Norway court jails Indian parents in 'child abuse' case

A court in Norway has convicted an Indian couple for abusing their seven-year-old son.

Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni, a software professional, was sentenced to 18 months in jail. His wife Anupama was sent to jail for 15 months.
The couple were charged with "gross or repeated maltreatment" of their son and found guilty of burning and hitting the child with a belt.
The couple and their family have denied the charges and said they would appeal.
Some reports said Mr Vallabhaneni had "threatened" to send the child to India for wetting his pants in the school bus.
But, the Norwegian authorities said the child had burn marks and scars on his body.
The couple's children are with their grandparents in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
India has said the incident relates to a private citizen and Norway's local laws, but added that its Norway mission will do whatever is "appropriate" in the case.
Indians have recently fallen foul of Norway's parenting laws.
In April, two Indian children who were taken away from their parents finally returned to India after a Norwegian court agreed to hand them over to their uncle.
Norway's Child Welfare Agency (CWA) had taken three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwariya Bhattacharya into custody in May 2011 alleging their parents did not adequately look after them.
The parents said that "cultural differences" were behind the agency's decision and the incident caused a diplomatic row between Norway and India.
The case received extensive media attention in India and provoked public anger, with the Indian government saying that the children should be allowed to live in their own cultural and linguistic environment.

Eric Garner: No charges in NY chokehold case

A grand jury has decided not to charge a white New York City police officer over the death of Eric Garner, a black man he placed in an apparent chokehold.

Following the grand jury decision, crowds gathered in New York's Times Square to vent their frustration.
President Barack Obama said it "speaks to larger issues" between minorities and law enforcement.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced a federal investigation of potential civil rights violations in the case.
The Department of Justice will also conduct a "complete review" of material gathered in the local investigation, he said.
He urged those who planned to demonstrate against the grand jury decision to do so peacefully, and said he was continuing a review of how to heal a "breakdown in trust" between law enforcement officers and communities.

'Astonished'
 
A video of Officer Daniel Pantaleo arresting Garner in July sparked national attention.
In the incident, asthmatic Garner, 43, was heard on the video shouting "I can't breathe!" as a number of officers restrained him on a street in New York.
The decision not to charge the officer came just a week after another grand jury in Missouri did not charge a white police officer who killed a black teenager in Ferguson, sparking riots there and protests across the country.
This week, in light of the Ferguson protests, President Obama sought emergency funding to improve police training and to restore trust in policing.

Esaw Garner, wife of Eric Garner, breaks down into the arms of Rev Al Sharpton




The president's reaction to the Garner decision was swift.
"When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that is a problem, and it's my job as president to help solve it."
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called the grand jury outcome "one that many in our city did not want" and appealed for a "peaceful, constructive" response.
Garner family lawyer Jonathon Moore said he was "astonished" by it and Eric Garner's daughter, Erica Snipes, told the BBC she was outraged.
"On that video you can see the most cruel horrible thing that someone could do to someone," she added. "It's just not right."

 Mr Pantaleo issued a statement in which he said he was praying for Garner and his family.
"It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr Garner," he said.
"I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can't protect themselves."
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called Garner's death a "tragedy that demands accountability".
But Peter King, a Republican congressman from New York, defended the officer's action, saying Garner was a big man resisting arrest and it's not clear it was a chokehold.

 

 A woman places flowers at a memorial near the site of Eric Garner's death



Mobile phone video of the incident shot by a witness showed Garner verbally refusing to be handcuffed.
Mr Pantaleo restrained him, holding him by the neck.
The city's medical examiner's office said Garner's death was caused by "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police".
But it said other factors contributing to his death included asthma and heart disease.
Mr Pantaleo's lawyer had argued he had used a move taught by the police department, not a chokehold which is banned under New York Police Department policy.
Following Garner's death, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton ordered officers at the nation's largest police department to undergo retraining on restraint.

 

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Brazilian who took 2nd in best-butt contest hospitalized with thigh augmentation complications

RIO DE JANEIRO –  A 27-year-old Brazilian reality TV star who was runner-up in a best-buttocks competition has been hospitalized with complications from a cosmetic procedure to enlarge her thighs.
The Conceicao Hospital Group in the southern city of Porto Alegre says Andressa Urach is in serious condition with an infection in her thighs after receiving under-skin injections of a substance to increase volume in the upper legs.
Urach earlier had been sedated. But the group said in a statement Wednesday that she later woke up and was taken off a respirator.
She's undergone two procedures at the hospital to drain a substance called aquagel that is used in Brazil as an alternative to cosmetic implants.
Urach was runner up in Brazil's 2012 "Miss Bumbum" contest celebrating shapely bottoms.

Al Qaeda affiliate threatens to kill US hostage

An Al Qaeda affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula threatened to kill an American hostage in Yemen, in a video made public Wednesday.
The threat comes after the U.S. launched a rescue effort to free him last week. The U.S.-led operation was able to save other hostages, but Somers had been apparently moved from the target location at the time.
Luke Somers was captured in September 2013 in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The 33-year-old was trying to make money doing freelance photography among other work before the capture.
Somers makes an appearance in the video explaining how his life is in danger and he asks for “something to be done.”
The affiliate group says Somers will meet his “inevitable fate” if the U.S. does not meet the group’s demands in the next three days.
An Al Qaeda official in the video warns Obama of “the consequences of proceeding ahead in any other foolish action.”

US teacher stabbed to death in Abu Dhabi identified

An American school teacher stabbed to death in a mall restroom in Abu Dhabi by a suspect wearing a full black veil was identified Wednesday by the recruiting firm who placed her.
Ben Glickman, CEO of Canadian-based Footprints Recruiting, confirmed to FoxNews.com that the victim was Ibolya Ryan, 47, the mother of 11-year-old twin boys.
Ryan was Hungarian, born in Romania, and later became an American citizen. She trained in the U.S. as a teacher before being assigned to the United Arab Emirates in September 2013, Glickman said.
The boys’ father, from whom Ryan was divorced, flew to the UAE to collect the boys, Glickman said.
Meanwhile, authorities in Abu Dhabi released video footage in the hunt for the suspect, who wore a full black veil and authorities said used a sharp tool that has been confiscated by police.
The stabbing comes on the heels of a security warning posted by the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi in late October, advising Americans of a “recent anonymous posting on a Jihadist website that encouraged attacks against teachers at American and other international schools in the Middle East.
“The Mission is unaware of any specific, credible threat against any American or other school or individual in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the warning reads. “Nonetheless, the Mission is working with local schools identified with the United States to review their security posture.”
In the video, the suspect, wearing a traditional black robe, full-face veil and gloves commonly worn by local women throughout the Arab Gulf region, is seen calmly walking into the mall in Abu Dhabi’s upscale Reem Island.
The suspect picks up a paper and disappears down a hallway. An hour and a half later, the suspect reappears and races toward an elevator. A woman tries to stop the suspect before she enters, but retreats. The suspect then quickly walks out the doors of the mall.
Col. Rashid Borshid, head of the Criminal Investigation Department, told The Associated Press that the attacker remains at large. He said police are investigating possible motives and the gender of the attacker.
He said a fight broke out between the victim and the attacker in the women's restroom just before the stabbing.
"The Abu Dhabi Police will spare no effort in order to unveil this heinous crime and bring the culprit to justice," he was quoted as saying in the statement.
The U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates said they are aware of the incident that took place Dec. 1 and are in contact with Emirati authorities. The embassy said it stands ready to offer all possible consular services.
The UAE is a Western-allied, seven-state federation that includes the glitzy commercial hub of Dubai and the oil-rich capital of Abu Dhabi. It is home to a sizable Western population where foreigners outnumber Emirati citizens.
The country prides itself on being a safe haven in the turbulent Middle East. The UAE is part of the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

North Korean leader bans name Kim Jong Un

SEOUL, South Korea –  In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Jong Un.
A South Korean official said Wednesday that Pyongyang forbids its people from using the same name as the young absolute leader.
The measure appears meant to bolster a personality cult surrounding Kim, who took over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in late 2011. Seoul officials have said Pyongyang also banned the use of the names of Kim Jong Il and the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.
The South Korean official said Kim Jong Il in early 2011 ordered citizens with the same name as his son to get new names and demanded that authorities reject birth registrations of newborn babies with the name.
The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. He refused to disclose how the information was obtained.
Kim Jong Un made his international debut in late 2010 when he was awarded a slew of top political jobs. His father, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, was seen as moving fast to hand over power so his family could rule for a third generation.
Kim Jong Il inherited power in 1994 when his father Kim Il Sung died.
North Korea enforces strict, state-organized public reverence of the Kim family, which serves as the backbone of the family's authoritarian rule of the impoverished country. The North is locked in a long-running international standoff over its nuclear ambitions.
All North Koreans are required to wear lapel pins bearing the images of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and to put the leaders' portraits on the walls of their homes. Their birthdays are considered the most important holidays in North Korea.

Mitch McConnell Rider Could Roll Back Campaign Finance Laws

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is trying to use a massive appropriations bill to loosen campaign finance rules.
Currently, coordinated spending by candidates and political parties is limited based on a series of formulas for different offices. For example, the total amount presidential candidates may coordinate with political parties is calculated as the national voting-age population multiplied by two cents -- a figure that is adjusted for the cost of living each election cycle.

Farrakhan Threatens to "Tear This Godd*m Country Apart" Over Ferguson Shooting (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan went on a fiery tirade about Ferguson on Saturday — threatening that if the demands of protesters aren’t met, “we’ll tear this goddamn country apart!”
Farrakhan stated in his speech — given at Morgan State University, a black college located in Baltimore, Md. — that violence was justified in response to the decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson and peaceful protests are only in the interest of “white folks.”
“We going to die anyway. Let’s die for something,” the radical figure told the crowd to roaring applause.
He even said the parents of teenagers should teach their kids how to throw Molotov cocktails. “Teach your baby how to throw the bottle if they can. Fight,” the minister advised, and then imitated throwing the explosive device.
Farrakhan argued that violence was justified by the “law of retaliation” HE claims is in both the Bible and the Koran.

Dear Evangelicals: You're Being Had

Strong words from a religious man:

Dear Conservative Evangelicals,
I drive a Prius, enjoy Vanilla lattes, and am married to a man. I know it’s unlikely for me to be writing you this letter, and even more unlikely for you to read it.
But unlike most of my Obama-loving, liberal friends, I am no longer afraid of you. It’s clear to me that “your side” is losing the battle for public opinion, and I know that many of you agree with that assessment.
So why am I writing you this letter? Because, also unlike my liberal friends, I’m actually on your side, in some ways. I’m an ordained rabbi, and someone deeply concerned with the vulgarization and sexualization of our society. You and I disagree about the solution to this problem, of course, but we agree that there is a problem.
The trouble is, you’re trying to solve cultural problems with political solutions—because politicians have convinced you to do so. I am referring here to establishment Republicans, which for 150 years have consistently been the party of the rich and ungenerous.
In the first half of the twentieth century, most Christians distrusted this party, controlled as it was by “urban bankers” and others opposed to the Jeffersonian values of rural America. But in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the switch began—and by Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, it was complete. Republicans catered to conservative social attitudes on racial integration, and eventually moved rightward on issues like abortion and feminism, too, although you know as well as I do that they never really believed in them. They just realized that they could gain power by uniting two very different groups: the same moneyed elites as always, and you.
Now, let’s see who has won, and who has lost, in the ensuing 34 years.
It’s clear that the rich—call them the 1 percent if you like, but I prefer to think of them as the moneylenders whom Jesus threw out of the Temple—have prospered enormously. In 1983, the wealthiest 1 percent were 131 times richer than the average American. In 2009, they were 225 times richer. In 2012, the top 20 percent made $13.5 trillion in income; the entire bottom 80% made $1 trillion.
These are disparities not seen since before the Great Depression. Whether for better or for worse, the ultra-rich have done extremely well in the 30 years you’ve allied with them.
How have you done, in the same period? Not well at all. Not only is gay marriage now the law for over two-thirds of Americans while the value of marriage in general has been declining for decades; not only are television, film, music, and video games more vulgar than we could have imagined in 1980; but more Americans are declaring themselves “Nones,” that is, people of no religious affiliation, than ever before in our history. Sure, some churches are expanding, but overall, your way of life is in steep decline. In short, you are losing horribly.
So, who is using whom here? Have the rich Republicans been good for you, or have you been good to them?
I look at the alliance you’ve forged with these people, and I don’t understand why you’re in it. Their agenda keeps winning, and yours keeps losing.
Moreover—and I don’t want to speak out of turn here—their agenda is even eating away at yours. What happened to the Christian concern to “love the least of these,” the most vulnerable, the most destitute? In my opinion, supply-side Republicans have convinced many Christians not merely that the welfare state is a bad idea, but that generosity itself is a vice, that public assistance equals dependence, and that giving the wealthy even more breaks is the way for benefits to “trickle down” to the rest of us.
That theory, by the way, has never been proven. When it’s been put into practice, it’s only made the ultra-rich richer. It’s done nothing for the middle class, the working class, and the poor. And its mean-hearted message, in my opinion, has corrupted the social gospel. Of course, prosperity is a good thing. But our current moment isn’t one of prosperity—it’s of inequality on the scale of ancient Rome.
Now, I’m not saying that you should jump on board with the Democrats’ agenda either. I’m saying that this Republican claim that you can build a Christian nation through politics is bogus, and only serves their goals.
You’re fighting the wrong fight. You should be making your case in culture, not in Congress. Look around. Atheism is highest in Europe, where there are established churches involved in the political process. But according to most historians, America is the most religious country in the Western world precisely because of the separation of church and state.
That “wall of separation” that liberals like to talk about? The original metaphor was: erect a wall to keep the garden of the church free from the wilderness of politics. The more you try to force your beliefs on others, the more people dislike you.
Of course, there are now multi-billion-dollar organizations dedicated to Christian politics. But how effective have they been? What has all that money bought?
I’ve worked in the LGBT movement for 15 years. At first, we, too, tried a political approach, talking about equal rights, civil rights, and so on. But the movement’s PR people found these messages weren’t working. So, in the 2000s, we shifted. We worked in the cultural arena instead, with pioneers like Ellen and Will & Grace. We went into churches and synagogues, testifying about our lives and our families. We changed people’s hearts, not their laws.
We also found messengers who could communicate the truth of our lives. Sure, there are radicals in the LGBT community who really are opposed to mainstream values—and some of them are my friends! But there are also moderates, even conservatives. The LGBT movement looked for places where we could find common ground, and focused there.
But because the public face of Christianity is now made up of the political operatives who can shout the loudest, your “wingnuts” are in center stage. I know that most Christians are not bigots or homophobes. I read the data, and I have Christian friends. But you have to admit: you’re putting your worst feet forward. Many of your spokespeople are loud and mean, because they can turn out the votes.
This all feeds into that devil’s bargain with the Republican Party. They stir you up about social issues in order to get you to the polls, and then they don’t really do anything about them. Because, in fact, they can’t. These are cultural questions, not political ones, and they have to be solved in the cultural arena.
To be clear, I’m not alleging any vast, right wing conspiracy to hoodwink Christians into voting Republican. I know that many of your values do, indeed, align with Republican policies.
But from the outside, from my side of the aisle, the situation seems very clear. The Republican rich are doing very well, and you’re losing badly. There’s only one conclusion I can draw from that: you’re being had.

As a former Fundamentalist I feel the need to echo these words.