Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes
TheStar.com - World - Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes
March 09, 2009
Maggie Michael
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO–A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in jail for mingling with two young men who are not close relatives, drawing new criticism for the kingdom's ultraconservative religious police and judiciary.
The woman's lawyer told The Associated Press on Monday that he would appeal the verdict against Khamisa Sawadi, who is Syrian but was married to a Saudi. The lawyer, Abdel Rahman al-Lahem, said the verdict issued March 3 also demands that Sawadi be deported after serving her sentence.
He said his client, who is not serving her sentence yet, was not speaking with the media, and he declined to provide more details about the case.
The newspaper Al-Watan said the woman met with the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread at her home in al-Chamil, a city north of the capital, Riyadh.
Al-Watan identified one man as Fahd al-Anzi, the nephew of Sawadi's late husband, and the other as his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein. It said they were arrested by the religious police after delivering the bread. The men also were convicted and sentenced to lashes and prison.
The court said it based its ruling on "citizen information" and testimony from al-Anzi's father, who accused Sawadi of corruption.
"Because she said she doesn't have a husband and because she is not a Saudi, conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed," the court verdict read.
Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islam prohibits men and women who are not immediate relatives from mingling. It also bars women from driving, and the playing of music, dancing and many movies also are a concern for hardliners who believe they violate religious and moral values.
Complaints from Saudis have been growing that the religious police and courts are overstepping their broad mandate and interfering in people's lives, and critics lambasted the handling of Sawadi's case.
"How can a verdict be issued based on suspicion?" Laila Ahmed al-Ahdab, a physician who also is a columnist for Al-Watan, wrote Monday. "A group of people are misusing religion to serve their own interests."
Sawadi told the court she considered al-Anzi as her son, because she breast-fed him when he was a baby. But the court denied her claim, saying she didn't provide evidence. In Islamic tradition, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers.
Sawadi commonly asked her neighbours for help after her husband died, said journalist Bandar al-Ammar, who reported the story for Al-Watan. In a recent article, he wrote that he felt the need to report the case "so everybody knows to what degree we have reached."
The woman's conviction came a few weeks after King Abdullah fired the chief of the religious police and a cleric who condoned killing owners of TV networks that broadcast "immoral content." The move was seen as part of an effort to weaken the hardline Sunni Muslim establishment.
AMAZING STORIES
Math whiz gets TV bill 450 years after his death
Herald News ServicesMarch 12, 2009 3:01 AM
A German mathematician who died 450 years ago has been sent a letter demanding that he pay long-overdue television licence fees, residents at his former address said on Wednesday.
Germany's GEZ broadcast fee collection office sent the bill to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525.
A club in his honour was set up at the property four centuries later.
"We received a letter saying 'To Mr. Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees," said Annegret Muench, who now heads the club.
Muench returned the letter to the GEZ with a note explaining the request had come too late because Ries had died in 1559, centuries before the invention of television and radio.
She nonetheless received a reminder a few weeks later.
This was not the first time the GEZ had sent a bill to those in the afterlife.
Last year, a school named after poet Friedrich Schiller received a reminder asking him to declare all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Herald News ServicesMarch 12, 2009 3:01 AM
A German mathematician who died 450 years ago has been sent a letter demanding that he pay long-overdue television licence fees, residents at his former address said on Wednesday.
Germany's GEZ broadcast fee collection office sent the bill to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525.
A club in his honour was set up at the property four centuries later.
"We received a letter saying 'To Mr. Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees," said Annegret Muench, who now heads the club.
Muench returned the letter to the GEZ with a note explaining the request had come too late because Ries had died in 1559, centuries before the invention of television and radio.
She nonetheless received a reminder a few weeks later.
This was not the first time the GEZ had sent a bill to those in the afterlife.
Last year, a school named after poet Friedrich Schiller received a reminder asking him to declare all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
For sale: nagging wife, very high maintenance
Herald News ServicesMarch 13, 2009
A British man fed up with his wife's complaints advertised her for sale -- and got a number of offers.
"Nagging Wife. No Tax, Very high maintenance --some rust,"wrote Gary Bates, 38, in a small ad in Trade-It, more usually used to buy and sell cars, furniture or other or household goods.
Bates, a self-employed builder from Gloucestershire, southwest England, said he just snapped after his wife Donna on got on his nerves while she was watching television, and decided to place the ad as a joke.
"She was nagging me for doing something small, while she was watching some rubbish on TV. So I just thought I'd put an ad in to get rid of her.
"I didn't think anyone would ring up, but I've had at least nine or 10 people calling about her," Bates said.
"It's gone mad. There was no one I knew--just people asking, 'Is she still available?' "
The couple only married last year, and Bates said his 40-year-old wife--whom he advertised in the magazine's Free to Collect section, along with some of his old fishing tackle--initially gave him "a bit of an ear-bashing."
But, he added: "She's seen the funny side of it now though!"
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Herald News ServicesMarch 13, 2009
A British man fed up with his wife's complaints advertised her for sale -- and got a number of offers.
"Nagging Wife. No Tax, Very high maintenance --some rust,"wrote Gary Bates, 38, in a small ad in Trade-It, more usually used to buy and sell cars, furniture or other or household goods.
Bates, a self-employed builder from Gloucestershire, southwest England, said he just snapped after his wife Donna on got on his nerves while she was watching television, and decided to place the ad as a joke.
"She was nagging me for doing something small, while she was watching some rubbish on TV. So I just thought I'd put an ad in to get rid of her.
"I didn't think anyone would ring up, but I've had at least nine or 10 people calling about her," Bates said.
"It's gone mad. There was no one I knew--just people asking, 'Is she still available?' "
The couple only married last year, and Bates said his 40-year-old wife--whom he advertised in the magazine's Free to Collect section, along with some of his old fishing tackle--initially gave him "a bit of an ear-bashing."
But, he added: "She's seen the funny side of it now though!"
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
'Sex monster' faces life in jail for newborn's murder
Canwest News ServiceMarch 16, 2009
A 73-year-old Austrian man who fathered seven children with a daughter he imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years goes on trial today for the murder of a newborn boy who died underground.
Josef Fritzl also faces other charges ranging from rape to enslavement for the incarceration of his daughter Elisabeth and three of the children he had with her --- acts that sent a wave of revulsion through Austria and the world.
"He shut (Elisabeth) away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property," his charge sheet reads.
Fritzl, who built the soundproofed cellar with a reinforced door under his home in the town of Amstetten, could face life behind bars.
Fritzl's lawyer argues that a charge of enslavement is inappropriate, but says he will plead guilty to deprivation of liberty, coercion, rape and incest. He will, however, contest the most serious charge, murder.
His lawyer says his client is not a "sex monster," but expects to spend the rest of his life behind bars. A verdict is expected on Friday.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
****
Austrian gets life in 24-year sex slave case
Calgary HeraldMarch 20, 2009 3:01 AM
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who kept his daughter captive in a dungeon for 24 years, was given a life sentence Thursday after being convicted of slavery, rape and murder.
Canwest News ServiceMarch 16, 2009
A 73-year-old Austrian man who fathered seven children with a daughter he imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years goes on trial today for the murder of a newborn boy who died underground.
Josef Fritzl also faces other charges ranging from rape to enslavement for the incarceration of his daughter Elisabeth and three of the children he had with her --- acts that sent a wave of revulsion through Austria and the world.
"He shut (Elisabeth) away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property," his charge sheet reads.
Fritzl, who built the soundproofed cellar with a reinforced door under his home in the town of Amstetten, could face life behind bars.
Fritzl's lawyer argues that a charge of enslavement is inappropriate, but says he will plead guilty to deprivation of liberty, coercion, rape and incest. He will, however, contest the most serious charge, murder.
His lawyer says his client is not a "sex monster," but expects to spend the rest of his life behind bars. A verdict is expected on Friday.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
****
Austrian gets life in 24-year sex slave case
Calgary HeraldMarch 20, 2009 3:01 AM
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who kept his daughter captive in a dungeon for 24 years, was given a life sentence Thursday after being convicted of slavery, rape and murder.
Transsexual to give birth to twins, become their dad
Canwest News ServiceMarch 22, 2009 8:01 AM
A "man" is set to become the first in the world to give birth to twins after becoming pregnant following the start of the sex change process.
Ruben Noe Coronado, 25, from Spain, postponed the process of becoming a man so that he could keep his female reproductive organs and give birth.
"He" fell pregnant after undergoing fertility treatment when doctors told his girlfriend, the mother of two children from a previous relationship, she couldn't have any more children.
He is the first Spanish transsexual to fall pregnant and it is thought he will become the world's first transsexual father of twins if everything goes to plan.
He will bring the twins up with his partner, Esperanza Ruiz, 43. They plan to marry before they become parents.
Once he becomes a parent he will resume his sex-change surgery and become a father rather than mother.
He plans to give birth at a hospital in Barcelona after moving to the area from Malaga two months ago with his girlfriend because of family problems.
Coronado, an epileptic who was adopted as a child, said: "It's like being born with three hands.
"You take advantage of them while you have them and you get rid of one of them when they get in the way."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Links to related stories at:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life/Trans ... story.html
Canwest News ServiceMarch 22, 2009 8:01 AM
A "man" is set to become the first in the world to give birth to twins after becoming pregnant following the start of the sex change process.
Ruben Noe Coronado, 25, from Spain, postponed the process of becoming a man so that he could keep his female reproductive organs and give birth.
"He" fell pregnant after undergoing fertility treatment when doctors told his girlfriend, the mother of two children from a previous relationship, she couldn't have any more children.
He is the first Spanish transsexual to fall pregnant and it is thought he will become the world's first transsexual father of twins if everything goes to plan.
He will bring the twins up with his partner, Esperanza Ruiz, 43. They plan to marry before they become parents.
Once he becomes a parent he will resume his sex-change surgery and become a father rather than mother.
He plans to give birth at a hospital in Barcelona after moving to the area from Malaga two months ago with his girlfriend because of family problems.
Coronado, an epileptic who was adopted as a child, said: "It's like being born with three hands.
"You take advantage of them while you have them and you get rid of one of them when they get in the way."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Links to related stories at:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life/Trans ... story.html
Man faces murder trial after deathbed confession
Herald News ServicesMarch 23, 2009
When James Brewer suffered a stroke and thought he was dying, the churchgoing Oklahoma factory worker decided it was time for an extraordinary deathbed confession.
He wanted to unburden himself of the sin he had carried with him for three decades and so his wife summoned police to the hospital.
Detectives said Brewer, 58, told them he wanted to "cleanse his soul" and said he shot dead a man he believed was trying to seduce his wife more than 30 years ago.
But Brewer survived the illness and now faces trial charged with the murder of Jimmy Carroll in Tennessee-- where the death penalty may await him.
Last week, Brewer and his wife, Dorothy, sold all their possessions in a garage sale and left their modest home in Shawnee, Okla., where they had been living under the assumed names of Michael and Dorothy Anderson.
They then drove to Hohenwald, Tenn., where he surrendered to the authorities.
Brewer was arrested shortly after the shooting of Carroll, a neighbour, but was released on bail. He told police that he and his wife fled to Oklahoma, where they started a new life.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Herald News ServicesMarch 23, 2009
When James Brewer suffered a stroke and thought he was dying, the churchgoing Oklahoma factory worker decided it was time for an extraordinary deathbed confession.
He wanted to unburden himself of the sin he had carried with him for three decades and so his wife summoned police to the hospital.
Detectives said Brewer, 58, told them he wanted to "cleanse his soul" and said he shot dead a man he believed was trying to seduce his wife more than 30 years ago.
But Brewer survived the illness and now faces trial charged with the murder of Jimmy Carroll in Tennessee-- where the death penalty may await him.
Last week, Brewer and his wife, Dorothy, sold all their possessions in a garage sale and left their modest home in Shawnee, Okla., where they had been living under the assumed names of Michael and Dorothy Anderson.
They then drove to Hohenwald, Tenn., where he surrendered to the authorities.
Brewer was arrested shortly after the shooting of Carroll, a neighbour, but was released on bail. He told police that he and his wife fled to Oklahoma, where they started a new life.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
The Doctor's World
A Quandary in Sweden: Criminals in Med School
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.
A year ago, Sweden’s most prestigious medical school found itself in an international uproar after it unknowingly admitted a student who was a Nazi sympathizer and a convicted murderer, then scrambled to find a way to expel him.
It is hard to imagine how the case could get any more bizarre. But it has.
The 33-year-old student, Karl Helge Hampus Svensson, having been banished from the medical school of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm on the ground that he falsified his high school records, has now been admitted to a second well-known medical school — Uppsala, Sweden’s oldest university.
New twists in his and another case highlight the difficulties that three of the country’s six medical schools have had in admitting and dismissing students with serious criminal offenses in just the past two years. The cases resonate far beyond Sweden, raising fundamental questions about who is fit to become a doctor.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/healt ... nted=print
A Quandary in Sweden: Criminals in Med School
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.
A year ago, Sweden’s most prestigious medical school found itself in an international uproar after it unknowingly admitted a student who was a Nazi sympathizer and a convicted murderer, then scrambled to find a way to expel him.
It is hard to imagine how the case could get any more bizarre. But it has.
The 33-year-old student, Karl Helge Hampus Svensson, having been banished from the medical school of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm on the ground that he falsified his high school records, has now been admitted to a second well-known medical school — Uppsala, Sweden’s oldest university.
New twists in his and another case highlight the difficulties that three of the country’s six medical schools have had in admitting and dismissing students with serious criminal offenses in just the past two years. The cases resonate far beyond Sweden, raising fundamental questions about who is fit to become a doctor.
More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/healt ... nted=print
-
From_Alamut
- Posts: 666
- Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:22 am
Re: AMAZING STORIES
Fast of Nepal's 'Buddha Boy' tough for officials to swallow:; [Final Edition]
Thomas Bell. The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 3, 2005. pg. G.7
Abstract (Summary)
Every pilgrim spoken to by The Daily Telegraph said they believed the claim that Ram has not eaten or drunk for six months. The scene's popularity is partly due to its resemblance to an episode in the life of the Buddha, born nearby about 543 BC.
The Buddha achieved enlightenment after meditating under a sacred pipal tree for 49 days, a feat of endurance already surpassed by Ram. The boy is sitting in the same pose as the Buddha, also under a pipal.
Photo: Reuters / Ram Bomjon, 15, meditates under the same type of tree the Buddha sat under, and reportedly for longer.
(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2005)
Backers claim he has gone six months without food or drink
RATANPURI, Nepal - Nepal's "Buddha boy" is under investigation by the authorities, who question his claim not to have eaten anything for six months and are examining his followers' finances.
The government believes that Ram Bomjon, 15, may be breaking his fast to eat at night when his shrine is closed to visitors.
Buddhism experts, the interior ministry and Nepal's top scientific agency have all been called in to investigate the phenomenon, which has attracted thousands of pilgrims and excitement worldwide.
"We told the shrine management committee, 'Either we need to see everything that's going on or, if this is a fraud, you need to close it down,"' said Hari Har Dahal, a local official. "This has got into the media all over the world. If it's not true, it will be bad for the country."
Concerns have also been raised over the spending of donations to the organizing committee.
Hundreds of pilgrims were still entering the jungle near the village of Ratanpuri to see Ram this week, despite the authorities' attempts to discourage the faithful from visiting the site.
"We stop from village to village and people are really keen to come," said Amit Bartola, a bus driver, who had 80 people crammed onto his 36-seat bus.
Every pilgrim spoken to by The Daily Telegraph said they believed the claim that Ram has not eaten or drunk for six months. The scene's popularity is partly due to its resemblance to an episode in the life of the Buddha, born nearby about 543 BC.
The Buddha achieved enlightenment after meditating under a sacred pipal tree for 49 days, a feat of endurance already surpassed by Ram. The boy is sitting in the same pose as the Buddha, also under a pipal.
Ganga Jeet Bomjon, Ram's elder brother, strongly rejected accusations of cheating. "The investigators say that you guys are doing something, feeding him batteries to give him energy or something," he joked. "But you try sitting with your legs crossed for three hours, never mind six months."
The management committee, mainly composed of young men and teenagers from Ram's village, stands by its claim that he has fasted for six months. But it has resisted intensive scrutiny.
"I don't mind people coming to check," said Ram Krishna Tamang, a committee member. "But they can't touch him and break his meditation."
Local officials have demanded to see the committee's accounts and have been told it has received the equivalent of $13,000, a vast sum in Nepal, where the average income is around $250 a year.
The authorities say they must proceed with care because the issue is religiously sensitive.
The policeman on guard outside the office where Ram's file is kept gave a clue to the mood at the administrative headquarters.
"He has to eat. He has to drink water," he said. "If we find out that he's lying, he and the rest of them are going to jail."
[Illustration]
Photo: Reuters / Ram Bomjon, 15, meditates under the same type of tree the Buddha sat under, and reportedly for longer.
Indexing (document details)
Author(s): Thomas Bell
Document types: News
Dateline: RATANPURI, Nepal
Section: News
Publication title: The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 3, 2005. pg. G.7
Source type: Newspaper
ISSN: 08393222
ProQuest document ID: 936803731
Text Word Count 520
Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=9368 ... &VName=PQD
More reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Bahadur_Bomjon
http://www.buddhadharma.com/Palden.html
http://nirlog.com/2006/01/17/buddha-boy-of-nepal/
Watch these videos too on [Youtube] based on the Buddha BoY....
Documentary About Buddha Boy (1 of 5) Ram Bahadur Bamjan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v29clGMW ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndg_6eaj ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMwa4yZ ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNAZE2g ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKBYaVl ... re=channel
That is his present video around 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHpDoBwb ... ext=1&play
Thomas Bell. The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 3, 2005. pg. G.7
Abstract (Summary)
Every pilgrim spoken to by The Daily Telegraph said they believed the claim that Ram has not eaten or drunk for six months. The scene's popularity is partly due to its resemblance to an episode in the life of the Buddha, born nearby about 543 BC.
The Buddha achieved enlightenment after meditating under a sacred pipal tree for 49 days, a feat of endurance already surpassed by Ram. The boy is sitting in the same pose as the Buddha, also under a pipal.
Photo: Reuters / Ram Bomjon, 15, meditates under the same type of tree the Buddha sat under, and reportedly for longer.
(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2005)
Backers claim he has gone six months without food or drink
RATANPURI, Nepal - Nepal's "Buddha boy" is under investigation by the authorities, who question his claim not to have eaten anything for six months and are examining his followers' finances.
The government believes that Ram Bomjon, 15, may be breaking his fast to eat at night when his shrine is closed to visitors.
Buddhism experts, the interior ministry and Nepal's top scientific agency have all been called in to investigate the phenomenon, which has attracted thousands of pilgrims and excitement worldwide.
"We told the shrine management committee, 'Either we need to see everything that's going on or, if this is a fraud, you need to close it down,"' said Hari Har Dahal, a local official. "This has got into the media all over the world. If it's not true, it will be bad for the country."
Concerns have also been raised over the spending of donations to the organizing committee.
Hundreds of pilgrims were still entering the jungle near the village of Ratanpuri to see Ram this week, despite the authorities' attempts to discourage the faithful from visiting the site.
"We stop from village to village and people are really keen to come," said Amit Bartola, a bus driver, who had 80 people crammed onto his 36-seat bus.
Every pilgrim spoken to by The Daily Telegraph said they believed the claim that Ram has not eaten or drunk for six months. The scene's popularity is partly due to its resemblance to an episode in the life of the Buddha, born nearby about 543 BC.
The Buddha achieved enlightenment after meditating under a sacred pipal tree for 49 days, a feat of endurance already surpassed by Ram. The boy is sitting in the same pose as the Buddha, also under a pipal.
Ganga Jeet Bomjon, Ram's elder brother, strongly rejected accusations of cheating. "The investigators say that you guys are doing something, feeding him batteries to give him energy or something," he joked. "But you try sitting with your legs crossed for three hours, never mind six months."
The management committee, mainly composed of young men and teenagers from Ram's village, stands by its claim that he has fasted for six months. But it has resisted intensive scrutiny.
"I don't mind people coming to check," said Ram Krishna Tamang, a committee member. "But they can't touch him and break his meditation."
Local officials have demanded to see the committee's accounts and have been told it has received the equivalent of $13,000, a vast sum in Nepal, where the average income is around $250 a year.
The authorities say they must proceed with care because the issue is religiously sensitive.
The policeman on guard outside the office where Ram's file is kept gave a clue to the mood at the administrative headquarters.
"He has to eat. He has to drink water," he said. "If we find out that he's lying, he and the rest of them are going to jail."
[Illustration]
Photo: Reuters / Ram Bomjon, 15, meditates under the same type of tree the Buddha sat under, and reportedly for longer.
Indexing (document details)
Author(s): Thomas Bell
Document types: News
Dateline: RATANPURI, Nepal
Section: News
Publication title: The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 3, 2005. pg. G.7
Source type: Newspaper
ISSN: 08393222
ProQuest document ID: 936803731
Text Word Count 520
Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=9368 ... &VName=PQD
More reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Bahadur_Bomjon
http://www.buddhadharma.com/Palden.html
http://nirlog.com/2006/01/17/buddha-boy-of-nepal/
Watch these videos too on [Youtube] based on the Buddha BoY....
Documentary About Buddha Boy (1 of 5) Ram Bahadur Bamjan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v29clGMW ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndg_6eaj ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMwa4yZ ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNAZE2g ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKBYaVl ... re=channel
That is his present video around 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHpDoBwb ... ext=1&play
Last edited by From_Alamut on Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Judge will drop charges if infant boy resurrected
Herald News ServicesApril 1, 2009 3:01 AM
AU. S. judge has agreed to drop murder charges against a woman accused of starving her one-year-old son to death if the little boy is resurrected, a lawyer for the accused said Tuesday.
Ria Ramkissoon, now 22, was accused with four other members of a cult, One Mind Ministries of starving her infant son Javon Thompson to death in 2007.
According to prosecutors, the leader of the sect, a Baltimore woman who goes by the name Queen Antoinette, ordered Ramkissoon and other sect members to stop feeding Javon after he didn't say "amen" at breakfast.
In a hearing Monday be-fore the Baltimore Circuit Court, Judge Timothy Doory accepted Ramkissoon's guilty plea and agreed to let her testify against Queen Antoinette and the other defendants.
But if Ramkissoon's son "is resurrected, as you still hold some hope he will be, you may withdraw the plea and the charges against you will be withdrawn,"Doory said.
"It's a sad, crazy situation," Ramkissoon's lawyer Steven Silverman told AFP, adding she has been brainwashed by a cult and believes the baby will be resurrected.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Herald News ServicesApril 1, 2009 3:01 AM
AU. S. judge has agreed to drop murder charges against a woman accused of starving her one-year-old son to death if the little boy is resurrected, a lawyer for the accused said Tuesday.
Ria Ramkissoon, now 22, was accused with four other members of a cult, One Mind Ministries of starving her infant son Javon Thompson to death in 2007.
According to prosecutors, the leader of the sect, a Baltimore woman who goes by the name Queen Antoinette, ordered Ramkissoon and other sect members to stop feeding Javon after he didn't say "amen" at breakfast.
In a hearing Monday be-fore the Baltimore Circuit Court, Judge Timothy Doory accepted Ramkissoon's guilty plea and agreed to let her testify against Queen Antoinette and the other defendants.
But if Ramkissoon's son "is resurrected, as you still hold some hope he will be, you may withdraw the plea and the charges against you will be withdrawn,"Doory said.
"It's a sad, crazy situation," Ramkissoon's lawyer Steven Silverman told AFP, adding she has been brainwashed by a cult and believes the baby will be resurrected.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Text message spells divorce
Herald News ServicesApril 10, 2009
A Saudi man has divorced his wife by text message, a newspaper said on Thursday.
The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse. He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab News reported.
A court in the Red Sea city Jeddah finalized the split--the first known divorce in Saudi Arabia by text message-- after summoning the two relatives to check they had received word of the husband's intention, the paper said.
Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic sharia law, and clerics preside over sharia courts as judges. Under the law, a man can divorce his wife by saying "I divorce you" three times.
The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in "what he described as 'jihad'," according to the Arab News. Many Saudis have gone to fight with al-Qaeda terrorists against the Iraqi government and U. S. forces.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Herald News ServicesApril 10, 2009
A Saudi man has divorced his wife by text message, a newspaper said on Thursday.
The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse. He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab News reported.
A court in the Red Sea city Jeddah finalized the split--the first known divorce in Saudi Arabia by text message-- after summoning the two relatives to check they had received word of the husband's intention, the paper said.
Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic sharia law, and clerics preside over sharia courts as judges. Under the law, a man can divorce his wife by saying "I divorce you" three times.
The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in "what he described as 'jihad'," according to the Arab News. Many Saudis have gone to fight with al-Qaeda terrorists against the Iraqi government and U. S. forces.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Woman didn't notice bullet in head for 12 years
Canwest News ServiceApril 11, 2009 7:46 AM
An Albanian woman went around for 12 years with a bullet lodged below her cheekbone without noticing it, she said on Friday.
Mrike Rrucaj said she was shot in her sleep in 1997 when the Balkan country was plagued by anarchy and chaos amid protests against fraudulent pyramid schemes, but a doctor said the bullet had passed through her. At the time, many Albanians fired bullets into the air in frustration.
"I was covered in blood and I thought I had been killed," Rrucaj said of the incident in 1997. "The doctor at the hospital said the bullet had gone in and come out and he just cleaned the wound. I was 28, and did not feel a thing for 12 years."
But a week ago, she collapsed from pain when she bent her neck and an X-ray revealed the bullet, which was 2.8 centimetres long.
"The unique thing about this case is not the operation, but the fact she kept it unknowingly for 12 years in her head," said Fatos Olldashi, chief neurosurgeon at Albania's military hospital. He did not blame his colleague for not being more attentive in 1997, when an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people were killed.
"It is easy to judge the doctor now, but it was quite different back in 1997. He thought it had come out. And they were treating seriously injured people, not someone standing up and talking to them," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Canwest News ServiceApril 11, 2009 7:46 AM
An Albanian woman went around for 12 years with a bullet lodged below her cheekbone without noticing it, she said on Friday.
Mrike Rrucaj said she was shot in her sleep in 1997 when the Balkan country was plagued by anarchy and chaos amid protests against fraudulent pyramid schemes, but a doctor said the bullet had passed through her. At the time, many Albanians fired bullets into the air in frustration.
"I was covered in blood and I thought I had been killed," Rrucaj said of the incident in 1997. "The doctor at the hospital said the bullet had gone in and come out and he just cleaned the wound. I was 28, and did not feel a thing for 12 years."
But a week ago, she collapsed from pain when she bent her neck and an X-ray revealed the bullet, which was 2.8 centimetres long.
"The unique thing about this case is not the operation, but the fact she kept it unknowingly for 12 years in her head," said Fatos Olldashi, chief neurosurgeon at Albania's military hospital. He did not blame his colleague for not being more attentive in 1997, when an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people were killed.
"It is easy to judge the doctor now, but it was quite different back in 1997. He thought it had come out. And they were treating seriously injured people, not someone standing up and talking to them," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Posted: 21 Mar 2009 09:46 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transsexual to give birth to twins, become their dad
Canwest News ServiceMarch 22, 2009 8:01 AM
A "man" is set to become the first in the world to give birth to twins after becoming pregnant following the start of the sex change process.
Ruben Noe Coronado, 25, from Spain, postponed the process of becoming a man so that he could keep his female reproductive organs and give birth.
"He" fell pregnant after undergoing fertility treatment when doctors told his girlfriend, the mother of two children from a previous relationship, she couldn't have any more children.
He is the first Spanish transsexual to fall pregnant and it is thought he will become the world's first transsexual father of twins if everything goes to plan.
He will bring the twins up with his partner, Esperanza Ruiz, 43. They plan to marry before they become parents.
Once he becomes a parent he will resume his sex-change surgery and become a father rather than mother.
He plans to give birth at a hospital in Barcelona after moving to the area from Malaga two months ago with his girlfriend because of family problems.
Coronado, an epileptic who was adopted as a child, said: "It's like being born with three hands.
"You take advantage of them while you have them and you get rid of one of them when they get in the way."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Links to related stories at:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life/Trans ... story.html
this isnt true brother meherali
A Spanish man is pregnant with twins. This is not a joke. A transsexual, born Estefania, a female but now almost-male, Ruben Noe Coronado Jimenez will give birth to twin boys in September if all goes well.
The twin births will be history-making for the almost, but not quite - yet, male pregnancy.This the second male pregnancy by a woman, turned-almost man, to give birth to a baby. In 2008, Thomas Beattie, born the female Tracy Lagondino, made history with the birth of his daughter Susan Juliette. Beattie is currently pregnant again but will undergo surgery.
brother meherali , the person giving birth to twins was actually a woman !! and not man , she got pregnant and undergone a surgery to change her sex organs and be a man
China's Great Wall greater still
High-tech mapping adds 3,851 kilometres to endangered World Heritage site
Agence France-PresseApril 21, 2009
China's Great Wall is much longer than previously estimated, state media reported Monday.
However, the most comprehensive and technologically advanced survey ever conducted on the wall has also shown the World Heritage-listed site is in danger of disappearing in many places due to road construction and other forms of development, as well as extreme weather, the China Daily said.
The wall, built over centuries to keep foreigners out of China, stretches for 8,851.8 kilometres, much further than common estimates of 5,000 kilometres, according to the findings of the survey
The additional 3,851 kilometres is about 300 kilometres more than the distance from Ottawa to Vancouver.
The defensive structure includes 6,259.6 kilometres of actual wall, plus 359.7 kilometres of trenches and 2,232.5 kilometres of natural barriers such as hills and rivers.
The two-year mapping project, carried out by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, involved using global positioning systems and infra-red technology. Previous estimates were mainly based on historical records, rather than physically mapping each section. By tracking thoroughly across mountains and through deserts, unknown parts were uncovered.
The first parts of the Great Wall were built more than 2,000 years ago, then rebuilt and extended during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD) amid the threat of invading northern tribes.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
High-tech mapping adds 3,851 kilometres to endangered World Heritage site
Agence France-PresseApril 21, 2009
China's Great Wall is much longer than previously estimated, state media reported Monday.
However, the most comprehensive and technologically advanced survey ever conducted on the wall has also shown the World Heritage-listed site is in danger of disappearing in many places due to road construction and other forms of development, as well as extreme weather, the China Daily said.
The wall, built over centuries to keep foreigners out of China, stretches for 8,851.8 kilometres, much further than common estimates of 5,000 kilometres, according to the findings of the survey
The additional 3,851 kilometres is about 300 kilometres more than the distance from Ottawa to Vancouver.
The defensive structure includes 6,259.6 kilometres of actual wall, plus 359.7 kilometres of trenches and 2,232.5 kilometres of natural barriers such as hills and rivers.
The two-year mapping project, carried out by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, involved using global positioning systems and infra-red technology. Previous estimates were mainly based on historical records, rather than physically mapping each section. By tracking thoroughly across mountains and through deserts, unknown parts were uncovered.
The first parts of the Great Wall were built more than 2,000 years ago, then rebuilt and extended during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD) amid the threat of invading northern tribes.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Wal-Mart customer testifies about finding baby in toilet
By Charlene Tebbutt, Canwest News Service
May 5, 2009
April halkett, 22, arrives at court in Prince Albert for the start of her trial Monday on a charge of abandoning her newborn baby in a Wal-Mart washroom.
Photograph by: Greg Pender, Canwest News Service, Canwest News Service
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Health/Mar ... story.html
Editor's Note: This story contains graphic material that some may find disturbing.
---
Angela Stieb walked into a department store washroom and saw a horrifying scene -- a tiny, clenched fist sticking out of a toilet, a courtroom heard Monday at the trial of a woman accused of abandoning her newborn baby.
"I seen toilet paper in the toilet and a little hand sticking out,"Stieb testified. "It was purple and the hand was clenched shut, like a fist."
Her story was heard at the trial of April Halkett, 22, who is accused of abandoning a baby at a Wal-Mart in Prince Albert on May 21, 2007.
The child survived and has since been moved to a different community. A publication ban has been placed on his name and his home community.
Stieb's mother Beatrice testified that she and her daughter reported what they had seen to store staff.
Defence lawyer Ajay Krishan thanked Beatrice Stieb for insisting that staff hurry into the bathroom.
"You probably saved that child's life," Krishan said to her.
Earlier, Terry Sparks, a resident of Melfort, Sask., had also stopped to use the washroom.
She testified that she saw clothing and shoes but no feet in one of the stalls. Then, she noticed blood on the floor.
"There was just little bits of blood dropping there,"she testified. "Then it got bigger."
She also heard grunting coming from the stall. "I couldn't identify words or anything," Sparks said.
She also alerted store staff. "I was scared, but I also wanted to help," she testified.
Store manager Chad Fraser testified that when he entered the washroom, he saw the bloody mess but didn't realize a baby was in the toilet until he saw some slight movement.
He found a pair of rubber gloves and a first-aid kit, and grabbed the baby by the legs.
The newborn was headfirst in the toilet and a purplish-blue colour, Fraser testified.
Paramedic Darren Russell said when they responded to the call, the baby was not breathing.
He started breathing after CPR from the paramedics, however, and had a weak pulse on the way to hospital in Saskatoon, where he received medical care for eight days.
Close friends Dwayne Merasty and Fisher Charles each said on the stand that Halkett was feeling sick that day. They waited in a car while she went into Wal-Mart.
When Halkett came back, Merasty testified, "she was pretty much in the same condition as she was when she went in there."
Both men said they did not know Halkett was pregnant.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Charlene Tebbutt, Canwest News Service
May 5, 2009
April halkett, 22, arrives at court in Prince Albert for the start of her trial Monday on a charge of abandoning her newborn baby in a Wal-Mart washroom.
Photograph by: Greg Pender, Canwest News Service, Canwest News Service
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Health/Mar ... story.html
Editor's Note: This story contains graphic material that some may find disturbing.
---
Angela Stieb walked into a department store washroom and saw a horrifying scene -- a tiny, clenched fist sticking out of a toilet, a courtroom heard Monday at the trial of a woman accused of abandoning her newborn baby.
"I seen toilet paper in the toilet and a little hand sticking out,"Stieb testified. "It was purple and the hand was clenched shut, like a fist."
Her story was heard at the trial of April Halkett, 22, who is accused of abandoning a baby at a Wal-Mart in Prince Albert on May 21, 2007.
The child survived and has since been moved to a different community. A publication ban has been placed on his name and his home community.
Stieb's mother Beatrice testified that she and her daughter reported what they had seen to store staff.
Defence lawyer Ajay Krishan thanked Beatrice Stieb for insisting that staff hurry into the bathroom.
"You probably saved that child's life," Krishan said to her.
Earlier, Terry Sparks, a resident of Melfort, Sask., had also stopped to use the washroom.
She testified that she saw clothing and shoes but no feet in one of the stalls. Then, she noticed blood on the floor.
"There was just little bits of blood dropping there,"she testified. "Then it got bigger."
She also heard grunting coming from the stall. "I couldn't identify words or anything," Sparks said.
She also alerted store staff. "I was scared, but I also wanted to help," she testified.
Store manager Chad Fraser testified that when he entered the washroom, he saw the bloody mess but didn't realize a baby was in the toilet until he saw some slight movement.
He found a pair of rubber gloves and a first-aid kit, and grabbed the baby by the legs.
The newborn was headfirst in the toilet and a purplish-blue colour, Fraser testified.
Paramedic Darren Russell said when they responded to the call, the baby was not breathing.
He started breathing after CPR from the paramedics, however, and had a weak pulse on the way to hospital in Saskatoon, where he received medical care for eight days.
Close friends Dwayne Merasty and Fisher Charles each said on the stand that Halkett was feeling sick that day. They waited in a car while she went into Wal-Mart.
When Halkett came back, Merasty testified, "she was pretty much in the same condition as she was when she went in there."
Both men said they did not know Halkett was pregnant.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Wal-Mart mom thought baby was dead
By Charlene Tebbutt, Canwest News Service
May 6, 2009
A Saskatchewan woman thought the baby she had delivered and left in a Wal-Mart toilet was dead, her trial heard Tuesday.
Speaking to police four days after giving birth in a Wal-Mart store washroom in Prince Albert in May 2007, April Halkett said she hadn't known she was pregnant until that day, when she "started to feel a pain."
After the child was born, she said, "He didn't move."
"I thought the baby was dead," she said in a video-recorded police interview played Tuesday at trial in Prince Albert Court of Queen's Bench.
Halkett has pleaded not guilty to child abandonment.
Her newborn was later pulled out of the toilet by a store manager, resuscitated, and survived.
The boy cannot be identified due to a publication ban.
Throughout the interview, which took place after she came forward to police on May 25,2007,Halkett was visibly upset and crying, and, at times, spoke so quietly, she could barely be understood. "I never knew I was pregnant or nothing," she told police.
When she went into the Wal-Mart around 5 p.m. local time that day,"I felt like I really had to use the bathroom. . . . When I went, the baby came out and I was so scared."
She told police she had never had a child before.
"He wasn't moving or nothing. He was so blue and I was so scared,"she said. "I thought the baby was dead.He didn't move. . . . I washed the blood off my hands and then I ran out of there."
In the interview, Halkett said she took three home-pregnancy tests in the month before she delivered the baby, and each of them came back negative.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Charlene Tebbutt, Canwest News Service
May 6, 2009
A Saskatchewan woman thought the baby she had delivered and left in a Wal-Mart toilet was dead, her trial heard Tuesday.
Speaking to police four days after giving birth in a Wal-Mart store washroom in Prince Albert in May 2007, April Halkett said she hadn't known she was pregnant until that day, when she "started to feel a pain."
After the child was born, she said, "He didn't move."
"I thought the baby was dead," she said in a video-recorded police interview played Tuesday at trial in Prince Albert Court of Queen's Bench.
Halkett has pleaded not guilty to child abandonment.
Her newborn was later pulled out of the toilet by a store manager, resuscitated, and survived.
The boy cannot be identified due to a publication ban.
Throughout the interview, which took place after she came forward to police on May 25,2007,Halkett was visibly upset and crying, and, at times, spoke so quietly, she could barely be understood. "I never knew I was pregnant or nothing," she told police.
When she went into the Wal-Mart around 5 p.m. local time that day,"I felt like I really had to use the bathroom. . . . When I went, the baby came out and I was so scared."
She told police she had never had a child before.
"He wasn't moving or nothing. He was so blue and I was so scared,"she said. "I thought the baby was dead.He didn't move. . . . I washed the blood off my hands and then I ran out of there."
In the interview, Halkett said she took three home-pregnancy tests in the month before she delivered the baby, and each of them came back negative.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Kenyan women's group sued over sex boycott
Canwest News ServiceMay 10, 2009 7:35 AM
A Kenyan man is seeking damages for anguish sustained during a weeklong sex ban called by women's groups in a bid to force political leaders to put their rivalry aside to work for the common good.
James Kimondo is suing the leaders of G10, a coalition of women's groups that called for a national boycott to push the men into resolving the east African country's political woes.
"Since the women called for the sex boycott, my wife has denied me my conjugal rights. This has caused me anxiety and sleepless nights," Kimondo said.
"I have been suffering mental anguish, stress, backaches, lack of concentration," he told reporters outside the Nairobi High Court, where he lodged his petition for damages.
The group even urged prostitutes to join the strike.
The strike ended Wednesday with the organizers claiming it had been a success. They argued that the country's male leaders should not have time for matters of the flesh when the country is ensnared in economic and political trouble.
President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga were pressured into a power-sharing deal by international mediators following violence which accompanied December 2007 polls, but lingering tensions have crippled the coalition government and fuelled widespread discontent.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Canwest News ServiceMay 10, 2009 7:35 AM
A Kenyan man is seeking damages for anguish sustained during a weeklong sex ban called by women's groups in a bid to force political leaders to put their rivalry aside to work for the common good.
James Kimondo is suing the leaders of G10, a coalition of women's groups that called for a national boycott to push the men into resolving the east African country's political woes.
"Since the women called for the sex boycott, my wife has denied me my conjugal rights. This has caused me anxiety and sleepless nights," Kimondo said.
"I have been suffering mental anguish, stress, backaches, lack of concentration," he told reporters outside the Nairobi High Court, where he lodged his petition for damages.
The group even urged prostitutes to join the strike.
The strike ended Wednesday with the organizers claiming it had been a success. They argued that the country's male leaders should not have time for matters of the flesh when the country is ensnared in economic and political trouble.
President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga were pressured into a power-sharing deal by international mediators following violence which accompanied December 2007 polls, but lingering tensions have crippled the coalition government and fuelled widespread discontent.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
May 14, 2009
Switched at Birth, Women Find New Identity
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
PASCO, Wash. — They are calling themselves “twisters.” After all, the standard terms of family and relationships seem insufficient to describe the recently discovered connection between Kay Rene Qualls and DeeAnn Shafer.
Both women were born on May 3, 1953, the only births that day in tiny Pioneer Memorial Hospital in rural Heppner, Ore. Both grew up happily, got married, raised children and now have grandchildren.
Then, last summer, say friends and family members, an elderly woman who knew the families of both women long ago made a call to Mrs. Qualls’s brother. The woman, who has not been identified, had news she felt she had to share as her life neared its end and the younger women’s parents had already died.
“It’s shocking, totally shocking,” said Mrs. Shafer’s husband, Rick. “But both families have opened up their arms.”
The woman said that Kay Rene and DeeAnn were supposed to be vice versa. She said they had been switched at birth in the hospital, apparently accidentally, and taken home by the other’s mother. Floored and skeptical but also curious, Mrs. Qualls and Mrs. Shafer tracked each other down earlier this year and agreed to a DNA test. Then they went out to lunch.
Both shared stories of the rumors, long ago dismissed, that their mothers had brought home the wrong baby. That moment in the nursery in 1953 apparently had been the only time they had crossed paths.
When the DNA test came back, it confirmed what the elderly woman had said. With their identities upended, they cried and they laughed. They had a party, too.
“They had a birthday family reunion together, when they met all of each other’s siblings,” said Florene Robinson, Mrs. Qualls’s best friend and a colleague at the Bank of Eastern Oregon in Heppner.
The new extended family took pictures. There was Kay Rene standing beside DeeAnn’s sisters, her long-lost mirror images. There was DeeAnn alongside her biological family members, her blue eyes and blond hair suddenly making more sense.
Their story appeared in the East Oregonian newspaper this week and quickly shot across the Internet. Television producers tracked Mrs. Qualls to the ranch outside Heppner where she has long lived with her husband, Lyndale Qualls. They reached Mrs. Shafer here in Pasco, where she has just moved from Spokane, Wash., with her husband of 35 years, Rick, who helps run his brother’s used-car dealership.
“Good Morning America” is flying three generations of both families to New York for an appearance this week. Until then, both women said in brief telephone conversations, they are keeping more of their story to themselves. Already, they have tired of the news media’s inquiries, they said.
And then there are the questions they ask themselves.
“She has her highs and lows,” Mr. Shafer said of his wife. “One minute she’s happy, the next she’s sad because she never got to meet her real mom and dad, or her grandparents.”
“It eats at her,” Mr. Shafer said. “And I know it eats at Kay Rene, too. I mean, DeeAnn’s supposed to be Kay Rene.”
Photo at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14 ... &th&emc=th
Switched at Birth, Women Find New Identity
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
PASCO, Wash. — They are calling themselves “twisters.” After all, the standard terms of family and relationships seem insufficient to describe the recently discovered connection between Kay Rene Qualls and DeeAnn Shafer.
Both women were born on May 3, 1953, the only births that day in tiny Pioneer Memorial Hospital in rural Heppner, Ore. Both grew up happily, got married, raised children and now have grandchildren.
Then, last summer, say friends and family members, an elderly woman who knew the families of both women long ago made a call to Mrs. Qualls’s brother. The woman, who has not been identified, had news she felt she had to share as her life neared its end and the younger women’s parents had already died.
“It’s shocking, totally shocking,” said Mrs. Shafer’s husband, Rick. “But both families have opened up their arms.”
The woman said that Kay Rene and DeeAnn were supposed to be vice versa. She said they had been switched at birth in the hospital, apparently accidentally, and taken home by the other’s mother. Floored and skeptical but also curious, Mrs. Qualls and Mrs. Shafer tracked each other down earlier this year and agreed to a DNA test. Then they went out to lunch.
Both shared stories of the rumors, long ago dismissed, that their mothers had brought home the wrong baby. That moment in the nursery in 1953 apparently had been the only time they had crossed paths.
When the DNA test came back, it confirmed what the elderly woman had said. With their identities upended, they cried and they laughed. They had a party, too.
“They had a birthday family reunion together, when they met all of each other’s siblings,” said Florene Robinson, Mrs. Qualls’s best friend and a colleague at the Bank of Eastern Oregon in Heppner.
The new extended family took pictures. There was Kay Rene standing beside DeeAnn’s sisters, her long-lost mirror images. There was DeeAnn alongside her biological family members, her blue eyes and blond hair suddenly making more sense.
Their story appeared in the East Oregonian newspaper this week and quickly shot across the Internet. Television producers tracked Mrs. Qualls to the ranch outside Heppner where she has long lived with her husband, Lyndale Qualls. They reached Mrs. Shafer here in Pasco, where she has just moved from Spokane, Wash., with her husband of 35 years, Rick, who helps run his brother’s used-car dealership.
“Good Morning America” is flying three generations of both families to New York for an appearance this week. Until then, both women said in brief telephone conversations, they are keeping more of their story to themselves. Already, they have tired of the news media’s inquiries, they said.
And then there are the questions they ask themselves.
“She has her highs and lows,” Mr. Shafer said of his wife. “One minute she’s happy, the next she’s sad because she never got to meet her real mom and dad, or her grandparents.”
“It eats at her,” Mr. Shafer said. “And I know it eats at Kay Rene, too. I mean, DeeAnn’s supposed to be Kay Rene.”
Photo at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14 ... &th&emc=th
Man tried to hire prostitute for son, 14
Canwest News Service
May 17, 2009 7:22 AM
A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a British court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham, central England.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teen had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July in an undercover operation by the vice squad. Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah. He asked "Sarah" how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on $35. The man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Canwest News Service
May 17, 2009 7:22 AM
A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a British court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham, central England.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teen had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July in an undercover operation by the vice squad. Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah. He asked "Sarah" how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on $35. The man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
; Sodomy suit seeks $220M
Canwest News ServiceMay 30, 2009
A man who last year said he had been sodomized by New York police with a truncheon is seeking $220 million in damages, his lawyer said Friday.
Tattoo parlour employee Michael Mineo says police held him down on a subway station platform October 15 and raped him with the baton, tearing his rectum.
His attorney, Kevin Mosley, told AFP he was filing a complaint against New York City, the police force and four officers "based on civil rights violations. Federal law prohibits the excesses."
"Would we not seek some kind of compensation for our life to be ruined? This kind of conduct cannot be tolerated. It has an impact on society,"Mosley said.
An officer was charged in December with aggravated sexual assault in the attack and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Two other officers were charged with an attempted coverup.
The officers say they are innocent. A trial is expected in September.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Canwest News ServiceMay 30, 2009
A man who last year said he had been sodomized by New York police with a truncheon is seeking $220 million in damages, his lawyer said Friday.
Tattoo parlour employee Michael Mineo says police held him down on a subway station platform October 15 and raped him with the baton, tearing his rectum.
His attorney, Kevin Mosley, told AFP he was filing a complaint against New York City, the police force and four officers "based on civil rights violations. Federal law prohibits the excesses."
"Would we not seek some kind of compensation for our life to be ruined? This kind of conduct cannot be tolerated. It has an impact on society,"Mosley said.
An officer was charged in December with aggravated sexual assault in the attack and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Two other officers were charged with an attempted coverup.
The officers say they are innocent. A trial is expected in September.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Horror of Kenya's 'witch' lynchings
By Odhiambo Joseph
BBC News, Kenya
Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air.
More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
Burned alive
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches.
I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
“ They point at me saying - that is a son of the witch ”
Joseph Ondieki
I had been visiting relatives in a nearby town, when I heard what was happening. I dashed to the scene, accompanied by a village elder.
He reacted as if what we were watching was quite normal, which was shocking for me.
As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me.
Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.
Hours later, the police came and removed the charred bodies.
Village youths who took part in the killings told me that the five victims had to die because they had bewitched a young boy.
"Of course some people have been burned. But there is proof of witchcraft," said one youth.
He said that a child had spent the night walking around and then was unable to talk the following morning - except to one of the so-called witches.
I asked the youths whether or not people involved in this supposed witchcraft should be punished.
"Yes, they must be punished, every one," said the first youth.
"We are very angry and that's why we end up punishing these people and even killing them."
His friend agreed: "In other communities, there are witches all round but in Kisii we have come up with a new method, we want to kill these people using our own hands."
I later discovered that the young boy who had supposedly been bewitched, was suffering from epilepsy.
His mother had panicked when he had had an attack.
All too common
The village elder was dismissive of my horror, saying that this kind of thing happens all the time in the western district of Kisii.
He told me about Joseph Ondieki, whose mother had been burned to death less than two months earlier.
I found Joseph and his wife Mary Nyaboke tending vegetables in their small shamba, or homestead.
“ If I visit my neighbours I fear they might poison my food ”
Joseph Ondieki
Mary told me that on the day her mother-in-law had been killed she had been visiting her own parents.
She had heard a noise and discovered the truth when she came home.
She said that in the 20 years she had been married, she had never had any reason to believe her husband's mother was a witch.
Joseph told me he has suffered a lot since his mother died.
"I was born here, but at this stage I feel as if this is not my home any more," he said.
"I cannot visit neighbours or relatives.
"Even when they see me standing by the road side, they point at me, saying: 'That is a son of the witch'.
"And when I go to town they also start wondering what has taken me there. Is it that I am going to give evidence against them?
"When I come back, they say I've been seen at the police station, but I've never been there. I've never reported the matter.
"If I visit the neighbours, I always fear that they might put poison in the food.
"So when I'm forced to visit, I make sure I don't eat anything.
"If I can't get my own food I just have a glass of water and sleep."
I set off with Joseph up the hill towards his house, which was far from the centre of the village.
On the way we passed his mother's house.
A neighbour was reluctant to talk to me and denied even knowing Joseph's mother.
"Here in Kisii, people are being burned on mere allegation and most of them are old," Joseph said.
"We now don't have any old people in the village to consult.
"Even me I'm now approaching 50 years old - I'm afraid that they'll come for me also."
Warning signs
I spent three days in Kisii trying to speak to the authorities, but nobody, neither the police nor the local government officials would talk to me.
As night drew in, and it was time for me to leave, Joseph walked with me from his village to where my car was parked.
When we arrived, he begged me to take him with me to Mombasa, where I am based.
It was very difficult for me to leave him behind.
As I drove away I passed signs pinned to trees, warning witches that they would be tracked down.
"We know you by your names", someone had typed in bold.
To listen to the full broadcast of Kenya's Witch Lynchings , tune in to African Perspective on the BBC World Service. The program is first broadcast on Saturday 27 June at 1106 GMT. It will be available online from 2106 GMT, for one week.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ... 119201.stm
Published: 2009/06/26 07:17:36 GMT
By Odhiambo Joseph
BBC News, Kenya
Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air.
More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
Burned alive
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches.
I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
“ They point at me saying - that is a son of the witch ”
Joseph Ondieki
I had been visiting relatives in a nearby town, when I heard what was happening. I dashed to the scene, accompanied by a village elder.
He reacted as if what we were watching was quite normal, which was shocking for me.
As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me.
Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.
Hours later, the police came and removed the charred bodies.
Village youths who took part in the killings told me that the five victims had to die because they had bewitched a young boy.
"Of course some people have been burned. But there is proof of witchcraft," said one youth.
He said that a child had spent the night walking around and then was unable to talk the following morning - except to one of the so-called witches.
I asked the youths whether or not people involved in this supposed witchcraft should be punished.
"Yes, they must be punished, every one," said the first youth.
"We are very angry and that's why we end up punishing these people and even killing them."
His friend agreed: "In other communities, there are witches all round but in Kisii we have come up with a new method, we want to kill these people using our own hands."
I later discovered that the young boy who had supposedly been bewitched, was suffering from epilepsy.
His mother had panicked when he had had an attack.
All too common
The village elder was dismissive of my horror, saying that this kind of thing happens all the time in the western district of Kisii.
He told me about Joseph Ondieki, whose mother had been burned to death less than two months earlier.
I found Joseph and his wife Mary Nyaboke tending vegetables in their small shamba, or homestead.
“ If I visit my neighbours I fear they might poison my food ”
Joseph Ondieki
Mary told me that on the day her mother-in-law had been killed she had been visiting her own parents.
She had heard a noise and discovered the truth when she came home.
She said that in the 20 years she had been married, she had never had any reason to believe her husband's mother was a witch.
Joseph told me he has suffered a lot since his mother died.
"I was born here, but at this stage I feel as if this is not my home any more," he said.
"I cannot visit neighbours or relatives.
"Even when they see me standing by the road side, they point at me, saying: 'That is a son of the witch'.
"And when I go to town they also start wondering what has taken me there. Is it that I am going to give evidence against them?
"When I come back, they say I've been seen at the police station, but I've never been there. I've never reported the matter.
"If I visit the neighbours, I always fear that they might put poison in the food.
"So when I'm forced to visit, I make sure I don't eat anything.
"If I can't get my own food I just have a glass of water and sleep."
I set off with Joseph up the hill towards his house, which was far from the centre of the village.
On the way we passed his mother's house.
A neighbour was reluctant to talk to me and denied even knowing Joseph's mother.
"Here in Kisii, people are being burned on mere allegation and most of them are old," Joseph said.
"We now don't have any old people in the village to consult.
"Even me I'm now approaching 50 years old - I'm afraid that they'll come for me also."
Warning signs
I spent three days in Kisii trying to speak to the authorities, but nobody, neither the police nor the local government officials would talk to me.
As night drew in, and it was time for me to leave, Joseph walked with me from his village to where my car was parked.
When we arrived, he begged me to take him with me to Mombasa, where I am based.
It was very difficult for me to leave him behind.
As I drove away I passed signs pinned to trees, warning witches that they would be tracked down.
"We know you by your names", someone had typed in bold.
To listen to the full broadcast of Kenya's Witch Lynchings , tune in to African Perspective on the BBC World Service. The program is first broadcast on Saturday 27 June at 1106 GMT. It will be available online from 2106 GMT, for one week.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ... 119201.stm
Published: 2009/06/26 07:17:36 GMT
Ethiopian man shackles girl with dogs for 18 years
By Tsegaye Tadesse, ReutersJuly 4, 2009 8:17
Hundreds of women have rallied to demand the death penalty for a man who shackled a girl with dogs for 18 years and abused her, the Ethiopian News Agency reported Friday.
The unnamed suspect from Adama -- a town 100 kilo-metres east of the country's capital Addis Ababa--imprisoned the girl from the age of four, the agency said.
The man took custody of her when his mother, who had been caring for the girl, died.
The victim's mother suffered from mental illness.
"The suspect tortured, violated and brutally abused the girl for 18 years, shackling her with dogs in a secluded room inside his home," police reported.
"He starved the girl, only throwing her crumbs of bread once in a while, and she was forced to share the dogs' food to survive. She is in poor health."
"The suspect tortured, violated and brutally abused the girl for 18 years, shackling her with dogs in a secluded room inside his home," police said.
The case echoes that of Austrian Josef Fritzl.
The discovery and subsequent trial of the man who imprisoned his daughter in a basement for 24 years--and fathering seven children with her--captured world attention.
Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in March.
Police say that the Ethiopian girl--who is now 22--is suffering from multiple wounds and is being treated in a hospital in the town.
The mayor of Adama, Tadelle Shigute, said that the man will appear in court soon but did not give a specific date.
"It's hoped that he will receive a penalty which is befitting his crimes," said Tadelle.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 5&sponsor=
By Tsegaye Tadesse, ReutersJuly 4, 2009 8:17
Hundreds of women have rallied to demand the death penalty for a man who shackled a girl with dogs for 18 years and abused her, the Ethiopian News Agency reported Friday.
The unnamed suspect from Adama -- a town 100 kilo-metres east of the country's capital Addis Ababa--imprisoned the girl from the age of four, the agency said.
The man took custody of her when his mother, who had been caring for the girl, died.
The victim's mother suffered from mental illness.
"The suspect tortured, violated and brutally abused the girl for 18 years, shackling her with dogs in a secluded room inside his home," police reported.
"He starved the girl, only throwing her crumbs of bread once in a while, and she was forced to share the dogs' food to survive. She is in poor health."
"The suspect tortured, violated and brutally abused the girl for 18 years, shackling her with dogs in a secluded room inside his home," police said.
The case echoes that of Austrian Josef Fritzl.
The discovery and subsequent trial of the man who imprisoned his daughter in a basement for 24 years--and fathering seven children with her--captured world attention.
Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in March.
Police say that the Ethiopian girl--who is now 22--is suffering from multiple wounds and is being treated in a hospital in the town.
The mayor of Adama, Tadelle Shigute, said that the man will appear in court soon but did not give a specific date.
"It's hoped that he will receive a penalty which is befitting his crimes," said Tadelle.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_prin ... 5&sponsor=
Sudan women 'lashed for trousers'
Several Sudanese women have been flogged as a punishment for dressing "indecently", according to a local journalist who was arrested with them.
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who says she is facing 40 lashes, said she and 12 other women wearing trousers were arrested in a restaurant in the capital, Khartoum.
She told the BBC several of the women had pleaded guilty to the charges and had 10 lashes immediately.
Khartoum, unlike South Sudan, is governed by Sharia law.
Several of those punished were from the mainly Christian and animist south, Ms Hussein said.
Non-Muslims are not supposed to be subject to Islamic law, even in Khartoum and other parts of the mainly Muslim north.
She said that a group of about 20 or 30 police officers entered the popular Khartoum restaurant and arrested all the women wearing trousers.
"I was wearing trousers and a blouse and the 10 girls who were lashed were wearing like me, there was no difference," she told the BBC's Arabic service.
Ms Hussein said some women pleaded guilty to "get it over with" but others, including herself, chose to speak to their lawyers and are awaiting their fates.
Under Sharia law in Khartoum, the normal punishment for "indecent" dressing is 40 lashes.
Ms Hussein is a well-known reporter who writes a weekly column called Men Talk for Sudanese papers. She also works for the United Nations Mission in Sudan.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ... 147329.stm
Published: 2009/07/13 12:28:13 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Several Sudanese women have been flogged as a punishment for dressing "indecently", according to a local journalist who was arrested with them.
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who says she is facing 40 lashes, said she and 12 other women wearing trousers were arrested in a restaurant in the capital, Khartoum.
She told the BBC several of the women had pleaded guilty to the charges and had 10 lashes immediately.
Khartoum, unlike South Sudan, is governed by Sharia law.
Several of those punished were from the mainly Christian and animist south, Ms Hussein said.
Non-Muslims are not supposed to be subject to Islamic law, even in Khartoum and other parts of the mainly Muslim north.
She said that a group of about 20 or 30 police officers entered the popular Khartoum restaurant and arrested all the women wearing trousers.
"I was wearing trousers and a blouse and the 10 girls who were lashed were wearing like me, there was no difference," she told the BBC's Arabic service.
Ms Hussein said some women pleaded guilty to "get it over with" but others, including herself, chose to speak to their lawyers and are awaiting their fates.
Under Sharia law in Khartoum, the normal punishment for "indecent" dressing is 40 lashes.
Ms Hussein is a well-known reporter who writes a weekly column called Men Talk for Sudanese papers. She also works for the United Nations Mission in Sudan.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ... 147329.stm
Published: 2009/07/13 12:28:13 GMT
© BBC MMIX
July 14, 2009
Vocal Minority Insists It Was All Smoke and Mirrors
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
They walk among us, seemingly little different from you or me. Most of the time, you would never know of their true nature — except that occasionally, they feel compelled to speak up.
Take an example from Lens, this newspaper’s photography blog. A recent feature,“ Dateline: Space,” displayed stunning NASA photographs, including the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin standing on the lunar surface.
The second comment on the feature stated flatly, “Man never got to the moon.”
The author of the post, Nicolas Marino, went on to say, “I think media should stop publicizing something that was a complete sham once and for all and start documenting how they lied blatantly to the whole world.”
Forty years after men first touched the lifeless dirt of the Moon — and they did. Really. Honest. — polling consistently suggests that some 6 percent of Americans believe the landings were faked and could not have happened. The series of landings, one of the greatest gambles of the human race, was an elaborate hoax developed to raise national pride, many among them insist.
They examine photos from the missions for signs of studio fakery, and claim to be able to tell that the American flag was waving in what was supposed to be the vacuum of space. They overstate the health risks of traveling through the radiation belts that girdle our planet; they understate the technological prowess of the American space program; and they cry murder behind every death in the program, linking them to an overall conspiracy.
And while there is no credible evidence to support such views, and the sheer unlikelihood of being able to pull off such an immense plot and keep it secret for four decades staggers the imagination, the deniers continue to amass accusations to this day. They are bolstered by films like a documentary shown on Fox television in 2001 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon” by Bart Sibrel, a filmmaker in Nashville.
“There are smart, normal people who buy into these conspiracy theories,” said Philip Plait, an astronomer and author who counters the conspiracy theorists point by point and at excruciating length at his “Bad Astronomy” Web site. He is one of many people who have joined the fight to affirm that It Happened. A group effort, at www.clavius.org, debunks with gusto; its main author, Jay Windley, named the site for the Moon base in Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Even though the so-called evidence from the conspiracists can clearly be proved wrong, Mr. Plait said, understanding the proof can require a working knowledge of history and photography and of science and its methodology. “You’ve got to do the work; you’ve got to put the elbow grease to it,” he said, “and most people don’t do the work. So these things get traction.”
Mr. Marino, the author of the post on the Lens blog, is a 31-year-old architect born in Argentina. In an e-mail interview, he said that the political corruption during the years of dictatorship in his country shaped his thinking: “I started to realize how political corruption operates and how it is the interests of a few in power that really governs our world.”
As he traveled the world — he now lives and works in China — he picked up books contending that the landings were faked and saw documentaries including Mr. Sibrel’s, he said, which paints a dark portrait of political manipulation during the Nixon administration and somehow ties in the Vietnam War, the Titanic and the Tower of Babel before even getting to the supposed photographic evidence of lunar deception.
Mr. Sibrel, who sells his films online, has hounded Apollo astronauts with a Bible, insisting that they swear on camera they had walked on the Moon. He so annoyed Buzz Aldrin in 2002 — ambushing him with his Bible and calling him “a coward, and a liar, and a thief” — that Mr. Aldrin punched Mr. Sibrel in the face. Law enforcement officials refused to file charges against Mr. Aldrin, the second man on the Moon.
In an interview, Mr. Sibrel said that his efforts to prove that men never walked on the Moon has cost him dearly. “I have suffered only persecution and financial loss,” he said. “I’ve lost visitation with my son. I’ve been expelled from churches. All because I believe the Moon landings are fraudulent.”
Ted Goertzel, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has studied conspiracy theorists, said “there’s a similar kind of logic behind all of these groups, I think.” For the most part, he explained, “They don’t undertake to prove that their view is true” so much as to “find flaws in what the other side is saying.” And so, he said, argument is a matter of accumulation instead of persuasion. “They feel if they’ve got more facts than the other side, that proves they’re right.”
Mark Fenster, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law who has written extensively on conspiracy theories, said he sees similarities between people who argue that the Moon landings never happened and those who insist that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the government and that President Obama’s birth certificate is fake: at the core, he said, is a polarization so profound that people end up with an unshakable belief that those in power “simply can’t be trusted.”
The emergence of the Internet as a communications medium, he noted, makes it possible for once-scattered believers to find one another. “It allows the theory to continue to exist, to continue to be available — it’s not just some old dusty books on the half-price shelf.”
Adam Savage, the co-star of the television show “MythBusters,” spent an episode last year taking apart Moon hoax theories bit by bit, entertainingly and convincingly. The theorists, he noted, never give up. “They’ll say you have to keep an open mind,” he said, “but they reject every single piece of evidence that doesn’t adhere to their thesis.”
For those who actually went — and have I mentioned that we did land astronauts on the Moon? Six times? — the conspiracy theories are simply galling.
Harrison Schmitt, the pilot of the lunar lander during the last Apollo mission and later a United States senator, said in an interview that the poor state of the nation’s schools has had predictable results. “If people decide they’re going to deny the facts of history and the facts of science and technology, there’s not much you can do with them,” he said.
“For most of them, I just feel sorry that we failed in their education.”
An earlier version of this article misstated who was in a Moon photograph on the Lens blog.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/scien ... nted=print
Vocal Minority Insists It Was All Smoke and Mirrors
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
They walk among us, seemingly little different from you or me. Most of the time, you would never know of their true nature — except that occasionally, they feel compelled to speak up.
Take an example from Lens, this newspaper’s photography blog. A recent feature,“ Dateline: Space,” displayed stunning NASA photographs, including the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin standing on the lunar surface.
The second comment on the feature stated flatly, “Man never got to the moon.”
The author of the post, Nicolas Marino, went on to say, “I think media should stop publicizing something that was a complete sham once and for all and start documenting how they lied blatantly to the whole world.”
Forty years after men first touched the lifeless dirt of the Moon — and they did. Really. Honest. — polling consistently suggests that some 6 percent of Americans believe the landings were faked and could not have happened. The series of landings, one of the greatest gambles of the human race, was an elaborate hoax developed to raise national pride, many among them insist.
They examine photos from the missions for signs of studio fakery, and claim to be able to tell that the American flag was waving in what was supposed to be the vacuum of space. They overstate the health risks of traveling through the radiation belts that girdle our planet; they understate the technological prowess of the American space program; and they cry murder behind every death in the program, linking them to an overall conspiracy.
And while there is no credible evidence to support such views, and the sheer unlikelihood of being able to pull off such an immense plot and keep it secret for four decades staggers the imagination, the deniers continue to amass accusations to this day. They are bolstered by films like a documentary shown on Fox television in 2001 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon” by Bart Sibrel, a filmmaker in Nashville.
“There are smart, normal people who buy into these conspiracy theories,” said Philip Plait, an astronomer and author who counters the conspiracy theorists point by point and at excruciating length at his “Bad Astronomy” Web site. He is one of many people who have joined the fight to affirm that It Happened. A group effort, at www.clavius.org, debunks with gusto; its main author, Jay Windley, named the site for the Moon base in Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Even though the so-called evidence from the conspiracists can clearly be proved wrong, Mr. Plait said, understanding the proof can require a working knowledge of history and photography and of science and its methodology. “You’ve got to do the work; you’ve got to put the elbow grease to it,” he said, “and most people don’t do the work. So these things get traction.”
Mr. Marino, the author of the post on the Lens blog, is a 31-year-old architect born in Argentina. In an e-mail interview, he said that the political corruption during the years of dictatorship in his country shaped his thinking: “I started to realize how political corruption operates and how it is the interests of a few in power that really governs our world.”
As he traveled the world — he now lives and works in China — he picked up books contending that the landings were faked and saw documentaries including Mr. Sibrel’s, he said, which paints a dark portrait of political manipulation during the Nixon administration and somehow ties in the Vietnam War, the Titanic and the Tower of Babel before even getting to the supposed photographic evidence of lunar deception.
Mr. Sibrel, who sells his films online, has hounded Apollo astronauts with a Bible, insisting that they swear on camera they had walked on the Moon. He so annoyed Buzz Aldrin in 2002 — ambushing him with his Bible and calling him “a coward, and a liar, and a thief” — that Mr. Aldrin punched Mr. Sibrel in the face. Law enforcement officials refused to file charges against Mr. Aldrin, the second man on the Moon.
In an interview, Mr. Sibrel said that his efforts to prove that men never walked on the Moon has cost him dearly. “I have suffered only persecution and financial loss,” he said. “I’ve lost visitation with my son. I’ve been expelled from churches. All because I believe the Moon landings are fraudulent.”
Ted Goertzel, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has studied conspiracy theorists, said “there’s a similar kind of logic behind all of these groups, I think.” For the most part, he explained, “They don’t undertake to prove that their view is true” so much as to “find flaws in what the other side is saying.” And so, he said, argument is a matter of accumulation instead of persuasion. “They feel if they’ve got more facts than the other side, that proves they’re right.”
Mark Fenster, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law who has written extensively on conspiracy theories, said he sees similarities between people who argue that the Moon landings never happened and those who insist that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the government and that President Obama’s birth certificate is fake: at the core, he said, is a polarization so profound that people end up with an unshakable belief that those in power “simply can’t be trusted.”
The emergence of the Internet as a communications medium, he noted, makes it possible for once-scattered believers to find one another. “It allows the theory to continue to exist, to continue to be available — it’s not just some old dusty books on the half-price shelf.”
Adam Savage, the co-star of the television show “MythBusters,” spent an episode last year taking apart Moon hoax theories bit by bit, entertainingly and convincingly. The theorists, he noted, never give up. “They’ll say you have to keep an open mind,” he said, “but they reject every single piece of evidence that doesn’t adhere to their thesis.”
For those who actually went — and have I mentioned that we did land astronauts on the Moon? Six times? — the conspiracy theories are simply galling.
Harrison Schmitt, the pilot of the lunar lander during the last Apollo mission and later a United States senator, said in an interview that the poor state of the nation’s schools has had predictable results. “If people decide they’re going to deny the facts of history and the facts of science and technology, there’s not much you can do with them,” he said.
“For most of them, I just feel sorry that we failed in their education.”
An earlier version of this article misstated who was in a Moon photograph on the Lens blog.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/scien ... nted=print
SAUDI ARABIA: A lawsuit against a genie
A family in Saudi Arabia has filed suit in a religious court against an unnamed genie, or jinn, who sounds most unpleasant: It steals cellphones, whispers threats and occasionally flings stones.
“We began to hear strange sounds,” a family member who requested anonymity told the Saudi daily Al Watan. “At first we did not take it seriously, but then stranger things started to happen, and the children got particularly scared when the genie started throwing stones.”
The genie -- or genies -- had demands: “A woman spoke to me first, and then a man. They said we should get out of the house,” said the family member, adding that his clan fled their home near the city of Medina.
Jinns and genies are spirits born out of fire that have supernatural powers. They appear in the Koran and Arab mythology, creatures living between humanity and the elements. One of their most famous incarnations lived in Aladdin’s lamp.
Sheikh Amr Al Salmi, head of the local Sharia court, said he will investigate the family’s claims that it has been harassed for two years: “We have to look into this case and verify its truthfulness despite the difficulty of
its consideration,” he told the Saudi daily. “What is interesting is that the complaint has come from every member of the family, and not just one.”
-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Photo: A mural showing the genie from "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights" is featured on the ceiling of the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Credit Laura Rauch / Associated Press
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylon ... genie.html
A family in Saudi Arabia has filed suit in a religious court against an unnamed genie, or jinn, who sounds most unpleasant: It steals cellphones, whispers threats and occasionally flings stones.
“We began to hear strange sounds,” a family member who requested anonymity told the Saudi daily Al Watan. “At first we did not take it seriously, but then stranger things started to happen, and the children got particularly scared when the genie started throwing stones.”
The genie -- or genies -- had demands: “A woman spoke to me first, and then a man. They said we should get out of the house,” said the family member, adding that his clan fled their home near the city of Medina.
Jinns and genies are spirits born out of fire that have supernatural powers. They appear in the Koran and Arab mythology, creatures living between humanity and the elements. One of their most famous incarnations lived in Aladdin’s lamp.
Sheikh Amr Al Salmi, head of the local Sharia court, said he will investigate the family’s claims that it has been harassed for two years: “We have to look into this case and verify its truthfulness despite the difficulty of
its consideration,” he told the Saudi daily. “What is interesting is that the complaint has come from every member of the family, and not just one.”
-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Photo: A mural showing the genie from "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights" is featured on the ceiling of the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Credit Laura Rauch / Associated Press
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylon ... genie.html
British teen survives 12 nights in Australian wilderness
By Greg Wood, Agence France-presseJuly 16, 2009
Richard Cass, left, visits his son Jamie Neale on Wednesday. Neale was found alive after being missing for 12 days in the Australian wilderness.
Photograph by: Dean Lewins, AFP-Getty Images, Agence France-presse
http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Bri ... story.html
A British teenager is "back from the dead" after surviving 12 nights in Australia's unforgiving wilderness by eating seeds and sleeping under his jacket, his father said on Wednesday.
An exhausted and dehydrated Jamie Neale, 19, was discovered by chance by two hikers in the rugged Blue Mountains west of Sydney, ending an ordeal, which began when he set off for a lone trek on July 3.TVpictures showed Neale sporting a beard and looking bewildered as he arrived at Katoomba Hospital in the Blue Mountains.
Neale's father, Richard Cass, who flew out from Britain, had given up the search and was about to board his flight home when he was told the news.
"I had my little closure ceremony in the park. I carved his name, lit a candle, buried a red rose for England--and he's come back from the dead!"
But while hugely relieved, Cass also had some choice words about the ordeal that Neale had put his family and rescue workers through.
"When I've seen the mistake after mistake he's made -- I can't say I'd kill him because it would just spoil the point of him being back," Cass said.
The Briton had set off from a Katoomba hostel for the Ruined Castle rock formation, where he was last sighted. A major search party had been scouring the remote Jamison Valley using helicopters and dogs, as well as police, firefighters, park rangers and emergency service volunteers.
The harsh terrain is popular with bush walkers, but can be deadly. A 17-year-old hiker died after becoming lost in 2006.
A police spokesman said it was a "miracle" that Neale, who was on his first bush walk, had survived.
Neale's mother Jean said she never gave up hope for her son, whom she described as emotional when they spoke by telephone Wednesday.
"He just said, 'Hello, mom.' He was nearly in tears."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
**
Rescued British hiker admits being 'a total idiot'
Canwest News ServiceJuly 20, 2009
A British backpacker who spent 12 days lost in the Australian wilderness feared he would starve to death if the rescue helicopters he saw overhead failed to find him.
Jamie Neale, 19, broke his silence over his ordeal in the Blue Mountains, telling an Australian current affairs show that he was horrified at the thought of dying slowly of starvation.
He ate seeds and berries and even searched for worms and insects as he struggled through the rugged expanse of forest and mountain.
"I thought I would starve to death, which is something I really didn't want to happen," he told 60 Minutes, which is reported to have paid up to $200,000 for an exclusive interview. "I didn't want a long and drawn-out thing and that terrified me."
Neale admitted being "a total idiot" for setting off without proper preparation or supplies from a youth hostel at Katoomba on July 3 on what was supposed to be a 10-hour bush walk.
"In Britain, you walk for a day and you end up at a pub. Out here, you can get lost so easily," he said.
"I was overconfident and I didn't respect the seriousness of the situation and I made mistakes."
The Briton rejected suggestions that he contrived his story to win a lucrative interview deal.
"I know what's happened and I know the people who were searching for me know that it happened and that's enough for me," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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****
World's oldest mom dies, leaves twins orphaned
Herald News ServicesJuly 16, 2009
The Spanish woman who became the world's oldest mother when she gave birth to twins days before turning 67 has died, leaving her sons orphaned before their third birthday.
Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara was diagnosed with cancer within a year of the birth of her twins, Christian and Pau.
She died on Saturday, aged 69, at a hospital near her home in Cadiz. One of her brothers confirmed that she had died on Saturday, but he refused to discuss who would care for the two-year-old twins.
The former shop worker, who was single, provoked great controversy. Her own family called her "selfish and irresponsible."
She admitted lying about her age to doctors to receive fertility treatment at a private clinic in Los Angeles, for which she paid a reported $49,300 US.
Shortly after the birth of her sons on Dec. 29, 2006, Bousada de Lara claimed to be feeling healthier than ever. Within months, however, she was diagnosed with cancer, believed to be breast cancer, and told that the powerful drugs used during her fertility treatment could have helped the disease to spread.
On Wednesday, Josephine Quintavalle, the head of the Comment on Reproductive Ethics campaign group, described women who had children in their 60s as selfish. "This is horrifying, it's such a sad story," she said of Bousada de Lara's death.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Greg Wood, Agence France-presseJuly 16, 2009
Richard Cass, left, visits his son Jamie Neale on Wednesday. Neale was found alive after being missing for 12 days in the Australian wilderness.
Photograph by: Dean Lewins, AFP-Getty Images, Agence France-presse
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A British teenager is "back from the dead" after surviving 12 nights in Australia's unforgiving wilderness by eating seeds and sleeping under his jacket, his father said on Wednesday.
An exhausted and dehydrated Jamie Neale, 19, was discovered by chance by two hikers in the rugged Blue Mountains west of Sydney, ending an ordeal, which began when he set off for a lone trek on July 3.TVpictures showed Neale sporting a beard and looking bewildered as he arrived at Katoomba Hospital in the Blue Mountains.
Neale's father, Richard Cass, who flew out from Britain, had given up the search and was about to board his flight home when he was told the news.
"I had my little closure ceremony in the park. I carved his name, lit a candle, buried a red rose for England--and he's come back from the dead!"
But while hugely relieved, Cass also had some choice words about the ordeal that Neale had put his family and rescue workers through.
"When I've seen the mistake after mistake he's made -- I can't say I'd kill him because it would just spoil the point of him being back," Cass said.
The Briton had set off from a Katoomba hostel for the Ruined Castle rock formation, where he was last sighted. A major search party had been scouring the remote Jamison Valley using helicopters and dogs, as well as police, firefighters, park rangers and emergency service volunteers.
The harsh terrain is popular with bush walkers, but can be deadly. A 17-year-old hiker died after becoming lost in 2006.
A police spokesman said it was a "miracle" that Neale, who was on his first bush walk, had survived.
Neale's mother Jean said she never gave up hope for her son, whom she described as emotional when they spoke by telephone Wednesday.
"He just said, 'Hello, mom.' He was nearly in tears."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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Rescued British hiker admits being 'a total idiot'
Canwest News ServiceJuly 20, 2009
A British backpacker who spent 12 days lost in the Australian wilderness feared he would starve to death if the rescue helicopters he saw overhead failed to find him.
Jamie Neale, 19, broke his silence over his ordeal in the Blue Mountains, telling an Australian current affairs show that he was horrified at the thought of dying slowly of starvation.
He ate seeds and berries and even searched for worms and insects as he struggled through the rugged expanse of forest and mountain.
"I thought I would starve to death, which is something I really didn't want to happen," he told 60 Minutes, which is reported to have paid up to $200,000 for an exclusive interview. "I didn't want a long and drawn-out thing and that terrified me."
Neale admitted being "a total idiot" for setting off without proper preparation or supplies from a youth hostel at Katoomba on July 3 on what was supposed to be a 10-hour bush walk.
"In Britain, you walk for a day and you end up at a pub. Out here, you can get lost so easily," he said.
"I was overconfident and I didn't respect the seriousness of the situation and I made mistakes."
The Briton rejected suggestions that he contrived his story to win a lucrative interview deal.
"I know what's happened and I know the people who were searching for me know that it happened and that's enough for me," he said.
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World's oldest mom dies, leaves twins orphaned
Herald News ServicesJuly 16, 2009
The Spanish woman who became the world's oldest mother when she gave birth to twins days before turning 67 has died, leaving her sons orphaned before their third birthday.
Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara was diagnosed with cancer within a year of the birth of her twins, Christian and Pau.
She died on Saturday, aged 69, at a hospital near her home in Cadiz. One of her brothers confirmed that she had died on Saturday, but he refused to discuss who would care for the two-year-old twins.
The former shop worker, who was single, provoked great controversy. Her own family called her "selfish and irresponsible."
She admitted lying about her age to doctors to receive fertility treatment at a private clinic in Los Angeles, for which she paid a reported $49,300 US.
Shortly after the birth of her sons on Dec. 29, 2006, Bousada de Lara claimed to be feeling healthier than ever. Within months, however, she was diagnosed with cancer, believed to be breast cancer, and told that the powerful drugs used during her fertility treatment could have helped the disease to spread.
On Wednesday, Josephine Quintavalle, the head of the Comment on Reproductive Ethics campaign group, described women who had children in their 60s as selfish. "This is horrifying, it's such a sad story," she said of Bousada de Lara's death.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Last edited by kmaherali on Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Teenager sails solo around world
Californian, 17, sets records with trek
ReutersJuly 17, 2009
After braving more than a year of mechanical failures, rough seas and even a pirate scare, Zac Sunderland was welcomed home Thursday by his mother and sister at Marina Del Rey, Calif.
Photograph by: Gabriel Bouys, AFP-Getty Images, Reuters
A17-year-old U. S. mariner piloted his battered sailboat into a southern California harbour on Thursday to complete a gruelling 13-month voyage and become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.
Sandy-haired teenager Zac Sunderland arrived in Marina Del Rey aboard his 11-metre sloop Intrepid at about 10 a. m. local time. During his nearly 52,000-kilometre journey, Sunderland braved storms, equipment failures, close calls with freighters and a run-in with suspected pirates.
"It's awesome to be back" Sunderland, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., said after he was welcomed home by a flotilla of well-wishers.
Fewer than 250 people have sailed solo around the globe, with three times that many scaling the top of Mount Everest, according to the American Sailing Association, which certified Sunderland's feat.
He left Marina Del Rey, just south of Los Angeles, on June 14,2008, and celebrated his 17th birthday at sea while off Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
His return was delayed near the end of his voyage when his single-masted boat sustained a broken bulkhead in rough seas off Mexico, forcing him to stop at Puerto Vallarta long enough for his father to fly in to make repairs.
Another tense moment occurred in the Indian Ocean off Indonesia, where the Intrepid was approached by a suspected pirate boat.
The intruders fled after a plane flew overhead and Sunderland climbed onto his deck with a gun to ward them off, said Charlie Nobles, executive director of the association.
Sunderland, who remained in satellite phone contact with his father during the voyage, dumped the gun before entering Mexican waters, where it is illegal to carry firearms.
He becomes the first person under 18 to circumnavigate the globe by sea alone, and the youngest to date. The previous record-holder was David Dicks of Australia, who completed his voyage in November 1996 at age 18.
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Californian, 17, sets records with trek
ReutersJuly 17, 2009
After braving more than a year of mechanical failures, rough seas and even a pirate scare, Zac Sunderland was welcomed home Thursday by his mother and sister at Marina Del Rey, Calif.
Photograph by: Gabriel Bouys, AFP-Getty Images, Reuters
A17-year-old U. S. mariner piloted his battered sailboat into a southern California harbour on Thursday to complete a gruelling 13-month voyage and become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.
Sandy-haired teenager Zac Sunderland arrived in Marina Del Rey aboard his 11-metre sloop Intrepid at about 10 a. m. local time. During his nearly 52,000-kilometre journey, Sunderland braved storms, equipment failures, close calls with freighters and a run-in with suspected pirates.
"It's awesome to be back" Sunderland, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., said after he was welcomed home by a flotilla of well-wishers.
Fewer than 250 people have sailed solo around the globe, with three times that many scaling the top of Mount Everest, according to the American Sailing Association, which certified Sunderland's feat.
He left Marina Del Rey, just south of Los Angeles, on June 14,2008, and celebrated his 17th birthday at sea while off Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
His return was delayed near the end of his voyage when his single-masted boat sustained a broken bulkhead in rough seas off Mexico, forcing him to stop at Puerto Vallarta long enough for his father to fly in to make repairs.
Another tense moment occurred in the Indian Ocean off Indonesia, where the Intrepid was approached by a suspected pirate boat.
The intruders fled after a plane flew overhead and Sunderland climbed onto his deck with a gun to ward them off, said Charlie Nobles, executive director of the association.
Sunderland, who remained in satellite phone contact with his father during the voyage, dumped the gun before entering Mexican waters, where it is illegal to carry firearms.
He becomes the first person under 18 to circumnavigate the globe by sea alone, and the youngest to date. The previous record-holder was David Dicks of Australia, who completed his voyage in November 1996 at age 18.
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Briton, 82, completes 100 modes of transport challenge
LONDON - An 82-year-old Briton was celebrating Friday after completing his bid to travel on 100 different types of transport within a year.
Edwin Shackleton, a retired aircraft engineer from Bristol in sowthwest England, started off his odyssey with a ride in his car on New Year's Day. Seven months on, the bowel cancer survivor travelled by his 100th mode of transport by taking a ride in a hot-air balloon.
He travelled in a sledge, a fire engine, a rubbish truck, a rickshaw, a police car, a chairlift, a quad bike and a microlight plane.
-Agence France-Presse
Published in today's Calgary Herald.
LONDON - An 82-year-old Briton was celebrating Friday after completing his bid to travel on 100 different types of transport within a year.
Edwin Shackleton, a retired aircraft engineer from Bristol in sowthwest England, started off his odyssey with a ride in his car on New Year's Day. Seven months on, the bowel cancer survivor travelled by his 100th mode of transport by taking a ride in a hot-air balloon.
He travelled in a sledge, a fire engine, a rubbish truck, a rickshaw, a police car, a chairlift, a quad bike and a microlight plane.
-Agence France-Presse
Published in today's Calgary Herald.
World's oldest man, veteran of Great War dies at age 113
Canwest News ServiceJuly 19, 2009 7:52 AM
Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and First World War veteran who put his longevity down to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women," died Saturday at the age of 113.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the tributes to Allingham, who symbolized the stoicism of the last generation of servicemen who saw the horrors of the Great War.
The veteran spoke of his experiences in the 1914-1918 conflict to remember fallen comrades shorn of the chance to live as long has he did and hoped there would be "no more wars."
In moving scenes last November, the frail, wheelchair-bound Allingham tried for minutes to lay his wreath himself as he led the country in marking the 90th anniversary of the armistice.
Allingham spent his 113th birthday on June 6 at a party hosted by the Royal Navy. He become the world's oldest man on June 17, Guinness World Records confirmed, when the previous holder, Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, died at 113.
The world's oldest man now is a 112-year-old American, Walter Breuning, born on Sept. 21, 1896. The world's oldest woman is Gertrude Baines, a 115-year-old American.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Canwest News ServiceJuly 19, 2009 7:52 AM
Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and First World War veteran who put his longevity down to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women," died Saturday at the age of 113.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the tributes to Allingham, who symbolized the stoicism of the last generation of servicemen who saw the horrors of the Great War.
The veteran spoke of his experiences in the 1914-1918 conflict to remember fallen comrades shorn of the chance to live as long has he did and hoped there would be "no more wars."
In moving scenes last November, the frail, wheelchair-bound Allingham tried for minutes to lay his wreath himself as he led the country in marking the 90th anniversary of the armistice.
Allingham spent his 113th birthday on June 6 at a party hosted by the Royal Navy. He become the world's oldest man on June 17, Guinness World Records confirmed, when the previous holder, Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, died at 113.
The world's oldest man now is a 112-year-old American, Walter Breuning, born on Sept. 21, 1896. The world's oldest woman is Gertrude Baines, a 115-year-old American.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
First arm-transplant man dreams of hoisting a beer
By Richard Carter, Agence France-presseJuly 23, 2009
karl Merk shows the donated arms that have allowed him to hug his family for the first time in the six years since his accident.
Photograph by: Michael Dalder,
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Reuters, Agence France-presse
A German whose arms were severed by a combine harvester said Wednesday he expected soon to be able to raise a glass of Bavarian beer to toast the success of his world-first transplant operation.
Karl Merk, 55, a dairy farmer from the southern German city of Munich, showed off his new dexterity in front of the cameras one year after doctors grafted new limbs onto his body in a landmark surgical procedure.
Waving his arms around and scratching his head, a delighted Merk said he had been able to fulfil a long-held dream to ride a bike again and hug his family.
Asked if he was able to drink a glass of beer in typical Bavarian fashion, Merk said: "Well, yeah, at the moment I'm drinking from a straw;otherwise it would be a bit dangerous, but it should happen soon."
However, he said his life was "basically back to normal" after the 15-hour surgery carried out by around 40 doctors, surgeons and nurses on July 25 and 26 last year.
"My biggest dream is to be able to move my fingers a bit and basically do everything independently for myself," Merk said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Richard Carter, Agence France-presseJuly 23, 2009
karl Merk shows the donated arms that have allowed him to hug his family for the first time in the six years since his accident.
Photograph by: Michael Dalder,
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Reuters, Agence France-presse
A German whose arms were severed by a combine harvester said Wednesday he expected soon to be able to raise a glass of Bavarian beer to toast the success of his world-first transplant operation.
Karl Merk, 55, a dairy farmer from the southern German city of Munich, showed off his new dexterity in front of the cameras one year after doctors grafted new limbs onto his body in a landmark surgical procedure.
Waving his arms around and scratching his head, a delighted Merk said he had been able to fulfil a long-held dream to ride a bike again and hug his family.
Asked if he was able to drink a glass of beer in typical Bavarian fashion, Merk said: "Well, yeah, at the moment I'm drinking from a straw;otherwise it would be a bit dangerous, but it should happen soon."
However, he said his life was "basically back to normal" after the 15-hour surgery carried out by around 40 doctors, surgeons and nurses on July 25 and 26 last year.
"My biggest dream is to be able to move my fingers a bit and basically do everything independently for myself," Merk said.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Aussie survives 20 minutes buried by avalanche
Agence France-presseJuly 26, 2009 7:40 AM
An Australian man pulled unconscious and blue from metres of snow after a deadly avalanche that killed his skiing partner in New Zealand spoke Saturday of the "frightening peace" of his brush with death.
John Castran, a multimillionaire from Melbourne, was heli-skiing with his son Angus when they were hit by tonnes of snow on mountains west of Christchurch, on the South Island, late Friday.
"I was skiing down and all of a sudden the whole side of the mountain just let go," he told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Buried under almost two metres of snow, Castran, 53, said he was still able to move his arms and legs, until a second wave of powder rolled over him and he was completely paralyzed.
"You choke with the snow, you can't breathe, you're suffocating, it's like being poured into plaster of Paris," he said.
"The only thing I could move was my tongue to push the snow away from in front of my mouth. I thought 'I've only got a little bit of air here, I've just got to use all the air very, very carefully,' so I just shut down totally."
It became "frighteningly peaceful" as the air ran out, Castran said.
His son, 23, managed to dig himself out of snow that had buried him to his waist, and located Castran using a search and rescue beacon that was pinned to his chest.
For 20 minutes he dug into the snow, finally pulling his father free, blue in the face and with his eyes rolled back in his head. He and a guide managed to revive Castran with CPR.
Just moments before the thundering avalanche, Castran said the third man in their skiing party, who died before he could be rescued, turned to him and said: "You don't get much closer to heaven than this."
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Agence France-presseJuly 26, 2009 7:40 AM
An Australian man pulled unconscious and blue from metres of snow after a deadly avalanche that killed his skiing partner in New Zealand spoke Saturday of the "frightening peace" of his brush with death.
John Castran, a multimillionaire from Melbourne, was heli-skiing with his son Angus when they were hit by tonnes of snow on mountains west of Christchurch, on the South Island, late Friday.
"I was skiing down and all of a sudden the whole side of the mountain just let go," he told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Buried under almost two metres of snow, Castran, 53, said he was still able to move his arms and legs, until a second wave of powder rolled over him and he was completely paralyzed.
"You choke with the snow, you can't breathe, you're suffocating, it's like being poured into plaster of Paris," he said.
"The only thing I could move was my tongue to push the snow away from in front of my mouth. I thought 'I've only got a little bit of air here, I've just got to use all the air very, very carefully,' so I just shut down totally."
It became "frighteningly peaceful" as the air ran out, Castran said.
His son, 23, managed to dig himself out of snow that had buried him to his waist, and located Castran using a search and rescue beacon that was pinned to his chest.
For 20 minutes he dug into the snow, finally pulling his father free, blue in the face and with his eyes rolled back in his head. He and a guide managed to revive Castran with CPR.
Just moments before the thundering avalanche, Castran said the third man in their skiing party, who died before he could be rescued, turned to him and said: "You don't get much closer to heaven than this."
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