EAST CLEVELAND, OH — Two unarmed suspects were slain by police officers after a 25-minute pursuit. At the conclusion of the chase, which may have included up to 50 police vehicles, 13 officers drew their weapons and unloaded at least 137 rounds in to the suspects’ Chevy Malibu. No weapons were found, and [...]]]>

EAST CLEVELAND, OH — Two unarmed suspects were slain by police officers after a 25-minute pursuit. At the conclusion of the chase, which may have included up to 50 police vehicles, 13 officers drew their weapons and unloaded at least 137 rounds in to the suspects’ Chevy Malibu. No weapons were found, and there was no evidence of return fire. The police were so violent and so reckless that they even shot up their own cruisers with friendly fire.

Mah Gul, 20, was beheaded after her mother-in-law attempted to make her sleep with a man in her house in Herat province last week, provincial [...]]]>
Afghan girl ‘beheaded for refusing prostitution’
Afghan police have arrested four people who allegedly tried to force a woman into prostitution and beheaded her when she refused.

Mah Gul, 20, was beheaded after her mother-in-law attempted to make her sleep with a man in her house in Herat province last week, provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada told AFP.

“We have arrested her mother-in-law, father-in-law, her husband and the man who killed her,” he said.

Gul was married to her husband four months ago and her mother-in-law had tried to force her into prostitution several times in the past, Sayedzada said.

The suspect, Najibullah, was paraded by police at a press conference where he said the mother-in-law lured him into killing Gul by telling him that she was a prostitute.

“It was around 2am when Gul’s husband left for his bakery. I came down and with the help of her mother-in-law killed her with a knife,” he said.

The murder comes against a backdrop of a world outcry over the shooting by Taliban Islamists of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, who had become a voice against the suppression of women’s rights.

While Yousafzai’s case has made world headlines, people using social media in Afghanistan have made the point that oppression and violence against women are commonplace in Afghanistan.

Abdul Qader Rahimi, the regional director of the government-backed human rights commission in western Afghanistan, said violence against women had dramatically increased in the region recently.

“There is no doubt violence against women has increased. So far this year we have registered 100 cases of violence against women in the western region,” he said, adding that many cases go unreported.

“But at least in Gul’s case, we are glad the murderer has been arrested and brought to justice,” he said.

Last year, in a case that made international headlines, police rescued a teenage girl, Sahar Gul, who was beaten and locked up in a lavatory for five months after she defied her in-laws who tried to force her into prostitution.

Source: AFP

Two women were arrested on suspicion of prostitution after seven rooms were found in a building close to Sretensky Monastery where sexual services were offered from 1,750 roubles (£35) per hour.

Father Tikhon, the abbot of the monastery, is said to [...]]]>
Moscow police ‘discover brothel on monastery premises’
By Tom Parfitt, Moscow

Two women were arrested on suspicion of prostitution after seven rooms were found in a building close to Sretensky Monastery where sexual services were offered from 1,750 roubles (£35) per hour.

Father Tikhon, the abbot of the monastery, is said to be a religious counsellor to Mr Putin, who is a confirmed Russian Orthodox believer.

There were conflicting reports over the ownership of the brothel, found in one of a chain of mini-hotels called Podushkin.

Life News, a popular muckraking website with close ties to the police and security services, said the building where the brothel was located on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard had been rented out by the monastery.

However, an attendant at the monastery was quoted as saying: “Some time ago we rented premises for our seminary. The bordello was only found then, when we started to check which rooms had become temporarily ours, and which hadn’t. This establishment had been there for a long time; it belongs to someone and has absolutely no connection to us.”
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Another source at the monastery told Interfax news agency that monks “had heard that next to us was a hotel offering ‘intimate services’” but it was nothing to do with them.

A video of the alleged brothel showed leather harnesses, chains and whips hanging in a basement and Podushkin’s website advertises rooms in the hotel “fitted out for erotic games”.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church took a harsh stance earlier this year when three members of the Pussy Riot feminist opposition group staged a “punk prayer” during which they danced a cancan in Moscow’s main cathedral, Christ the Saviour.

The church leader, who is a close ally of Mr Putin, called the protest blasphemous. The three women were later convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, although one has since been released on appeal.

Critics of the church say its moral posturing is eroded by the behaviour of senior clerics. Patriarch Kirill was pilloried in April for wearing a £20,000 Breguet watch and a priest in Moscow came under scrutiny in August after crashing a BMW Z4 roadster with Maltese license plates.

The fact that a commercial car-wash operates underneath Christ the Saviour has also been ridiculed.

The church, meanwhile, claims it is the victim of a smear campaign.

Sretensky Monastery was founded in 1397. Its abbot, Father Tikhon, has played down his connection to Mr Putin, but admits they know each other since before the latter first became president in 2000.

Police said they were searching for the organisers of the brothel.
SOURCE

Ms Gillard has committed to 25 far-reaching goals over the next 13 years designed to tighten links with Asia and ensure that Australians are able to exploit the region’s “staggering” growth.

The measures, outlined in a report [...]]]>
Australian students to study Asian languages as Gillard embraces ‘Asian Century’
By Jonathan Pearlman,

Ms Gillard has committed to 25 far-reaching goals over the next 13 years designed to tighten links with Asia and ensure that Australians are able to exploit the region’s “staggering” growth.

The measures, outlined in a report by a government-appointed taskforce, include offering thousands of scholarships to Asian students, new diplomatic posts across the region and requiring that a third of all company directors and senior civil servants have a “deep knowledge” of Asia. In addition, every schoolchild will be able to learn one of four “priority” languages: Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Indonesian.

Ms Gillard said the “unstoppable” rise of Asia and its massive new urban middle class was “a transformation as profound as any that have defined Australia throughout our history”.

“This is good news for Australia and it should drive a profound change in our thinking about our economic relationship with Asia,” she said.

Under the long-awaited plan all schools will be partnered with schools in Asia and television stations will be encouraged to present more Asian news and programs. “Children in kindergarten now will graduate from high school with a sound working knowledge of Asia,” Ms Gillard said.

Australia has greatly benefited from the past decade of growth across Asia, which has triggered a mining boom and helped to shield the nation from the impact of the global financial crisis.

But there are growing concerns that the mining boom may have peaked and that Australia needs to find other ways to benefit from Asia’s rising prosperity.

Ms Gillard said Australia should not seek to lower wages or working conditions to try to compete with the Asian workforce but instead should boost the country’s skills and promote tourism, education and agriculture to the growing middle class, particularly in China.

“Think of it this way: back in the 80s Fosters beer tried to get into China,” Ms Gillard said. “Today it is Grange [one of Australia's most expensive wines] carrying the flag.”

Critics largely welcomed the push for closer links with Asia but said it came too late. “The Asian century is already well underway – shouldn’t we have been planning for that quite a while ago?” Adrian Vickers, Asian Studies director at the University of Sydney, told ABC Radio.

“I think we’ve got a lot of catching up to do… The rapid advances in technology, in social change, in political change in Asia are things that we are struggling to keep up with as a nation.”

Professor Andrew MacIntyre, from the Australian National University, said the plan was visionary and would help Australia to adjust to a “new phase we are going into”.

“The scale of the change and the momentum of the change now is so huge,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “Australia has to adapt. We need to lift because the pace of change is not slowing down.”
SOURCE

By Peter Rugg

A North Texas congregation is reeling after an attacker rammed a car into a church wall, chased the pastor, and beat him to death with an electric guitar.

Police told reporters they didn’t know why the [...]]]> Mega church pastor beaten to death with electric guitar by man who rammed car into church

By Peter Rugg

A North Texas congregation is reeling after an attacker rammed a car into a church wall, chased the pastor, and beat him to death with an electric guitar.

Police told reporters they didn’t know why the unidentified suspect attacked Rev. Danny Kirk Sr., founding pastor of the Greater Sweethome MIssionary Baptist Church.

In a harrowing 911 call an unidentified church secretary said that some staff tried to fight him off but that Kirk was in desperate need of an ambulance.

‘My pastor’s bleeding, he’s been attacked,’ the worker tells dispatchers while locked in her office.’I'm not going out there. I need real help fast. Send policeman. I do need an ambulance also.’

‘Does your pastor know him?’ the dispatcher asked.

‘I have no idea.’

The unidentified assailant apparently drove his car into the church wall on purpose shortly before noon.

He then began to attack Kirk in the parking lot before chasing him into the church, according to Forest Hill Police Chief Dan Dennis.

When police arrived they found the suspect striking Kirk with an electric guitar they believe was already in the church.

When police arrived they had to use a Taser to subdue the man, handcuffed him, and locked him in their patrol car.

Sadly it was too late for Kirk who had already died.

A maintenance worker who tried to help Kirk was also injured and taken to an area hospital but his condition is unknown.

The assailant himself was found unresponsive shortly after being taken into custody and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Dennis told reporters police did not yet know if the suspect knew Kirk, attended the church, or what his motives were for attacking the pastor.

For hours after the shocking attack hundreds gathered outside the church, gathering around the crime-scene tape wrapped around a small statue of Jesus near the wrecked car.

Many mourned Kirk as a dedicated minister with a cheerful personality who knew the names of each of his hundreds of church members.

‘He really was concerned about our souls,’ recalled Montoya McNeil, a member for eight years. ‘You looked forward to being here… I’m not asking God why, because I know where he is, but we won’t get those big bear hugs and those great sermons anymore.’

Kirk started the congregation years ago in a strip mall before growing the ranks so large he needed to build a red-brick church.

He was also an unofficial volunteer chaplain who occasionally counseled members of the local high school football team.

‘Our hearts are heavy right now,’ said Reginald Wilson, an associate minister at the church.

Read more: SOURCE

A school district in Texas came under fire earlier this year when it announced that it would require students to wear microchip-embedded ID cards at all times. Now, students who refuse to be monitored say they are feeling the repercussions.

Since October 1, students [...]]]> Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips

A school district in Texas came under fire earlier this year when it announced that it would require students to wear microchip-embedded ID cards at all times. Now, students who refuse to be monitored say they are feeling the repercussions.

Since October 1, students at John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, have been asked to attend class with photo ID cards equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips to track every pupil’s location. Educators insist that the endeavor is being rolled out in Texas to stem the rampant truancy devastating the school’s funding. If the program is judged successful, the RFID chips could soon come to 112 schools in all and affect nearly 100,000 students.

Students who refuse to walk the school halls with the card in their pocket or around their neck claim they are being tormented by instructors, and are barred from participating in certain school functions. Some also said they were turned away from common areas like cafeterias and libraries.

Andrea Hernandez, a sophomore at John Jay, said educators have ignored her pleas to respect her privacy and told her she cannot participate in school elections if she refuses to comply with the tracking program.

Hernandez said in an interview with Salon that subjecting herself to constant monitoring through an RFID chip is like being branded with the “mark of the beast” – a reference to the Bible’s apocalyptic Book of Revelations. When she reached out to WND with the school’s response, though, she said that she was threatened with not being allowed to vote for her school’s homecoming king and queen for disobeying the student ID rule.

“I had a teacher tell me I would not be allowed to vote because I did not have the proper voter ID,” Hernandez told WND. “I had my old student ID card which they originally told us would be good for the entire four years we were in school. He said I needed the new ID with the chip in order to vote.”

After Hernandez refused to wear an RFID chip, WND reported that Deputy Superintendent Ray Galindo issued a statement to the girl’s parents: “We are simply asking your daughter to wear an ID badge as every other student and adult on the Jay campus is asked to do.” If she is allowed to forego the tracking now, the repercussions will be harsher than just revoking voting rights for homecoming contests once the school makes location-monitoring mandatory, he argued.

“I urge you to accept this solution so that your child’s instructional program will not be affected. As we discussed, there will be consequences for refusal to wear an ID card as we begin to move forward with full implementation,” Galindo wrote.

The girl’s father, Steve Hernandez, told WND that the school was somewhat willing to work with his daughter, but said that the family is unwilling to “agree to stop criticizing the program” and publically endorse it.

“I told him that was unacceptable because it would imply an endorsement of the district’s policy and my daughter and I should not have to give up our constitutional rights to speak out against a program that we feel is wrong,” Mr. Hernandez responded.

The Northside Independent School District expects to collect upwards of $2 million in state funding by reversing its poor attendance figures, with the RFID program costing around one-quarter of that sum to initiate and another $136,005 in maintenance. The new funding may not offset the other damages that could arise: Heather Fazio of Texans for Accountable Government told WND that she filed a Freedom of Information Act request for $30 and received the names and addresses of every student in the school district.

“Using this information along with an RFID reader means a predator could use this information to determine if the student is at home and then track them wherever they go. These chips are always broadcasting so anyone with a reader can track them anywhere,” she said.

Kirsten Bokenkamp of the ACLU told the San Antonio Express-News earlier this year that her organization expected to challenge the board’s decision to use the tracking system, but the school went ahead with the program undeterred. Steve Hernandez told WND that he approached the ACLU abour representing his daughter’s case, but Rebecca Robertson of a local branch of the organization said that, “the ACLU of Texas will not be able to represent you or your daughter in this matter,” saying the case did not meet the group’s criteria.

SOURCE

By the end of the year, all 120 Broken Arrow police officers will have an AR-15 rifle and a duffle bag with enough ammunition and medical supplies to outlast the most well-equipped gunmen, Cpl. Leon Calhoun said.

The city has paid [...]]]>
BROKEN ARROW – The city’s police force has significantly upped its firepower.

By the end of the year, all 120 Broken Arrow police officers will have an AR-15 rifle and a duffle bag with enough ammunition and medical supplies to outlast the most well-equipped gunmen, Cpl. Leon Calhoun said.

The city has paid $76,957 since the summer of 2011 to replace the Police Department’s aging arsenal of shotguns with the higher-powered alternatives and related equipment, which are being carried in patrol cars in addition to handguns.

The latest batch – 32 rifles and 64 magazines ordered Oct. 2 by the City Council – should complete the process, Calhoun said.

“This is a response to the type of weapons criminals are now carrying,” he said. “The suspects we’re coming in contact with, they’re carrying semiautomatic and even fully-automatic weapons.”

He said the department chose assault rifles because they are cheaper, lighter, more accurate and have a longer range than shotguns.

The new weapons – capable of hitting targets hundreds of yards away – are semiautomatic and come with slings, mounted lights and extra magazines.

Combined with the new duffle bags, which have room for water and food in addition to first-aid supplies and ammunition, officers can now outlast and outmatch anyone in a gunfight, Calhoun said.

“They give us the tools we need to do our jobs more effectively – to be able to respond to any situation,” he said.

Most officers already have the new rifles and have been certified to carry them after training on the city’s long-distance shooting range.

The goal is to have the remaining officers trained and carrying the weapons by the end of the year, Calhoun said.

After that, department-wide certification training will be held at least once a year.

“We do spend a lot of time on the range, and we shed a lot of rounds,” Calhoun said. “There’s an actual rifle training course that we go through.”

Broken Arrow isn’t the first area Police Department to give its patrol officers rifles.

Tulsa patrol officers who finish the necessary training can request to be issued an AR-15 rifle, although they are not standard issue, Tulsa Officer Leland Ashley said.

All Tulsa patrol officers have shotguns, he said.

“I do think a lot of departments are looking at this,” Calhoun said. “We’re trying to find ways to protect ourselves and the public, and I think law enforcement has come into the realization that the AR-15 is a very capable and effective tool.”

The rifles would be used only in extreme “active-shooter” situations, he said.

AR-15 models vary in range but can easily hit person-sized targets 500 yards away – a valuable capability for any police force, he said.

“It’s just like with our handguns,” Calhoun said. “Our responsibility is to protect, but sometimes we encounter situations where people put us into positions where we need to use our firearms.”

City spokeswoman Stephanie Higgins said city councilors approved buying the rifles because they are committed to public safety.

Having well-equipped emergency responders “is one of the many reasons Broken Arrow is ranked as the first- or second-safest city in Oklahoma year after year,” she said.

Calhoun said the Police Department has not yet decided what to do with its old shotguns.

SOURCE

By Gina Barton and John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee County district attorney is expected to file multiple criminal counts Tuesday against more than one Milwaukee police officer in connection with alleged illegal cavity searches for drugs on the street, according to [...]]]> Criminal charges against police in strip search case expected today

By Gina Barton and John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee County district attorney is expected to file multiple criminal counts Tuesday against more than one Milwaukee police officer in connection with alleged illegal cavity searches for drugs on the street, according to several law enforcement sources.

The investigation into the potentially illegal searches began in March. At the time, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said the department had been aware of complaints that the searches had possibly crossed the line into sexual assault and civil rights violations for “a couple of years,” but waited to begin an investigation until authorities recognized a pattern.

At least seven officers and a supervisor were reassigned and taken off the streets during the investigation.

News of the charges comes amid calls for Flynn’s resignation or firing in the wake of the in-custody death of Derek Williams, who was captured on squad video begging for help and struggling to breathe.

The charges are expected to include sexual assault and misconduct in office, both felonies; and performing an illegal strip search, a misdemeanor, sources said.

Besides the anticipated criminal charges, seven people have filed notices claiming they were illegally searched, which is the first step toward filing a civil suit. In at least three cases, charges have been reduced or dismissed after defendants alleged that evidence was obtained illegally.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm did not immediately return calls for comment.

SOURCE

From Joe Sutton

– A Texas mother of five is expected to be sentenced Tuesday after admitting to gluing her 2-year-old daughter to a wall and beating her over potty training.

Elizabeth Escalona, 23, was in a Dallas County, Texas, court Monday as [...]]]> Texas mother awaits sentence for gluing toddler daughter to wall, beating her

From Joe Sutton

– A Texas mother of five is expected to be sentenced Tuesday after admitting to gluing her 2-year-old daughter to a wall and beating her over potty training.

Elizabeth Escalona, 23, was in a Dallas County, Texas, court Monday as witnesses — including her mother and the pediatrician who cared for the toddler — testified in the first day of her sentencing hearing, while prosecutors showed pictures of the little girl’s hands and bruised body and forehead.

“The entire picture was very shocking,” said Dr. Amy Barton, then a child abuse pediatrician at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, choking back tears on the stand. “I see a lot of children, and this was one of the most shocking cases that I have seen.”

Jocelyn Cedillo was less than two months shy of her third birthday in September 2011 when Escalona, her mother, used a powerful adhesive to glue her hands to a wall and beat her.

Three other children of Escalona, who was pregnant at the time, witnessed the abuse, according to Dallas County district attorney’s office spokeswoman Debbie Denmon.

The child urinated on herself during the ordeal, during which she was hit in head and kicked in the groin, among other forms of abuse, said Denmon.

Oefelia Escalona, the defendant’s mother, testified Monday that she found the girl and took her to the hospital.

“I saw Jocelyn laying in the bed. She was facing the wall and …,” the 42-year-old woman said, before she started crying and turned away.

It wasn’t clear exactly how long young Jocelyn was glued to the wall before she was brought to the Dallas hospital. Once there, medical authorities noticed severe bruises to her face and head, as well as a severe brain injury that led to her temporarily being in a coma.

Escalona pleaded guilty on July 12 to a charge of first-degree injury to a child, a crime punishable by anywhere between five years and life in prison.

Prosecutors are asking Escalona be incarcerated for 45 years, so she will not cause any more harm to her children, Denmon said.

“When these types of crimes occur we have to send a message, not only to the perpetrator, but to the citizens of Dallas County as a whole,” District Attorney Craig Watkins told CNN. “If you choose to commit these types of crimes, we will ensure that you receive an adequate punishment.”

Prior to this incident, Escalona had been investigated by Texas Child Protective Services but never arrested or charged, said Denmon.

The child welfare agency put all of her children in foster care after her toddler daughter was taken to the hospital. All five of them, including Jocelyn, are now in the custody of their grandmother, Oefelia Escalona.

SOURCE