosque which turned into a Christian cathedral in the 13th century must remain in place despite calls by local Muslims for the rule to be loosened.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7546487/Two-arrested-after-fight-breaks-out-over-praying-in-former-Spanish-mosque.html

14-year-old dies after exorcism

A 14-year-old girl has died after neighbours and a local pastor tried to treat her convulsions with an exorcism at a church.

Published: 9:45PM BST 02 Apr 2010

Sangeeta Persaud began to have convulsions as she was drinking tea for breakfast at her grandmother's home in Canal Number Two, a farming village west of the capital of Guyana, the grandmother told the Stabroek News and Guyana Chronicle.

The woman said neighbours arrived to help, and a local pastor convinced them she was suffering from demonic possession. After trying to cast out the demons at her home, the grandmother and other witnesses told the newspapers, neighbors carried her to a church, where the pastor and aides rubbed or pounded on her stomach and had her drink lime juice.

She was finally taken to a hospital, where she died, Police Commander Colin West said Friday. Results from a preliminary autopsy were inconclusive and no one has been charged, but West said police were continuing to investigate.

It was not clear why the girl was not taken to a doctor earlier.

The pastor presided over the girl's funeral on Thursday as the child's mother, father and other relatives shouted accusations at one another and at the preacher, the Stabroek News reported.

It said the pastor disputed news accounts of what had occurred, but did not say which parts he felt were inaccurate.

The newspaper said the girl had been living with her grandmother in a one-bedroom house and her parents were separated.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/guyana/7548280/14-year-old-dies-after-exorcism.html

Bishop apologises after priest turns up drunk to funeral and punches mourner in face

A French Catholic bishop has apologised after a priest turned up drunk to preside over a funeral and then punched a mourner in the face.

Published: 8:36PM BST 01 Apr 2010

Father Bonaventure Ouedraogo, who is from Burkina Faso, was told by relatives that they did not want him to preside over the funeral held near the southwestern city of Toulouse.

They then prevented him from getting back into his car because he was too drunk to drive, according to Gerard Tillier, brother of the deceased woman. At this point the priest fell to the ground, and when a man tried to help him to his feet, he punched him in the face.

"Father Bonaventure ... arrived at the funeral in a state that was not compatible with his ministry," said archbishop Robert Le Gall in a statement. "I again offer my apologies to the family."

Mr Tillier said: "A priest who hits his parishioners, that's a new one, and who turns up drunk, let's not even talk about it!"

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7545706/Bishop-apologises-after-priest-turns-up-drunk-to-funeral-and-punches-mourner-in-face.html

DVDs show man killing and maiming deer, charges say

BY ROBERT PATRICK
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/03/2010

ST. LOUIS — A man from rural Illinois has been indicted on two federal animal cruelty charges that claim he possessed and sold DVDs of himself hitting, maiming and killing deer with his vehicle.

The indictment accuses Jarrod Lee Hayn of selling a copy of the video on Nov. 12, 2009, and possessing multiple copies of the DVD, which is called "The Deer Commander — Sudden Impact," between April 15 and Nov. 18, 2009.

Hayn, 38, of Kampsville, in Calhoun County, was indicted on March 11 in federal court in St. Louis on two charges: possession and sale of depictions of animal cruelty with the intent to place them in interstate commerce.

The indictment was sealed until Hayn's arrest this week.

A person who answered Hayn's telephone Friday said, "I'm sure he doesn't have any comments."

According to hunting and outdoor websites that were critical of Hayn's own website, he had bragged of having hit hundreds of deer with a specially-armored pickup or car, or both. He also reportedly said on the website that he is saving human lives by reducing the likelihood of other deer-vehicle collisions.

"There has to be something illegal about it and I think he gives us rednecks a bad name," wrote one poster on HankFans.com. Another, on Kentuckyhunting.net, called Hayn's website content, "some of the sickest stuff I have ever seen on the net."

Another poster, who claimed to know Hayn, defended him, saying that deer were overrunning the county, decimating agriculture and endangering motorists.

Hayn's website referred to in the postings was not working Friday.

Tim Schweizer, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said the agency's conservation police worked with federal authorities on the case. "We heard from a number of hunters, both from Illinois and around the country" who had seen the video and complained, he said.

From: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/6E831C99B9E9EE1C862576FA0003618C?OpenDocument

Minn. man charged with stabbing wife 70 times

Updated April 03, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man punched his estranged wife and stabbed her 70 times in the chest and head before his 13-year-old daughter pulled him away, disarmed him and fled with the knife, police said Saturday.

The fatal attack came about one week after the suspect was charged with assaulting the same woman. He had been released without bail on the condition that he not contact her.

Billy Nash, 46, of Minneapolis was charged Friday with first-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. He was ordered held on $1 million bail.

Online court records didn't list an attorney for Nash on Saturday. A message left at the Nash home wasn't immediately returned.

Police identified the victim by the initials P.N. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis identified her as Pauline Nash, 42.

Billy Nash had been charged March 24 with misdemeanor domestic assault for allegedly kicking and slapping his wife and dragging her by the hair after she refused to have sex with him.

He was released from the Hennepin County jail two days later and ordered not to contact his wife. Judge Regina Chu allowed his conditional release because he had no prior domestic-assault convictions and because Pauline Nash said "this has never occurred in the past," according to a court transcript.

But he violated the no-contact order almost immediately, said Brittany Nash, 18, the fifth of the couple's sixth children.

"He shouldn't have been out. If he just got done abusing her, why would you let (him) out of jail two-three days later?" she told the Star Tribune. "That doesn't make any sense to me."

Chief Hennepin County Judge James Swenson released a statement defending Chu's decision to release Billy Nash.

"Judge Chu has spent much of her judicial career working on the issue of domestic violence," Swenson said. "She cares passionately about protecting victims of domestic violence, and for her, the death of this morning is a particularly sad and tragic occurrence."

Brittany Nash said she awoke to hear her mother's terrified screams Friday about 3 a.m. She ran to her mother's room and found her father attacking her, the criminal complaint said. Brittany Nash dialed 911 as her 13-year-old sister grabbed the bloody knife and fled.

Police found Pauline Nash bleeding in the bedroom. She was taken to a hospital where she died.

Billy Nash told investigators, "I'm sorry, sergeant, that you had to come here tonight for this. ... She was driving me crazy. ... I killed the (expletive)," the complaint said.

He said he was angry at the way his wife was handling money, court documents said. As the couple argued he grabbed a paring knife and repeatedly stabbed her, the documents said.

As police led him away he looked at his children but said nothing, Brittany Nash said.

The teenager said she wants people to remember her mother, a personal-care attendant, as a loving, caring soul who treated others as she wanted to be treated.

"What are we going to do without our mom?" Brittany Nash said. "We have no parents now. What are we going to do?"

From: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/03/minn-man-charged-stabbing-wife-times/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Flatest+%28Text+-+Latest+Headlines%29

Boozy onboard party led to subway slays

By MURRAY WEISS, DAREH GREGORIAN and EDMUND DeMARCHE

Last Updated: 11:41 AM, April 3, 2010
Posted: 2:38 AM, April 3, 2010

The two subway riders fatally stabbed along the downtown 2 line were attacked during a rowdy "train party" -- a fast-growing epidemic where youths, packing booze, smokes and sometimes weapons, take over a subway car in "wilding" episodes long after the bars have closed.

"It's like something from the bad old days of New York," a law-enforcement source told The Post.

That's the kind of underground chaos knife-loving Brenddy Garcia and his four friends ran into Sunday morning -- only this party ended with the 19-year-old Garcia wildly jabbing his blade after a 40-ounce beer bottle was smashed over his head.

He was held without bail after his arraignment yesterday on murder and assault charges.

The wild party he and two pals stumbled upon happen spontaneously on moving trains, leaving police scrambling to keep up as their ranks diminish.

"The police force is getting thinner, a thinning blue line of coverage, and you can't be in every car," a law-enforcement official said.

As the NYPD's ranks get smaller, the department has relied increasingly on sending officers to stations during high-crime periods. New York City Transit has also been eliminating station booths.

Last Sunday, the group of 12 to 13 thugs that included the stabbing victims spent most of the night drinking and terrorizing people in Midtown.

At the Duane Reade at 40th Street and Broadway, some of them climbed on 6-foot-high theft detectors near the entrance as others yelled loudly around the store, three employees said.

They then joined the rest of the group. The plan was to board a downtown 2 train with 40-ounce beers and have a "train party" on the way home.

The young men harassed several passengers, and eventually zeroed in on Garcia and his four friends.

Garcia was smashed on the head by a bottle that shattered.

In the ensuing fight, one member of the partying group suffered a fatal stab wound to the liver, while another was mortally stabbed in the heart.

"They picked on the wrong people," a source said.

Garcia taunted the two victims -- Darnell Morrel and Ricardo Williams -- "from the platform as the train left the station, and the two young men bled to death," prosecutor John Veiga said at the arraignment.

He also said Garcia "reacted to a perceived act of disrespect in a grossly disproportionate manner."

The 19-year-old criminal-justice student sobbed uncontrollably in the courtroom as he was read the charges.

Sources said they later recovered the folding knife he allegedly used in a sewer in Williamsburg, after he led them to it.

His attorney, Pam Roth, said Garcia acted in "self-defense" and was "not the aggressor."

About 10 Garcia family members packed the courtroom. One woman yelled "I love you!" as he was being led away.

From: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/deadly_train_bash_8HhhHsI3Y1esoKspZe1weL

4 dead in 'blood bath' at Valley restaurant

At least two other people are injured as gunman opens fire at a mom-and-pop cafe in Valley Village.

By My-Thuan Tran and Andrew Blankstein
April 3, 2010 | 9:37 p.m.

A gunman opened fire at a mom-and-pop restaurant in Valley Village on Saturday afternoon, killing four people and wounding at least two others, Los Angeles police said.

The Hot Spot Cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant on Riverside Drive, was packed with customers when a man walked in and opened fire around 4:40 p.m., according to police officials.

He remained at large late Saturday.

Police officials said the shootings occurred in a matter of moments.

After shots were fired, the customers ran out of the restaurant and scattered on foot and in cars, they said.

The killer was a white male in his 30s, said Los Angeles police officer Rosario Herrera.

Three people were declared dead at the scene, Herrera said. Several more victims were taken to a hospital, where one later died, she said.

Police officials investigating the incident described the scene as a "blood bath." They are examining evidence to see whether there was an accomplice, according to officials.

"At this moment, it is an ongoing investigation," Herrera said. "We are unsure of the motive and we don't know exactly how it occurred."

Law enforcement sources, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing, said they believe the shooting might have involved Armenian gangs.

But they also said that they have no evidence that the victims were involved in gangs, noting that the case is in its early stages.

Several hours after the killings, police cordoned off Riverside Drive near Colfax Avenue.

A large neon sign flashing "Mediterranean Restaurant" lit up as the sun set. Tall leafy plants in pots sat in front of the windows.

A few hours before the shooting in Valley Village, two men were fatally shot across town in the 160 block of E. 65th Street, Herrera said. The shooter was at large Saturday night.

Herrera said the two shooting incidents were not related.

The shootings come after a series of killings in the last two weeks that have diminished gains made this year in reducing the city's homicide rate.

From: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-restaurant-shooting4-2010apr04,0,5761616.story

Baba Yaga (1973)

Written by Eugene Kim

Strange things have been happening to Valentina, a young and beautiful professional photographer, ever since she made the acquaintance of Baba Yaga, a mysterious older woman who gave her a lift home late one night. For one thing, Valentina has been having weird, kinky nightmares. For another, one of Valentina's cameras seems to have acquired a deadly curse. And then there was that visit to Baba Yaga's house, where Valentina discovered bizarre relics, including a dominatrix doll, and a bottomless pit in the living room. Valentina comes to realize that Baba Yaga is a witch who is out to possess her - body and soul.

Directed by Corrado Farina - Writing credits - Guido Crepax: comics - Corrado Farina: writer - François de Lannurien: additional dialogue - Starring Carroll Baker ... Baba Yaga - George Eastman ... Arno Treves - Isabelle De Funès ... Valentina Rosselli - Ely Galleani ... Annette

From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069753/fullcredits

Defendant in Kirkland murders had alcohol blackout, doctor testifies

Originally published April 1, 2010 at 6:31 PM

A defense witness testifies that Conner Schierman was in an alcohol-related blackout and doesn't know how four women and children were killed in a Kirkland home in 2006.

By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Conner Schierman awoke face down on a stranger's bed, unsure of why he was surrounded by blood.

He got up and walked into the hallway of the strange house, where he immediately encountered the bodies of two children.

Schierman shakily continued through the home and found the body of a woman at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Minutes later, he found another slain woman in a bedroom.

The Kirkland man said he had no idea where he was on that July 2006 day and what violent act led to the four deaths, according to psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Saxon, who testified Thursday for the defense.

Saxon's account, based on two post-arrest interviews with the defendant, provided jurors with the first glimpse at Schierman's defense in his death-penalty trial on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of arson.

According to the testimony by Saxon and a second defense witness, Schierman does not remember the events before waking up in the home of neighbor Olga Milkin because of an alcohol-induced blackout.

Schierman, 28, has not taken the witness stand in his defense and it is unclear whether he plans to testify. The defense is expected to rest its case in the coming days, then the state will call rebuttal witnesses.

If convicted of the murder charges, Schierman could face the death penalty.

The burned bodies of Milkin, 28; her sister Lyubov Botvina, 24; and Milkin's two sons, Justin, 5, and Andrew, 3, were found inside the destroyed home on July 17, 2006. Schierman, who lived across the street, was arrested a short time later.

Schierman is believed to have consumed more than a liter of vodka in the hours leading up to the slayings, according to the testimony of Saxon and former state toxicologist Barry Logan.

Saxon, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington who specializes in addiction issues, told jurors he believes that Schierman blacked out at some point during the night of July 16 or early the next morning.

Logan testified Thursday he believes Schierman had a blood-alcohol content of 0.35, more than four times Washington's legal intoxication threshold of 0.08 percent.

Logan said he came up with the figure by reviewing how much Schierman drank — three bottles of Ketel One vodka — his weight, and the time during which the alcohol was consumed.

Logan resigned from his position in 2008 after the State Patrol toxicology lab came under scrutiny over allegations of sloppy work and fraud that jeopardized DUI breath-test results.

While Schierman told Saxon he couldn't say what caused the four deaths, he conceded that after surveying the blood throughout the three-floor house, he decided he needed to take a shower, which he did at the Milkin home. He also decided he would set fire to the home, Saxon testified.

After his shower, Schierman walked home, changed his clothes and drove to a nearby convenience store, where he bought two containers of gasoline.

Schierman then returned to the Milkin house, set it ablaze, then returned home to take a nap, Saxon said.

Since the trial began in January, jurors have heard testimony from police, firefighters, Schierman's roommates, DNA experts and members of the victims' family while the state presented their case.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O'Toole has contended Schierman is linked to the killings by DNA as well as his statements to police.

Witnesses also reported seeing Schierman walking from the Milkin home minutes before the fire was reported.

From: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011504322_schierman02m.html

Farmer trampled to death by cows in front of his daughter

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:11 PM on 02nd April 2010

A farmer has been trampled to death by his own cows as his daughter looked on.
John Leslie Ward, 67, was working with his daughter on their Sheffield farm trying to put identity tags onto calves in a barn when he was attacked by the animals.

Mr Ward's 21-year-old daughter Katie said her father was thrown into the air by a bull as he attempted to tag the calves.

When he landed on the ground, a cow, whose calf Mr Ward had been tagging, began stamping on him.

Miss Ward then dragged her father away from the animals and dialled 999 before ringing her uncle, who lives on the same lane in Ridgeway, pleading for help.

Miss Ward, who has had to continue to feed the cattle including the bull and cow which killed her dad, said her father, known as Les, lived for his farm.

She said: 'It was his life - he worked every hour there was.

'What happened is all a blur. It happened so fast.

'We were in the shed together tagging the calves. A bull came up to him and nudged him and then threw him into the air.

'That's when the mother started on him. All I remember is her jumping on him all over. I know she had all her feet on him.

'I managed to get a stick and get her off him and then rolled then rolled and called an ambulance.'

Miss Ward's uncle Roger Bradley, 65, said: 'I have known Les all my life - he used to be married to my wife's sister.

'His daughter rang me to say he had been trampled and when I got to the farm he was laid face down. He was alive but couldn't speak.

'Katie had managed to get the cows off him and rang for help. He was black and blue but still breathing but by the time the ambulance arrived it was too late.

'I helped by doing chest compressions but I was told the finest doctor in the world couldn't have saved him - his chest was completely smashed to pieces.

'He used to work every hour there was and when he reached 65 I told him he should give up and just keep a few cows to potter about with because his dream was to go to America for two or three months and follow the combines working from the south of the country to the north.

'But he could not give the farm up - it was his total life.'

A Health and Safety Executive spokeswoman said: 'We have been made aware of this incident by the police and health and safety inspectors have been out to the site and are assisting the police with their investigation.'

Mr Ward had lived on the farm since he was a child. He started working as a milkman before growing his own potatoes, which he used to sell on his round.

After selling his milk business he bought more land, invested in animals and began farming full time.

An inquest into his death is expected to be opened by the Chesterfield coroner on Tuesday.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263043/Farmer-trampled-death-cows-daughter.html

Christian leaders use Easter to attack atheism

Updated Fri Apr 2, 2010 4:02pm AEDT

Religious leaders have used their Good Friday sermons to launch an attack on what they call a recent surge in atheism.

Thousands of Christians crowded into churches this morning to mark the solemn Christian festival of Good Friday.

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen told his congregation atheism is not the rational philosophy that it claims to be.

Dr Jensen told the congregation that atheism is as much of a religion as Christianity.

"It's about our determination as human beings to have our own way, to make our own rules, to live our own lives, unfettered by the rule of God and the right of God to rule over us," he said.

"What we're really seeing, once more [is] an example of the contest between human beings and God over who rules the world."

The Anglican Archbishop's comments were mirrored by the Catholic Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher.

In his Easter address, he said Christianity has proved to be both vulnerable and hardy in the last century.

"Last century we tried godlessness on a grand scale and the effects were devastating: Nazism, Stalinism, Pol Pot-ery, mass murder, abortion and broken relationships - all promoted by state-imposed atheism," he said.

"[It's] the illusion that we can build a better life without God."

Atheist Foundation president David Nicholls says the comments are an act of desperation by the church.

"We're not forcing anything on anybody," he said.

"Hitler, who was a Catholic, forced Nazism onto the German population.

"Stalin forced his ideology onto the population. They didn't do any of these things in the name of atheism, in fact Stalin was trained in a seminary."

In his sermon, Dr Jensen said the passion of its followers shows atheism a religion in itself.

But Mr Nicholls says that atheism does not have its own belief structure.

"The passion and vigour that Peter Jensen refers to is only in his own mind," he said.

"Because atheists say it as it is, and it's against what Peter thinks, he would have to include those words.

"Atheism is just the acceptance that there is no God, and apart from that people make their own decisions."

The anti-atheist messages come after a global convention on atheism was held in Melbourne last month.

Organisers of the Rise of Atheism conference say about 2,500 people attended the event which included keynote speaker Richard Dawkins.

Cardinal Pell's message

Meanwhile, the leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, acknowledged that the Catholic Church has had a lot of negative publicity in recent years.

But he used his Easter address to remind Australians of the important work Christians do for the community.

Cardinal Pell says Christian teachings are the foundation of the Western way of life, including the Australian notion of a fair go.

"We often hear about Christian failures to live up to Christian standards and there have been too many scandals and many victims but the great majority of Christians continue to follow the commandments of love through regular service, tolerance, forgiveness and community building," he said.

"Australians believe that everyone is entitled to a fair go because of the Christian teaching that every person, unlike the animals, is made in God's image.

"Great efforts are made at a considerable expense to help the elderly, the sick, the unemployed, delinquent children, the marginal lives."

Anglican Church Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, urged people to think of stories of hope that emerge from natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake.

Meanwhile, in pre-Easter celebrations in Rome, Pope Benedict celebrated Maundy Thursday mass at Saint John in Lateran Basilica.

He commemorated Christ's Last Supper by washing the feet of 12 priests representing the apostles, which is a symbol of humility.

From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/02/2863269.htm

Man arrested over headless body in suitcase

Posted Sat Apr 3, 2010 1:14am AEDT

Japanese police arrested a 60-year-old man after the headless naked body of a woman was discovered stuffed into a suitcase and dumped at the bottom of a cliff.

Seiichi Iinuma, who said he was unemployed, was being held on suspicion of abandoning the body, said police in the central prefecture of Ishikawa.

He reportedly told police the woman was a foreigner aged in her 30s whom he had met about a year ago through a magazine advertisement.

The man said he packed her body into the suitcase and threw it off a cliff in Kanazawa city last October. It was found late last month by a construction worker.

Her head appeared to have been severed with a sharp blade, media reported.

The suspect told police that "he abandoned the head at the same place he dumped the suitcase with the body," a police detective said.

"We are searching for the head to identify the dead woman while we investigate further to find out whether his statement is true," he said.

From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/03/2863489.htm?section=justin

Murder accused thought wife in New York was 'impostor'

11:24 AM Friday Apr 2, 2010

NEW YORK - A Cornell University doctoral student from New Zealand who is charged with slashing his wife's throat on a nature trail in central New York plotted the killing and tried to destroy evidence by setting their home on fire, a prosecutor said at his murder trial Thursday.

The defence doesn't dispute that Blazej Kot, 25, killed Caroline Coffey, a postdoctoral researcher at the Ivy League school. But Joe Joch, his lawyer, countered in opening statements that Kot suffered from a psychiatric disorder known as "Capgras delusion," which made him think his 28-year-old companion had been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.

"You have to be willing to learn about mental illness and how it presents itself" for Kot to get a fair trial, Joch told the jury. "There is no simple explanation. The explanation is found in the human mind as it descends into the abyss."

While Kot will admit to the killing last June on the Black Diamond Trail near the couple's apartment on Ithaca's rural outskirts, the notion that he was propelled by an "extreme emotional disturbance" beyond his control is contradicted by his attempt to burn bloody clothing, computer records and other physical evidence, the prosecution said.

Rather than a sudden emotional outburst, "you're going to find out that this (crime) was planned and carried out by this man," Tompkins County Assistant District Attorney Andrew McElwee said.

Charged with murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence, Kot could get up to 25 years to life in prison if he's found guilty. The defence will urge jurors to reduce the murder charge to manslaughter. The trial is expected to take about three weeks.

Born to Polish parents in Zaire, Kot moved with his family to New Zealand, attended the University of Auckland and came to Cornell on a student visa to pursue a Ph.D in information science. As a teenager, he had exhibited schizophrenia-type traits that left him "always wondering if someone might be watching him" through electrical wall outlets, his lawyer said.

Typically aloof and shy with strangers, Kot blossomed socially at Cornell, where he and Coffey met and fell in love. They were married in Ithaca in October 2008 but saved up for an "exotic location" wedding ceremony in Costa Rica last May.

By then, however, Kot had taken a leave of absence from his doctoral program to work for a business startup. His 60-to-80-hour work weeks and the couple's mounting financial woes were contributing to an onset of depression, paranoia and other acute symptoms associated with Capgras delusion, a misidentification syndrome common in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the defence said.

From: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10635940

Dad Uses Kid As Taser Shield

Belleville Man Has Criminal History

POSTED: Thursday, April 1, 2010
UPDATED: 7:13 pm EDT April 1,2010

DETROIT -- A 27-year-old man is accused of using his 2-year-old daughter as a shield from a police Taser.

Christina Cox said her ex-husband, Joseph Cox, showed up to her home on the 23000 block of Bolam Street in Warren on Saturday demanding diapers for their daughter, Chloe.

The two share custody of the toddler.

Cox said her ex-husband became aggressive when she wouldn't let him into the house, even though she had already given him diapers.

"He was holding Chloe in his arms and he was pushing this way, but I wasn't pushing him because he had her on the outer arm," Christina Cox said. "I was just trying to get him out of my house."

She said he eventually left and she filed a police report.

Joseph Cox's mother lives on the same street. An hour later, police found him hiding there.

Warren police Detective Cortland Larry said the man wasn't cooperating with police and they were forced to threaten him with Tasers. Larry said officers pointed their Tasers at Joseph Cox, he turned to his daughter.

"He grabbed the 2-year-old child from underneath the arms, lifted her up and held her between him and the officers," Larry said. "He kept moving the child as the officers were trying to get a different position."

Larry said the child's grandmother eventually took the girl and Joseph Cox was arrested without police needing to use their Tasers.

Joseph Cox is facing second-degree child abuse, third-degree home invasion and resisting arrest charges.

"He says he loves his daughter and he tried to fight me so hard for custody, but then to do something like that, it's mind-blowing," Christina Cox said.

Joseph Cox's preliminary exam is scheduled for April 8.

From: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/23023645/detail.html

Nightmarish tumor took her to brink

By Peggy O'Farrell • March 31, 2010

In a way, the devil almost got Kiera Echols.

But doctors at University Hospital were able to diagnose the so-called "monster tumor" that was responsible for causing the hallucinations that had the Springfield woman demanding a priest perform an exorcism and chase the devil from her.

In early November, Echols, 22, went to the doctor twice, thinking she had the flu. She was feverish and achy with a bad headache. A week or two after she started feeling bad, she passed out.

Her parents, David and Chellie Givens, took her to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with meningitis. She spent six days in the hospital.

But the same day she went home, she began hallucinating. She complained to her parents that children in the corner of her bedroom were fighting and being too noisy.

Later in the day, she told her parents she was in labor, though she insisted she wasn't pregnant.

"She went around the living room and introduced us all to her baby," Chellie Givens said.

Back to the hospital they went, about six hours after they left.

Doctors there told her parents that Echols needed to be admitted to a psychiatric unit.

But the Givenses didn't believe it. There was no family history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which can both cause hallucinations, and she'd no signs of mental illness previously.

Echols was transferred to the emergency department at University Hospital, where, as it turned out, she was in the right place at the right time.

"She was screaming at me to call a ... priest because she needed an exorcism," Chellie Givens said. "She was lunging at people. She was just completely psychotic."

Within half an hour, doctors told her parents that they suspected Echols had an unusual form of encephalitis that was causing her hallucinations.

And they'd already seen two cases of it that year.

"It looked very much like the beginnings of a schizophrenic or bipolar episode," said Christopher Kobet, a fourth-year neurology resident at University Hospital who helped pinpoint Echols' problem.

But the real culprit wasn't in her head: It was a tiny tumor on her left ovary.

The tumor was a teratoma, a freakish, but not uncommon, conglomeration of basic cells growing out of control. Some teratomas, if they're big enough, even contain eyeballs or tiny feet.

Echols' body recognized the tumor as an invader, and developed antibodies against it, just like it would develop antibodies against a cold virus or a form of pollen she might be allergic to.

Those antibodies attacked certain neurochemicals in the brain, triggering the encephalitis and the hallucinations.

Doctors gave Echols steroids to bring down the swelling in her brain, and performed surgery to remove the tumor.

The tumor was so small - less than a centimeter - that it wasn't visible on CT scans, said Ed Richards, the director of gynecologic oncology and advanced pelvic surgery at University. But they knew it had to be there.

He was able to use robotic surgical techniques to find and remove the tumor.

"She was totally insane when she came in, to the point where she would lunge at you, thinking she had to defend herself against you," Richards said. "And a few days after the surgery, she was pretty much back to normal."

Echols was lucky. Her form of encephalitis - called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis - was identified only in 2007, though it's probably always been around. A doctor in Pennsylvania developed a way to test for the antibodies that trigger the disorder.

University Hospital doctors had already seen two cases by the time Echols came in - one early in the year, and the second in the summer.

And two weeks before Echols was admitted, they'd gotten additional training on the disorder.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, what we call a zebra," Kobet said. "But it's not rare at all."

Now that doctors know it exists and how to test for it, more cases are cropping up.

The implications of not making the right diagnosis are frightening.

"How many women, as recently as the 1950s and 1960s, were institutionalized with this because people thought they were schizophrenic?" Richards asked.

And there's also the fact that encephalitis, if it's not treated, can be fatal, Kobet said.

He submitted video of Echols to the American Academy of Neurology's Film Festival.

Echols was released on Dec. 23. She's waiting to find out when she'll be cleared to return to driving and to go back to work. And she's working to raise awareness of what made her so ill.

She doesn't remember much about the whole thing, other than wishing her husband, Mike, had been with her. Mike Echols, who is in the U.S. Air Force and stationed at Wright-Patterson, was in Texas for training at the time.

But, having seen the video that doctors took of her while she was psychotic, she worries about other people who might have the disorder and not know it.

"I know that wasn't me," she said.

From: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100331/NEWS01/4010346/She+had++monster+tumor+

School abuse inquiry condemned by commissioner

Last updated at 17:01 GMT, Thursday, 1 April 2010 18:01 UK

The serious case review process in Wales is to be reassessed after the "failure" of an inquiry into the abuse of a six-year-old girl by classmates.

The girl was routinely assaulted both physically and sexually by 23 pupils of her own age within school grounds.

But the school and local council said the children's young ages and lack of evidence meant little could be done.

Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler told the BBC the inquiry into the case had been a "shocking failure".

A serious case review published two years after allegations of abuse first emerged accepted that sexually harmful behaviour had taken place.

But said that with more than 20 children under the age of 10 involved it had been difficult to establish exactly what happened.

The school and the local education authority, neither of which can be named, said the fact that the children had all been under the age of criminal responsibility meant little action could be taken.

None of the children involved in the abuse were removed from school.

Serious case reviews are undertaken by a local safeguarding children board (a multi-agency body set-up by a local authority) when a child is harmed, abused or killed in a number of different circumstances.

The Welsh Assembly Government said it had already started a review of the serious case review process and would be piloting new arrangements towards the end of 2010 with a view to rolling them out across Wales in 2011.

Legal action

The girl's mother was horrified to discover her daughter had endured months of bullying and abuse in school after, she said, she had been warned about what was happening by another mother whose daughter was also being abused.

The woman said she would never forget the fear on her daughter's face as she recounted what had been happening.

She said: "She was telling me things that I think every mother dreads to hear from their daughter. It was horrendous what she'd gone through.

"Every day she was being stripped. She was being physically and sexually abused every day. And every day she cried out for help and nobody ever came."

The mother moved her daughter to a school in another area but it was not until she took legal action that the local authority carried out a serious case review.

The child's family say she was failed by the school and by the system which took so long for something to be done.

'Shocking failure'

Mr Towler said teachers needed on-going training to better recognise such incidents and the serious case review system in Wales would be changed to help prevent similar failures in the future.

The incidents of assault and the subsequent investigation were initially brought to his attention by BBC Breakfast.

"This is a shocking failure and the bottom line is the family will never know what happened to their child," Mr Towler told the programme.

"We are going to review the serious case review process in Wales to make sure they are much more timely published, within a year of incidents happening, so that we get really clear for everybody involved, what happened, why it happened and what we need to do to put things right."

The local authority concerned told the BBC that it was confident the case review had been a robust one and said the school had received excellent inspections before and after the case.

'Shocked'

But Perdeep Gill, a child protection consultant, told BBC Breakfast the executive summary of the review "lacked clarity" and was "full of holes".

Neelam Bhardwaja, president of the directors of social services in Wales, said an examination of the serious case review process in Wales, by the assembly government, had been going on for the last three months and was due to be completed by June.

She said it would be looking at the overall process, not the investigation in to the six-year-old's case.

Ms Bhardwaja added that, based on what had been made public about the girl's case, she was as shocked as anyone.

'Abusive situations'

She said: "If there are these number of children (involved), it also begs the question, where did that behaviour arise from, why are these children behaving in this way, and are they from abusive situations themselves, which they need protecting from?"

An assembly government spokesperson said: "The safety and protection of a child is paramount.

"Substantial law and guidance is in place for all services working on ensuring children are safe."

The spokesperson added: "Regarding the serious case review process, the media coverage of the case today suggests that this case prompted a review of the process.

"However, work on this has been ongoing for some time."

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8598136.stm

Car Hit Crawling Baby; Child Dies

Troopers Say 13-Month-Old Was Hit Crawling In Private Drive

POSTED: Thursday, April 1, 2010
UPDATED: 5:07 pm EDT April 1,2010

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. -- Putnam County deputies and the Florida Highway Patrol are on the hunt for a driver who ran over a baby, then took off. The baby has since died from his injuries.

The FHP said 13-month-old Caleb Cronk was crawling across a private drive at the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park in Palatka about 6 p.m. Wednesday when he was hit by a car.

Amy Sowell, Caleb's mother, said Caleb was playing with other children ages 3 and 4 outside. She said she went inside to go to the bathroom and her neighbor ran over and told her about the accident.

"He was just crawling, and I just went to the bathroom," Sowell said. "The lady's knocking on the door, 'Somebody ran over your baby.' Just that quick. 'Cause I'm thinking, you know, if I seen this, I'd be like, 'Where was mom?' I just went to the bathroom. Just that quick and he was gone."

The child, who lived in the mobile home park, was critically injured and flown to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, where he later died overnight.

Troopers were not able to provide a description of the vehicle they were seeking, but asked anyone with information that could help locate the car or driver to call the FHP's Palatka office at 904-529-2350. A speed limit sign on the street reads 10 mph. It's unclear how fast the vehicle was driving.

The boy's mother and neighbors said police are looking for a red pickup truck.

A Department of Children and Families spokesman said DCF is investigating to see if there was proper supervision by the parents.

From: http://www.news4jax.com/news/23022244/detail.html#

Autopsies: Women found in Ohio home were strangled

By MEGHAN BARR and THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press Writers – 04/02/2010

CLEVELAND – The women who vanished into Cleveland's house of death were strangled by commonplace objects that were never intended for killing.

A green belt with a metal buckle. The strap of a shoulder bag. An electrical charger for a cell phone or camera. A knotted piece of cloth.

Yet these are what silenced most of the 11 women unearthed last fall at the home of Anthony Sowell, a registered sex offender who has pleaded not guilty to an 85-count indictment in their deaths. Many still had the ligatures wrapped around their necks.

Autopsy reports obtained Thursday by The Associated Press revealed that eight of the women were strangled, most with household objects. Nine had traces of cocaine or depressants in their systems.

The reports offer the first comprehensive look at the horrors the women may have endured.

One woman's body, found in the basement under a mound of dirt, was nude and gagged at the mouth with her shirt tied behind her head. Most were bound at the wrists or ankles with shoelaces, cable wire and rope. Many were barely clothed. Four were nude from the waist down.

They were disposed of in garbage bags and plastic sheets, then dumped in various parts of the house and yard. Five were buried in the backyard. Four ended up on the third floor, one of them draped in a cloth comforter and plastic, still wearing a medallion in the shape of a cross around her neck.

Another was buried in the backyard in clear plastic, alongside three small paper bags and a manila envelope containing mud and items identified as possible human bones.

Two of the bodies were so badly decomposed that the county coroner could not determine exactly how they died, listing the cause of death as homicidal violence.

The autopsy on the 11th victim hasn't been completed because only her skull remained. Some of the victims may have been strangled by hand, said Dr. Frank Miller, the Cuyahoga County coroner.

Sowell has pleaded not guilty to killing the women and hiding their remains in and around his home in an impoverished neighborhood filled with abandoned homes. For months, a terrible smell of death wafted down the street where Sowell lived, but it was blamed on a sausage factory next door to his house.

Since the bodies were found in November, he has been charged with attacking five other women who survived.

Prosecutors say Sowell, 50, lured vulnerable women to his home with the promise of alcohol or drugs. Police discovered the first two bodies and a freshly dug grave after officers went to investigate a woman's report that she had been raped there.

The coroner said severe decomposition meant there was no scientific evidence of rapes.

Asked for comment about the autopsies, prosecutor's spokesman Ryan Miday said: "We look forward to holding Sowell accountable for all his heinous crimes."

Earlier Thursday, a county grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against Sowell, accusing him of attacking a woman at his home in September 2008, more than a year before the bodies were found. The woman told authorities Sowell beat her, raped her and held her against her will.

Defense attorneys for Sowell did not respond to requests for comment.

Last week, Sowell's lawyers told the judge they couldn't be ready for the scheduled June 2 trial in part because they hadn't received the final autopsy reports, preventing them from hiring experts to challenge that evidence.

Prosecutors said in response that they were pressing the coroner to get the reports completed.

Sowell's attorneys want the case moved out of Cleveland because of pretrial publicity, but the judge has refused.

Many of the women found in Sowell's home had been missing for weeks or months, and some had criminal records. Some victims' families said they believe police didn't take their disappearances seriously.

Crystal Dozier, 38, was buried in the backyard in plastic sheets, nude from the waist down. She was strangled with a knotted cloth. Her hands were bound at the wrist above her head, and her ankles were tied with cable wire. Dozier was last seen in October 2007. She lived a few miles away from Sowell's house.

Tishanna Culver, a 29-year-old beautician, lived a few houses away from Sowell. She was strangled, then wrapped in black plastic bags and stowed in a third-floor crawl space. Part of her neck was fractured. Her wrists were bound with knotted rope.

Culver, a mother of four, was seen for the last time in June 2008.

From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_re_us/us_cleveland_bodies_found

Charges against accused killer are upgraded

MONTICELLO – A 41-year-old Monticello man has been indicted by a Sullivan County grand jury on a charge of first degree murder in connection with the death of Ashley Osborne, 22, on October 10, 2009, at her Fallsburg home.

Herbert Junior had originally been indicted on a charge of second-degree murder and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

District Attorney James Farrell said the new indictment charges Junior, who was an acquaintance of the victim, with intentionally killing Osborne during the course of committing a criminal sexual act, an aggravating factor that elevates the charge to murder in the first degree.

The new indictment alleges that Junior had anal sexual contact with the victim by forcible compulsion and possessed and used four different weapons including a knife, screwdriver, box cutter and vegetable peeler to kill her.

Current New York State law does not permit the death penalty for first-degree murder, but Farrell said Junior faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole, if convicted.

Junior was arrested after a joint investigation by Fallsburg Police, State Police and the Sullivan County DA’s office. He has been remanded to the Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest last October.

From: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/March/31/Junior_indict-31Mar10.htm

Dad punches daughter's attacker, gets stiffer sentence

By QMI Agency

A New South Wales father who attacked one of the four teen boys who assaulted his daughter is facing a more severe punishment than they are, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Two teenage boys have been issued 18-month good behaviour bonds for their role in the sexual attack on a then-15-year-old girl after a football awards ceremony in 2008.

A good behaviour bond means they will not serve any jail time, so long as they comply with a list of requirements, such as remaining under the supervision of a probation officer.

The sentence was sparked by a plea bargain that dropped the charges from aggravated sexual assault, aggravated sexual intercourse with a child and aggravated indecent assault to just aggravated indecent assault.

The father, who attacked one of the teens, was issued a two-year good behaviour bond.

The girl and her father have since told the Daily Telegraph that they felt pressured by the accused boys' lawyers into signing the agreed statement of facts in the plea bargain, which painted a very different picture than the original statement she issued to police.

She told police that her clothes were forcibly ripped off in a bathroom, as the two boys raped and mocked her. She said she was almost passed out drunk.

The agreed upon statement of facts, however, refers to the incident simply as "sexual activity.” She alleges she was again attacked by two other boys in a bedroom. Those two have also pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault under the plea bargain deal and await sentencing.

From: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/04/01/13444736-qmi.html

Man rams car into parked plane in Nigeria

04/01/2010

(Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Angus MacSwan)

A man who claimed to have been sent by Jesus to punish sinners rammed his car into a parked plane at an airport in southeastern Nigeria , an aviation spokesman said Thursday.


No one was hurt in the incident Wednesday and the spokesman said Nigeria had no problem with security.

The United States put Nigeria on a list of countries needing to improve security after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested on suspicion of trying to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner in December using explosives hidden in his underwear.

"There is no problem at all at our airports, no cause for alarm, as we have the necessary security on the ground," said Akin Olukunle, spokesman for the Federal Airport Authority.

He said the driver had broken through two security gates at Calabar international airport and rammed his car into the Arik Air plane before soldiers arrested him.

The suspect was heard yelling that all Nigerians were sinners and must repent or perish, a reporter who was at the airport said. The man, who is from Nigeria's southeastern state of Akwa Ibom, said he had been sent by Jesus Christ.

Authorities were questioning him in Calabar.

The crew of the plane, which had arrived from Lagos and was on its way to the capital Abuja, were not injured and no passengers were on board at the time.

"Our men rushed to the scene and evacuated crew members on board," Olukunle said. "We have beefed up security."

A bomb squad found no explosives in the car and flights continued despite the incident.

From: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100401/tpl-oukoe-uk-nigeria-airport-81f3b62.html

Cops warn of house-breaking sicko; he's after sexual gratification not loot

Posted on Thu, Apr. 1, 2010

By DANA DiFILIPPO
Philadelphia Daily News

A pimple-faced pervert has been preying on young girls in the Castor Gardens and Oxford Circle neighborhoods, prompting police to urge citizens to take extra precautions as they scramble to identify and nab him.

The most recent incident occurred at 11 p.m. Tuesday, when a 12-year-old girl awoke in her duplex, on Kerper Street near Summerdale Avenue, to a man punching her, said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit. The child fought off the man, biting his finger as he punched her repeatedly in the face, Darby said. Her screams brought her mother running, and her attacker fled.

That attack was the third in five weeks in a rectangle stretching roughly from Knorr Street to just below Devereaux Avenue and between Large Street to just northwest of Summerdale Avenue, Darby said.

The first occurred Feb. 28 on Levick Street near Castor Avenue, when a 10-year-old girl awoke at 2:35 a.m. to find a hooded man standing over her, touching her, Darby said. The girl's screams alerted her 74-year-old babysitter, who pulled him off the child and bit his arm. He fled through the front door.

In the second case, the degenerate broke into a home on Lardner Street near Large about 12:55 a.m. on March 7. A 22-year-old woman awoke on her sofa to find a man masturbating in her dining room. She fled out her front door to a neighbor's house, while the masturbator escaped through her back door, Darby said.

In two cases, the thug entered the homes through unlocked doors or windows, Darby said.

"We have a warm weekend coming up," Darby said, adding that citizens should lock windows and doors despite the spring weather and ensure that their property is well-lit at night.

"We are asking folks that they pay particularly close attention and immediately call 9-1-1 if they're suspicious of anyone in the area," Darby added.

The molester is described as a black man of thin to medium build, age 18 to 22, about 6 feet tall. One victim reported that he had extensive facial acne or some sort of skin condition. Another reported that he had a neatly trimmed beard, bushy eyebrows and a chain hanging from his belt.

From: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/89667672.html

14-Year-Old Girl To Be Tried As Adult In Killing

3 Others Facing Charges; Victim Still Unidentified

By Steve Tellier/WLKY

POSTED: 8:13 pm EDT March 31, 2010
UPDATED: 8:26 am EDT April 1, 2010

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A 14-year-old girl will be tried as an adult -- along with three other adult male suspects -- for the robbery and alleged murder of a man police still haven't been able to identify.

Police said the slaying happened just after midnight on Dec. 4. Police found a man shot several times at the Preston Oaks Apartments on Quest Drive, apparently the result of a robbery.

The victim was rushed to the hospital where he died shortly after his arrival. At the time, there were no witnesses and no suspects -- not even an identity for the victim.

But just one week later, police arrested four people in connection with the crime. Cedrick Johnson, 26, Keith Fowler, 21, and Johnathon Downs, 19, were taken into custody -- along with a 14-year-old girl.

On Wednesday that juvenile, Devan Peterson, was indicted as an adult. She's being charged with murder, robbery and tampering with physical evidence. Peterson will turn 15 years old on Easter Sunday.

Meanwhile, police still don't know the name of the person she's accused of murdering. Police said the victim is a Hispanic male in his 30s and is likely from Mexico or Honduras. They've publicized his picture and even reached out to the Mexican Consulate, but their attempts to identify the man have been in vain.

But police said even an unidentified victim deserves justice.

Fowler, Johnson and Peterson are being charged with murder, in addition to other charges. Downs is only being charged with robbery, burglary and tampering with physical evidence.

Peterson is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. on Monday. The other three adult males are due back in court in April.

From: http://www.wlky.com/news/23019452/detail.html

Baby Sitter, Husband Face 1,000 Sex Abuse Charges

By Carissa Lawson/WLKY

POSTED: 5:39 pm EDT March 30, 2010
UPDATED: 10:08 am EDT March 31, 2010

MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. -- A baby sitter, her husband and four other men are accused of sexually molesting at least eight children who were under the baby sitter's care.

Patricia Buster and her husband, Kenny, face more than 1,000 charges for what the Munfordville police chief said happened inside their home over a 13-year span.

"It's really been unreal," Chief Greg Atwell.

"Basically, any of the children who went in the Buster house were potential victims," Atwell said.

Atwell said the couple's crimes first came to light when a relative and two friends accused the Busters of sexual abuse several years ago.

Kenny pleaded guilty in 2007; Patricia did the same in 2008.

In October 2009, a 15-year-old made new accusations.

"She's the one who come forth on her own, which I highly commend her, which started the second investigation," Atwell said.

That second investigation led to eight more victims who told the chief they were abused between 1990 and 2003.

The March 2 indictment against Patricia Buster listed 375 charges, including sex abuse, sodomy and rape.

The indictment against Kenny Buster listed 718 counts of similar charges.

Police said the investigation also revealed the Busters allowed two of Kenny's brothers, Palmer and Harold Buster, and two friends, Mark Puckett and Leslie Melton, to abuse the children.

"That's very scary to know. You take your child to someone to baby-sit your child and for the child to be done that way," Munfordville resident Kim O'Neal said.

O'Neal said she's following the case closely because something similar happened to her daughter.

"It causes you to be angry and makes you want to do things you never thought you'd have in your head because it's your child that's been hurt," O'Neal said.

Atwell said he believes there are more victims he hasn't been able to find, but he won't give up.

"When you get something this big, where does it stop? Will we ever get them all? It's hard to say," Atwell said.

Kenny Buster is serving an 18-year prison sentence on the original counts of rape and incest.

Patricia, Palmer and Harold Buster, along with Melton and Puckett, are each being held at the Hart County Jail on $200,000 cash bonds.

Atwell said this should be a reminder to parents to be extremely careful about choosing a babysitter. Parents should ask their kids if they feel comfortable returning to a babysitter, as well.

From: http://www.wlky.com/news/23005279/detail.html

New Jersey Teen Accused of Selling Stepsister, 7, For Sex

Posted: Wednesday, 31 March 2010 6:23PM

TRENTON, N.J. (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- It started with a seemingly innocent party invitation. A 15-year-old girl and her 7-year-old stepsister were headed to an apartment down the street from their home near the New Jersey Statehouse, where they had been hanging around outside on a Sunday afternoon.

For the younger girl, police say it quickly descended into a horrifying ordeal in which she was gang-raped by as many as seven men as her sister not only watched, but got paid by those who did it.

Their parents, none the wiser, thought maybe they had run away.

"We're talking about a kid who told her sister to go into an apartment and let people rape her," said Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak. "It's unfathomable."

The teen has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes. Her name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult. In the meantime, she is being held at the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.

When the girls didn't return home by 4:30 Sunday afternoon, their parents called police, believing the older one had run away from home and taken her younger sister with her.

In fact, they were down the street inside a 13th floor apartment at Rowan Towers, a nearby high-rise complex so dangerous that Trenton police are hired as security guards at night.

"They keep it clean on the outside, but it's what's on the inside that you have to worry about," said neighbor William Johnson, who says police are coming out of the building all the time.

Inside apartment 13-C, police said the 7-year-old was soon left alone as her sister headed to a back bedroom to sell sex to several men. When she came out into the living room, she handed her 7-year-old sister money and encouraged her to let the men touch her.

"It went from touching to straight out assault and rape," Juniak said. "They threatened to kill her if she screamed or told anyone."

Afterward, the child put on her clothes and left. Her sister stayed behind with the men.

Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home, where police were waiting.

The child told them what happened and was treated at a hospital. When police located the 15-year-old later that night, she also told them what happened and was arrested.

Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said the crimes are among the worst he's seen in 20 years as mayor.

"It's sickening," he said. "The police are taking this personal. I know there's a place in hell for all the people that participated in this and I'm sure they will get there."

"Personally, as a father with a 7-year-old daughter, I can't imagine the horror," Palmer added.

Lauren Kidd, a spokeswoman for New Jersey's Children and Families department, said state and federal confidentiality laws prohibit the agency from commenting about possible prior involvement with the family. But Juniak indicated the department may have had previous contact with the older girl.

Police are now scouring video surveillance from lobby and elevator cameras to try to identify everyone at the party. They believe there were about a dozen people in the apartment, mostly teenage boys and young men whom police say likely broke in -- a fairly common occurrence in the crime-plagued neighborhood that sits in the shadow of the Statehouse's golden dome.

Last week, police responded to a home invasion there and a shooting just outside the lobby.

Police Director Irving Bradley Jr. said the building's management company, Interstate Realty Management Company, has been working with police to curb the violence.

"This is incredibly disturbing," said Laura Zaner, a spokeswoman for IRM.

Two private security guards man the lobby doors during the day. At 5 p.m., two Trenton police officers take over.

Bradley said the company is in the process of installing more cameras and had just hired a third officer to work the night shift to allow two officers to do hourly hallway patrols. He said Sunday may have been the first day they were supposed to have started the patrols.

Chalia Johnkins, who lives around the corner from the Towers, said gatherings of young men are commonplace, and that police should have known something unsavory was happening.

"The police who were supposed to be on patrol should be held responsible," she said. "They could have prevented this. These weren't regular guards. They were police and they still didn't see the baby crying?"

Annette Lartique, the city councilwoman who represents the area where the crime occurred, said the community would expect nothing less than the prosecution of everyone involved to the fullest extent of the law.

"I know we are going to send a message on this one," she said. "Everybody will pay a price, from the person who opened the door to the person who pushed the elevator button."

From: http://www.1010wins.com/Cops--Teen-Sold-Lil--Sis-For-Sex/6698090