Man bites snake to death in revenge attack

A Nepalese farmer who was bitten by a venomous snake took revenge by sinking his teeth into the reptile and killing it, police said on Thursday.

Mohamed Salmo Miya was farming near his village 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Kathmandu when he encountered the deadly common cobra, district police chief Uma Prasad Chatrubedi told AFP.

"A farmer in Bardanga village has killed a white cobra with his teeth out of anger," he said. "The snake bit him while he was working in his paddy field on Tuesday evening and the man chased it and killed it."

Miya was treated at a local clinic and is recovering at home.

"I was very angry after the snake bit into me. Then I followed the snake, grabbed it and bit it to death," the 55-year-old told the Nepali-language Annapurna Post.

"I could have killed it with a stick but I was mad with anger and wanted to take revenge. I killed it with my teeth."

Nepal has a wide variety of poisonous and non-venomous snakes, which are particularly active during the summer monsoon, including the Indian rock python, which can grow up to 10 metres (33 feet) long, and the deadly king cobra.

Conservative estimates suggest that there are 20,000 cases of snake bites in Nepal a year, almost all in the Terai southern plains, causing around 1,000 deaths.

The two-metre common cobra, which accounts for the majority of bites, is worshipped by Hindus in some parts of Nepal.
Culled fro TIMES OF INDIA

Dad allegedly admits throwing 3-mth old daughter into into the river

Raheem

Shamsiddin Abdur Raheem, 24, confessed at least five times that he threw his 3-month-old daughter off a bridge on the Garden State Parkway, into a river, in February 2010, a jury heard today in New Brunswick.

State Deputy Attorney General Andrew Fried outlined in his opening remarks the confessions and other evidence he has that Abdur-Raheem is guilty of the murder of Zara Malani-Lin Abdur-Raheem, and the attempted murder of the child's grandmother, Leno Benjamin, who was then 60.

The trial is before Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz.

Abdur-Raheem's attorney, Michael Priarone, asked the jury to "keep an open mind," during the presentation of testimony and that, in the end, the jurors will "have reasonable doubt" that Abdur-Raheem is guilty of murder and that there is "no evidence" that he tried to kill Benjamin.

Fried said he has video recordings that showed Abdur-Raheem enter the East Orange apartment building where Benjamin lived with her daughter, Venetta, the baby's mother, on Feb. 16, 2010, and leave, running, with the baby. He said he will also show the jury video recordings of Abdur-Raheem putting the baby into a maroon van and striking Leno Benjamin when she tried to stop him by planting herself in the front of the van.

Fried said Abdur-Raheem had made several attempts to arrange a visit with the baby earlier in the day, but showed up at the East Orange apartment sometime in the afternoon after he was not able to reach either Venetta Benjamin or her mother.


The prosecutor said Leno Benjamin told Abdur-Raheem to leave after he entered her apartment, but he grabbed the baby's arm and tried to wrestle her away from the woman.

"At some point, he decides that he's going to see this baby and no one's going to stop him," Fried said.

He said when Benjamin won't give him the baby, Abdur-Raheem knocked the woman to the ground, punched her in the face, choked her and smashed her head on the floor. Fearing the baby would be harmed, Benjamin loosened her grip on Zara and Abdur-Raheem grabbed the infant and fled, with Benjamin chasing him, Fried said.

While East Orange police, who were summoned, were looking for the child, Abdur-Raheem fled south on the Garden State Parkway toward his Atlantic County home, stopping on the Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge, where he pulled over to the shoulder, got the baby from the back seat and threw or dropped her into the Raritan River, 140 feet below, Fried told the jury.Afterward, Abdur-Raheem went to Atlantic City, to his family's mosque and sought the counsel of his Imam, confessing to him what he had just done. The Imam brought Abdur-Raheem to his parents' home, where he confessed to them. His father called police and he then related to the officers what he had done with his daughter. He then gave two statements to investigators, one stating his prior confession was the truth and the other, again, detailing, what he did to the baby.

"They hoped he was lying and the baby was still alive," Fried said, especially after a massive search of the river for two days came up empty.

The baby's body was found more than two months later, on the river banks by the Route 35 Victory Bridge.

Abdur-Raheem is charged with murder, kidnapping, attempted murder, endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault.

The case is being tried by the Attorney General's Office, because it involves incidents in Essex and Middlesex counties. The trial is expected to take about three weeks.
Culled from nj.com (The Star Ledger)

18yr old boy gets $4.5m compensation for brain injury

Steven Domalewski(m)

Louisville Slugger and Little League Baseball will pay a New Jersey boy $14.5 million to settle a lawsuit after he was left brain damaged.

Steven Domalewski was struck in the chest by a line drive that stopped his heart while he was playing in a youth baseball game in 2006.

He was pitching in a Police Athletic League game when the batter rocketed a line drive off a metal bat. The ball slammed into his chest, just above his heart, sending him into cardiac arrest. Domalewski's brain went without oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes.

Domalewski is now 18 and lives in Wayne.

Arlene Domalewski, the teen’s sister, told NorthJersey.com that her brother does not attend school and still receives therapy. She reportedly said he can speak in short bursts, but uses a wheelchair and cannot communicate freely.

"He knows what's going on," she told the paper. She said he watches baseball and just recently went to a Yankees game.


The family's lawyer says the money will ensure Domalewski is taken care of for life.
Culled from FOX NEWS

UK bans 'Pastor' who heals people by kicking them with foot

Bentley

A ' religious healer' who claims he can cure people by kicking them has been banned from the UK - after the Home Office deemed he could "undermine" British society.

The 36-year-old preacher previously claimed he cured a man of cancer by kicking him in the chest.

He is quoted by The Huffington Post discussing kicking an elderly woman in the face saying "just as my boot made contact with her nose, she fell under the power of God."

A Home Office spokesperson told The Huffington Post UK: “We can confirm that Mr Bentley has been excluded from the UK. The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they are not conducive to the public good.

"Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who might seek to undermine our society.”

Bentley said in a statement he was "deeply saddened" and was praying for the UK leaders.

"I am deeply saddened by the recent decision of the UK government regarding my entry into the country. At this point, we are thankful to God for the support from our friends in the UK who truly love Jesus and embrace the supernatural, faith and healing.

"We know and believe that the UK has a great destiny, and we are praying for the leaders and those in government. Please continue to stand with us in prayer regarding this decision and our return to the UK."

But spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church welcomed the decision, saying: “The violent activities reported as part of Mr Bentley’s faith healing technique have no part whatsoever in our understanding of a loving, caring and compassionate ministry that is sought often by weak, frail and distressed people."

“The Home Office has a responsibilty to protect vulnerable people and in the light of what we know, is wise to respond in the way it has.”

It's not the first time the Home Office has banned 'controversial' religious figures with the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, being banned from the UK in 2009.
Culled from HUFFPOST

Alleged murder: 70-yr-old referee arrested over death of 80-yr-old husband

Ann Goodman

A professional tennis referee from Los Angeles was arrested Tuesday in New York City on a felony warrant charging her with killing her elderly husband in April.

The district attorney's office said 70-year-old Lois Ann Goodman, a longtime top referee on the tennis circuit, was taken into custody as she prepared to work at the U.S. Open tournament.

She was charged with murdering her 80-year-old husband, Alan Goodman, in their home in Woodland Hills, Calif. Prosecutors allege she bludgeoned him to death with a coffee mug on April 17.

When the death was reported. Lois Goodman told police it appeared to have been an accident.

She said she had been out all day and was refereeing a tennis match, according to Lt. David Storaker of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"She arrived home and she said the house was locked up," he said.

When Goodman found her husband unresponsive in bed, "she said she surmised he had fallen down the steps, had a heart attack and managed to get back upstairs to the bed," Storaker said.

"It was a suspicious death from the beginning," he added.

Los Angeles County coroner's office spokesman Ed Winter said Alan Goodman's body was immediately transported to a mortuary.

"We sent investigators to the mortuary, and we noticed that his injuries were inconsistent with a fall," Winter said. "The autopsy revealed he had multiple sharp force injuries about the head."

Storaker said officers later returned to the scene with a search warrant and found evidence inconsistent with Goodman's story. He said the amount of blood in the condo did not suggest a fall. They also found a broken coffee mug.

Winter said the coroner's office worked on the case with Los Angeles police and eventually it was ruled a homicide and presented to the district attorney's office.

"We believe we know what the motive is, but we don't want to taint anything by releasing that," Storaker said. "We know they were together at several locations during that day and would like to talk to people who saw them."

The couple had been married for several decades and had three children.

Goodman is in custody in New York awaiting extradition to Los Angeles. A warrant for her arrest was issued on Aug. 14.

Prosecutors said they would ask that her bail be set at $1 million.

If convicted, she could be sentenced to life in prison.
Culled from FOXNEWS

Dealers hustle for support as City politicians set to ban marijuana usage in LA

Ahead of the September 6th deadline given to marijuana dealers in Los Angeles, many dispensaries have recently been gathering signatures in support of a ballot to push for a referendum to overturn the ban.
.
A US medicinal marijuana trade group is suing the city of Los Angeles to try to stop it from enforcing a ban that would close hundreds of dispensaries.
The Patient Care Alliance Los Angeles (PCA-LA) says users are protected by California's 1996 legalisation of medicinal marijuana.
The LA city council last month passed a law to ban the dispensaries.
It said the use of the drug was spiralling out of control, leading to an increase in crime in the city.
"The city council's actions are not only reckless, heartless and pointless, they're just plain stupid," Marc O'Hara of PCA-LA was quoted as saying by the NBC News.
"The city knows that it will never be able to successfully defend this lawsuit," he added.
City politicians unanimously approved the ban on 24 July.
The vote followed complaints that young people had too easy access to the drug and were illegally using it for recreational purposes, in turn leading to an increase in crimes in areas where marijuana was for sale.
Earlier this week, the council sent out letters to locations where dispensaries were thought to be operating, stating that such businesses would become illegal on 6 September.
Culled from BBC

Nigerian arrested with 8.5kg of methamphetamine en route to India

Izunna

Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have apprehended a 26-year-old man in connection with 8.5kg of methamphetamine concealed inside metal pipes.
The suspect, Afunaya Thaddeus Izunna, who sells phone accessories at Ikeja, Lagos, was found to be in possession of the narcotic drug during the screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight to New Delhi, India at the weekend.
The drug, worth N27 million, was discovered when anti-narcotic officers insisted on searching the metal pipes inside his luggage.
The NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, said t

hat the drug, with a total weight of 8.5kg, is one of the highest seizures recently recorded at the Lagos airport.
Hamza said: “This is one of the largest seizures recorded at the Lagos airport in recent time.
“It was a clever mode of concealment but I am glad we were able to detect it and the suspect apprehended.
“The case is under investigation.”
According to the suspect, who is married with two children, his role in the criminal act was to deliver the drug.
Izunna said: “I am a trader.
“I sell phone accessories at Ikeja to take care of my wife and two children.
“It was a friend that gave me the metal pipes that I should take them to India for a fee.
“I did not know when, how and where it was packed.
“I was only given the bag containing the pipes.
“Unfortunately, when I got to the airport during screening, NDLEA officers discovered the drug and I was arrested.
“This is my first time of smuggling drugs.
“I hope my wife will understand and forgive me.”
Izunna hails from Anambra State.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, expressed delight over the arrest and seizure, describing it as a good signal.
Giade said: “This is a spectacular seizure because the drug was carefully concealed in a way that makes detection difficult.
“The significance is that a warning signal has been sent to the enemy camp that one of their best tricks is not good enough.
“This has been my position and order to the officers that drugs should be intercepted regardless of the mode of concealment.”
The suspect will soon be charged to court.
Culled from SUN

Fugitive child-sex suspect busted in Mexico after 12yrs on the run

Thomason


A man accused of using illegal drugs to entice underage girls into sex is behind bars in Virginia after 12 years on the run.

Wesley Thomason, 39, was caught by Mexican authorities in Lake Chapala, a resort community near Guadalajara, WTTG-TV reported.

Fairfax County Police Officer Bud Walker said Thomason was videotaping his encounters with minors without their knowledge. He was arrested in 2000, when he was 27, on sex crime charges.

He was released from jail pending his trial, and he took the opportunity to flee the U.S.

The U.S. Marshals Service believed he might have gone to Mexico, and shared information on him with Mexican authorities, who arrested him last month, according to Walker.

He was extradited to Los Angeles, and then taken back to Fairfax County Jail, where he was held before he fled the country.

Now cops are asking any victims he may have assaulted in Mexico to come forward.

He has not yet been charged as a fugitive, according to WTTG.
Culled from DAILY NEWS

Gay Lawmaker comes under attack for engaging in sex with 17yr old at a rest stop.

Gauthier


Democratic leaders in Minnesota are demanding a State lawmaker withdraw from his re-election bid after police claim he admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old boy at a rest stop.

While Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, will lose support from fellow Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party members if he continues with his campaign, party leaders stopped short Monday of asking him to immediately resign.

The first-term legislator wasn’t charged in the alleged July 22 encounter because the legal age of consent in Minnesota is 16 and no money was exchanged, according to the St. Louis County attorney’s office. Police say the two had oral sex behind a rest stop pavilion in Duluth after the teen responded to Gauthier’s Craigslist ad looking for a “no strings attached” sex.

Police reports made public last week say Gauthier came clean about the rest stop rendezvous.

The teen reportedly told officials that Gauthier was a stranger and he lied to the unmarried lawmaker when he said he was 18 years old.

Troopers were alerted to the alleged incident by a woman at the rest stop who was complaining about a male urinating on her car.

Trooper Scott Parker wrote in a report that he came across another man — later identified as Gauthier — behind a rest area building, the Duluth News Tribune reported.

“It was at that time I noted his zipper was open and part of his shirt was hanging out. I asked him why his zipper was down and he said he didn’t know,” Parker wrote. “I told him to zip it up and leave. The male seemed nervous.” Gauthier took office last year representing the Duluth area in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement Monday that Gauthier’s actions are “inexcusable.”

“No one in our party condones what he did, nor will we defend him in this matter,” Martin said, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Gauthier, who was admitted to a hospital last week for shortness of breath after the scandal broke, didn’t comment Monday.

He first told the Duluth News Tribune last Tuesday that the alleged encounter is “a private matter and I don’t need to talk about it.”

House Speaker Kurt Zellers, a Republican, said Friday that Gauthier should resign before his term expires.

The scandal has hurt Democrats’ hopes of retaking at least one chamber of the state Legislature. They need to pick up at least six seats in the House, and Gauthier’s Duluth-area seat usually is reliably Democratic.

But if he drops out, any Democrat seeking to replace him would have to run as a write-in candidate, making the race much more difficult to win.
Culled from DAILY NEWS

Police arrests Delaware employees for running 'toddler fight club'

Meyers


Three employees of a Delaware daycare were arrested Monday after police say a ‘disturbing’ cell phone video allegedly captured two toddlers participating in an organized fistfight.

The Hands of Our Future LLC Daycare in Dover also had its license suspended pending a hearing, CBS 3 in Philadelphia reported.

Three of the center’s employees — Tiana Harris, 19; Estefania Myers, 21; and Lisa Parker, 47 — are accused of forcing two 3-year-olds to strike one another in the head and face repeatedly last March.

Harris



“It’s shocking, disturbing and infuriating to watch this video that shows the two children whaling on each other,” Dover Police Capt. Tim Stump told The News Journal. “These are our most precious cargo and to have adults responsible for caring for their well -being to have them behave as such is sickening.”

Parker



While the footage was not released publicly, police said one of the children could be heard yelling, “He’s pinching me,” and then a worker responding, “No pinching, only punching,” CBS reported.

“Clearly one of the children is crying and does not want to continue on and he is pushed back into the fray by one of the adults,” Stump told the station.


Court records say Parker allegedly forced one of the toddlers who was being hit to “continue in the physical altercation,” while Harris and Myers allegedly looked on laughing and spurred on the slugging, according to The News Journal.

Police met with parents Monday to answer questions about the incident. It wasn’t immediately clear what injuries the tots may have suffered.

Parent Cristyl Slack told CBS that her 4-year-old daughter was at the daycare on the day of the fight.

“That pissed me off just because I feel if my daughter is around anything, I should have known that day,” Slack said. “It’s very disturbing to think anything like that could go on,” another mom, Amy Bickerling, told The News Journal. “I know these teachers. I go on all the field trips. I’ve never seen anything irregular.”

Police were shown the video by a man while investigating an unrelated incident.

Harris, Myers and Parker were each charged with assault, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangering and conspiracy, according to reports.

The daycare’s owner couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.

The Hands of Our Future Day care at 868 S. State St. in Dover, Delaware.



Culled from DAILY NEWS

Male model jailed for 'sadistic' attack on girlfriend after sex party

Ribbsaeter

A male model,Patrick Ribbsaeter, has been jailed for five years for attacking his girlfriend after they attended an upmarket sex party.

Swede Patrick Ribbsaeter, 32, was found guilty at the Old Bailey last month of causing grievous bodily harm to Wachirapom Sara-Pod.Miss Sara-Pod, 35, who is also a model, fled her car wearing nothing but a fur coat after Ribbsaeter attacked her last October.

The male model had caught her in a toilet cubicle with another man at the Killing Kittens swingers party in Soho, central London.

Ribbsaeter had demonstrated "sadistic pleasure" during the two hours he had attacked Miss Sara-Pod as he drove her towards her home.

Miss Sara-Pod was left with a haemorrhage in her right eye and extensive bruising and swelling on her face after Ribbsaeter flew into a jealous rage.

Ribbsaeter was in breach of a community order imposed by magistrates a year ago for hitting Miss Sara-Pod, who is known as Anna, and damaging her car radio.

He denied hitting her and said he had not been jealous but just concerned because she was "wasted" after taking cocaine.

Ribbsaeter said: "It was a sex party. Everyone was having sex."

Ribbsaeter, of Streatham, south London, also had a conviction for assaulting a girlfriend in Sweden, but was cleared in London two years ago of assaulting the chauffeur of his former Saudi princess girlfriend.

The "elite" Killing Kittens sex parties were set up by socialite Emma Sayle, who once took part in a charity rowing event with Kate Middleton before her marriage to Prince William.

Camilla de Silva, prosecuting, told the jury: "This was a party called Killing Kittens, which for those of you not in the know is a swingers' party.

"This is where paying customers attend with a view to having sex with other people.

"Miss Sara-Pod went into one of the toilet cubicles with a male friend to take some cocaine.

"Mr Ribbsaeter also went into the toilet and found Miss Sara-Pod there. This angered him and there was an argument."

As Ribbsaeter drove her home later, he began "a prolonged and sustained verbal and physical assault" as he asked if she had sex with the man at the club.

Miss De Silva said: "At one point he stopped the car and grabbed her hair and hit her head against the console and window.

"The beating continued until at one stage he suggested they have sex. She agreed because she thought it would calm him down."

But after, he began attacking her again as they sat in the back of her Land Rover Discovery car.

"At one point he also put his hands around her throat pushing her head into the seat so she felt she was being choked. With blood in her mouth she found it hard to breathe," said Miss de Silva.

"This only stopped because he thought she was losing consciousness.

"He then got into the front seat again. She then took the opportunity to grab her coat and flee out of the car towards a garage."
Culled from HUFF POST

Judge rejects $20m settlement by Facebook over users' privacy violation

Seeborg

A federal judge has rejected Facebook's settlement offer in a class-action privacy lawsuit over the use of users' names and faces in "Sponsored Stories" advertisements. With Sponsored Stories, which rolled out in January of 2011, your "likes" on a brand's page can result in your name and profile picture being shown as endorsements in that brand's advertisements on the site. Users were not given an option to opt-out of the feature. The lawsuit, filed last year, alleged that the practice is a violation of Facebook users' privacy. Under Facebook's proposed deal to settle the lawsuit, it would have given users more control over their "likes," including the opportunity for users under the age of 18 to opt-out of Sponsored Stories completely. The company would have also paid $10 million to the plaintiff's legal team and another $10 million to pro-privacy organizations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation. U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, who made his uneasiness about the deal known earlier this month, has now firmly rejected it on the basis that the monetary amounts seemed to have been "merely plucked from thin air," according to Wired. Seeborg argued that the deal didn't do enough to address the damages of the 100 million Facebook users who have already appeared in Sponsored Stories. He wrote in his decision that under California law, each party to the lawsuit could be awarded up to $750. Culled from YAHOO NEWS

Alleged harrassment by seniors: Army officer refuses to climb down a 200 ft tower

An Indian Army officer who climbed a 200 feet high mobile tower on Friday 17th August in protest against alleged harrassment by his superior officers has refused to come down. Vice Chief of Army staff Lieutenant General SK Singh visited the spot on Saturday and tried to persuade him to come down. Lt Gen Singh spoke to K Muthu, who is attached with the Engineers Regiment, on phone for over 30 minutes, army officials said. Mr Muthu, however, was not ready to believe that it was the Army Vice Chief himself talking to him and refused to climb down, they said. The officials said they will continue its efforts to convince him. Alleging harassment by seniors, 35-year-old Muthu had climbed the tower at Ajmeri Gate on August 17 and refused to come down despite appeals by police and Army officers. He is demanding an audience with Defence Minister AK Antony. Mr Muthu, who lives in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, has alleged he was transferred five times in five years. "This is not a problem faced by me alone. I'm presenting the problems faced by many jawans in Army," he had said. On Friday, Mr Muthu had thrown a bunch of papers, and in one of the letters he had demanded his discharge from service due to alleged harassment by seniors. In the letter, he had also requested the commanding officer to get his salary of the last eight months cleared. Called from NDTV

83yr old California man pleads guilty to murdering 94yr-old roommate

McDougall

An 83-year-old man,McDougall, has been convicted in the beating death of his 94-year-old roommate at a California health care facility, an attack prosecutors say was triggered by the older man's singing. A district attorney's statement says William Leo McDougall was convicted Friday in Orange County Superior Court. McDougall and Manh Van Nguyen were both recovering from hip surgery at Palm Terrace Healthcare Center in Laguna Woods on Oct. 1, 2010. Prosecutors say McDougall got mad because Nguyen was singing in Vietnamese, so he took a wooden rod from the closet and hit his roommate repeatedly in the head. A nurse stopped the attack, but Nguyen later died due to blunt force trauma. McDougall will be sentenced Oct. 26. Culled from HUFF POST

28yr old Teacher gets 5yrs in prison for engaging in group sex with teenage students

Colleps

A Texas High school teacher who engaged in group sex with five of her students have been sentenced to 5 years in prison. Brittni Colleps, 28, showed little emotion as the guilty verdict was read. The trial contained salacious and sometimes embarrassing testimony for both the students and Colleps. Jurors watched a video of Colleps having sex with at least two students, read racy text messages and listened to the young men recount what happened during their group sex encounters. All of the young men were at least 18 at the time of the encounters, which happened in the spring of 2011. However, Texas law makes it illegal for an educator to have a sexual relationship with a student, no matter what the age. On the stand on Thursday, one of the former students testified he did not feel like a victim at the time. When asked by the defense attorney if he felt like a victim now, the young man replied, "No." Colleps did cry at one point in court, indicating she never wanted the case to go to trial. It took jurors only about an hour to convict Colleps. But it took them longer to decide she should receive five years behind bars. She had faced between two and 20 years in prison for each count or could have received probation. Her husband took the stand during the punishment phase of the trial and asked the jury to give his wife probation for the sake of their children. He said he was very angry and hurt by his wife's actions, but admitted the two of them have had group sex with other consenting adults in the past. He also said people who call him an idiot for wanting to remain married to her just don't understand. Culled from myfoxdfw.com

Brutalised by husband: Woman dies after spending 21yrs in coma

Funeral services are scheduled for a western New York woman for spent more than 21 years in a coma after being beaten by her husband. The Buffalo News reports that 51-year-old Bernadette Jones died last Sunday of pneumonia at her family's home in the city of Niagara Falls. The newspaper reports that her drunken husband beat her into a coma in April 1991. Jones never woke up, although family members say eventually she could open one of her eyes and move her arms. Jones spent eight months in the hospital after the beating, then was brought to her family's home, where a special room was set up for her in the basement. That's where her family cared for her for the next two decades. Her funeral is being held Friday morning at a Niagara Falls church. Culled from FOX NEWS, Pix from BUFFALO NEWS

South African police kill more than 30 striking miners

South African police officers killed more than 30 armed miners who charged them at a Lonmin PLC platinum mine, authorities said on Friday, as a national newspaper warned the time bomb ticking over poor South Africans has exploded. Thursday's shootings are one of the worst in South Africa since the end of the apartheid era, and are seen as deepening the rift between the country's governing African National Congress and an impoverished electorate confronting massive unemployment and growing poverty and inequality. They "awaken us to the reality of the time bomb that has stopped ticking - it has exploded," The Sowetan newspaper said in an editorial. "Africans are pitted against each other ... fighting for a bigger slice of the mineral wealth of the country. In the end the war claims the very poor African - again." Police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi told The Associated Press on Friday that more than 30 people were killed. He said an investigation into the shooting near Marikana, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, is underway. Political parties and labour unions, including the African National Congress, called for an independent inquiry. Provincial health spokesman Tebogo Lekgethwane said no wounded people have been treated at nearby hospitals. Shocked South Africans watched replay after replay of video of the shooting that erupted Thursday afternoon after police failed to get the striking miners to hand over machetes, clubs and other weapons. Some miners did leave, though others carrying weapons began war chants and soon started marching toward the township near the mine, said Molaole Montsho, a journalist with the South African Press Association who was at the scene. The police opened up with a water cannon first, then used stun grenades and tear gas to try and break up the crowd, Montsho said. Suddenly, a group of miners rushed through the underbrush and tear gas at a line of police officers. Officers immediately opened fire, with miners falling to the ground. Dozens of shots were fired by police armed with automatic rifles and pistols. Images broadcast by private e.tv station carried the sound of a barrage of automatic gunfire that ended with police officers shouting: "Cease fire!" By that time, bodies were lying in the dust, some pouring blood. Another image showed some miners, their eyes wide, looking in the distance at heavily armed police officers in riot gear. Poor South Africans protest daily across the country for basic services like running water, housing and better health and education - all of which were promised when racist white rule ended with the first democratic elections in 1994. Protests often turn violent, with people charging that ANC leaders have joined the white minority that continues to enrich itself while life becomes ever harder for the black majority. Police often are accused of using undue force. Still, Thursday's shooting appalled the country, recalling images of white police firing at anti-apartheid protesters in the 1960s and 1970s, though in this case it was mostly black police firing at black mine workers. It remains unclear what sparked the miners' fatal charge at police. Mnisi, the police ministry spokesman, claimed the miners shot at police as well, using one of the weapons they stole from two policemen whom they battered to death Monday. "We had a situation where people who were armed to the teeth, attack and killed others - even police officers," the spokesman said in a statement Thursday night. "What should police do in such situations when clearly what they are face with are armed and hardcore criminals who murder police?" President Jacob Zuma said he was "shocked and dismayed at this senseless violence." "We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence," Zuma said in a statement. Lonmin PLC chairman Roger Phillimore issued a statement Friday saying the deaths were deeply regretted. But he emphasized the mine considers it "clearly a public order rather than a labor relations associated matter." In a statement earlier Thursday, Lonmin had said striking workers would be fired if they did not appear at their shifts Friday. "The striking (workers) remain armed and away from work," the statement read. "This is illegal." While the initial walkout and protest focused on wages, the ensuing violence has been fueled by the struggles between the dominant National Union of Mineworkers and the upstart and more radical Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. Disputes between the two unions escalated into violence earlier this year at another mine. The Congress of South African Trade Unions said the violence is being orchestrated. "Broadly we believe there is an orchestration, a planned violence, because the violence that people are seeing today has been going on since January," said general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. Mining drives the economy of South Africa, which remains one of the world's dominant producers of platinum, gold and chromium. Lonmin is the world's third largest platinum producer and its mine at Marikana produces 96 percent of all its platinum. The violence has shaken the precious metals market, as platinum futures ended up $39, or 2.8 percent, at $1,435.20 an ounce in trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Lonmin stock plunged 6.76 percent Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. The company's stock value has dropped more than 12 percent since the start of the unrest. Culled from NDTV

Man in police net for threatening teenage girl with HIV infested syringe

Steverding

A homeless man who allegedly threatened a teenage girl with a syringe he claimed was filled with HIV-tainted blood outside a Massachusetts pharmacy has been arrested by the police. Scott Steverding was arrested overnight by Waltham investigators in Cambridge on a warrant and is schedule to be arraigned Thursday on charges that include attempted murder, armed carjacking and assault with a dangerous weapon. Police say Steverding, 30, threatened the 17-year-old girl on Tuesday morning, then stole her vehicle, a 1999 Jeep Cherokee, and her purse with about $200 in cash, almost striking the girl as he drove away. Using surveillance video, police identified the suspect as Steverding. WHDH.com reported that police say the video shows a man approach the girl and threaten her with the syringe. She got out of the car and walked behind the Jeep. "He ended up speeding toward her, so she had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit," Detective Sgt. Joseph Guigna of the Waltham Police Department said, according to the station. Steverding is also a suspect in a robbery at a city gas station on Monday. Culled from FOX NEWS

Polytechnic student commits suicide because of Facebook posts

Sharma

Raksha Sharma, a student of computer engineering at the MCM Polytechnic College in Jalandhar,India was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room on Tuesday morning with a suicide note blaming two former students of the same college-both male- for harassing her and posting comments on Facebook that distressed her. In the suicide note, 20 year old Raksha Sharma alleged that she was distressed so much by the comments made to her by the two boys such that she decided to put an end to the harassment by committing suicide. The police have arrested the two boys, who say they are not guilty. Raksha was orphaned when her parents were killed in 1997 by militants in Jammu. A local orphanage affiliated to an NGO SOS Village has been looking after her over the years and was her guardian."I haven't spoken to her in three months, and she even considered me as her brother. I don't know how my name has come up in her note. I am ready for any investigation," says Luvpreet Singh, 21 years old, one of the accused.The other boy admits that he posted comments but says she had responded online to his remarks, and did not seem agitated. "I feel bad she killed herself but I am not responsible," says Deepak Saini , 21 years old. "We would speak to her very often and check about her studies, but she never mentioned this harassment to us. We are really shocked," says Prasanjeet Das, the Director of the SOS village Jammu. The police say they found no computer in Raksha's room but will go through her Facebook account to verify the allegations in the suicide note. Culled from NDTV

French footballers to stand trial for soliciting underaged prostitute

Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema

Two French football stars, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, are to stand trial over allegations that they solicited an under-age prostitute. An investigating magistrate in Paris ruled that they should be tried along with seven others over the affair, which broke before the 2010 World Cup. Both deny the claims and the girl involved, Zahia Dehar, has said neither player knew she was 16 at the time. Ribery's team, Germany's Bayern Munich, has given the footballer its backing. His lawyer, Sophie Bottai, told AFP news agency she was astonished by the magistrate's decision, after a previous judge had said there was no case to answer against the two French internationals. Some of those facing trial have been charged with "aggravated pimping". Soliciting sex with an under-age prostitute is punishable in France by up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of 45,000 euros (£35,000; $55,000). Both Ribery and Benzema are expected to play when France takes on Uruguay in a friendly in the French city of Le Havre on Wednesday evening - the team's first match under new coach Didier Deschamps. The Zahia affair emerged two years ago as police investigated claims that a Paris nightclub had given access to under-age prostitutes. The allegations date back to 2008 and 2009. Ms Bottai said the news that her client would be put on trial was "as surprising as it is unfair". "But I remain confident about the outcome of the process," she added. Matthias Sammer, director of Bayern Munich, told German sports news agency SID that they were aware of the situation. "We will tell him that we stand by him and that he will get our best support," he said. Representing Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, lawyer Sylvain Cormier said his client was innocent and he would "give his explanation before the tribunal". France's football coach said the matter was in judicial hands and did not affect the players' role on the football pitch or in the national team. Culled from BBC