Saturday, March 2, 2019

On Wednesday, nine men were jailed due to sexual abuse and rape of two teenage girls at a children’s home in Bradford, England. A tenth defendant was found not-guilty.

The nine men were prosecuted for 22 different crimes. These included rape and inciting child prostitution.

Judge Durham Hall QC said they “appear not to have shown any respect for the minimum standards of decent behaviour.” Prosecutor Kama Melly QC said the victims were “ripe and vulnerable to manipulation” and had been used “to satisfy [the accused’s] sexual desires”.

One of the victims decided to allow her name to be made public. She said she did this to show victims “there is nothing to be ashamed of”. One of the victims said the men thought they were “nothing but a toy to play with”.

Bradford Council stated, “The Safeguarding Board will look closely at this case to see if there are any lessons we can learn that could help us keep young people safer”.

Monday, July 16, 2007

In two separate incidents, men posing as members of the New York Police Department (NYPD), have invaded homes in the New York City area. In both cases, they robbed the residents, but in the most recent, they sexually assaulted a woman.

On Saturday, July 14, at 1:09 a.m. EDT (UTC-4), four men knocked on the door of a Yonkers, New York, apartment. The 33-year-old male that lives there opened the door, as the men outside wore NYPD hats and t-shirts, and had badges hanging around their necks.

The men promptly ordered the male victim to the floor. “When this guy pushed me, he had a gun in my face,” the victim said. “I could see the other guy. He motioned to the others, come on, let’s go, let’s go.” The intruders shouted “Where are the drugs?” as they ransacked the apartment.

Two of the men entered the bedroom and sexually assaulted the 30-year-old female. The couple has a five-year-old child, who was sleeping in another bedroom. “The more I resisted, the more he began to hit me,” the woman said. She said she was sexually assaulted by two of the men while her boyfriend was bound and guarded.

Police said the men then left with a cell phone, a laptop computer, a diamond ring and a gold chain. Police do not believe that they were real officers. As of this afternoon, no arrests have been made.

On Thursday, July 5, shortly after six p.m. in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn five men knocked on the door claiming to be “the police.” When the victims opened the door, they pushed their way in demanding the family give them drugs and money.

When police responded to a call reporting a robbery, they found the family, husband, wife and their daughter, tied up. The man suffered a head injury when he was pistol-whipped. Police say the robbers got away with a camera, jewelry, and US$5,000 in currency.

Neighbors told NY1 that they were stunned. “Frightened. Make you think twice before you want to open the door, you know,” said one of the neighbors. “Now you be asking for all this ID and stuff and even still you’re going to wonder, are they for real? So it’s kind of scary.”

There is no word about whether the two cases are connected. Yonkers is on the border of New York City, but is outside the jurisdiction of the NYPD.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

On Wednesday, following the rape in India’s capital, New Delhi, of an eight-month-old girl, Swati Maliwal, head of the Delhi Commission for Women, announced she was beginning a 30-day Satyagrah Aandolan —a form of non-violent civil protest— to persuade the Government of India to impose the death penalty promptly when offenders rape children. She asked for others to join in her protest action.

As reported in the Indian press on Monday, the baby girl was initially in critical condition after she was raped on Sunday at her home in Subhash Nagar in western New Delhi while her parents were at work. According to the police and a statement by the baby’s father to the agency Asian News International, when the mother returned, the baby was crying and was covered in blood. A police spokesman said the baby’s 28-year-old cousin was arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act and Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.

After Ms Maliwal visited the baby’s hospital, she tweeted: “How can Delhi sleep today when 8 month baby has been brutally raped in Capital? Have we become so insensitive or we have simply accepted this as our fate?”, and addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding “stricter laws and more police resources” to combat rape. She said the baby’s internal injuries were “horrific” and “inhuman” and had required three hours on the operating table to repair, and she could “still hear her screams and cries”. Others responded with tweets calling the rape “monstrous” and “disgusting and disturbing”.

In a tweeted statement on Wednesday announcing her protest action, Ms Maliwal demanded offenders who rape children should be executed within six months. “I will not go home for 30 days. I will work in the office throughout the day and at night I will inspect different places of Delhi. I will do double work. I will sleep in the office only. I give 30 days’ time to accept my demands.” She also demanded a 14,000-person expansion of the Delhi Police and improvements to police software and forensics resources and reform of the prosecution department. She asked “people who understand the severity of such crimes and who really care for their kids” to join her in going house to house throughout Delhi to get the government to meet her demands.

Since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus, there have been widespread protests in India against rape culture and calls for heavier penalties for rape. In response the government has made the law stricter and introduced dedicated ‘fast-track’ courts. Problems persist. There have been other press reports of child rape in the country in recent years, including the kidnapping and rape of a three-month-old in Hyderabad in 2015 and the kidnapping and rape of an eleven-month-old in Delhi in 2016. National Crime Records Bureau 2016 statistics list 19,765 child rapes, an 82 per cent increase over the previous year.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Lloyd Helferty is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Thornhill riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Friday, January 7, 2005

After two weekends of box office domination, Universal Pictures’ Meet the Fockers will be challenged for the top spot by horror film White Noise, also from Universal, which opens in wide release Friday.

To be considered in wide release, a film must open or play in at least 1,000 theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada. With Noise being the only new wide release movie for the weekend, it looks to take advantage of movie goers looking from a change from holiday themed film fare.

Noise is a come-back attempt for Michael Keaton, who hasn’t had a hit movie since 1992’s Batman Returns. But according to one critic, this film may not be a comeback hit for Keaton.

“White Noise never gives skeptics a chance to enjoy the film. I also suspect even believers will be bored,” Jack Garner, film critic for Gannet News Service said. Garner’s not alone in panning the film. According to web site RottenTomatoes.com, 87 percent of film critics in its survey have given the film a bad review.

“The nominal thriller White Noise is worthy neither of Michael Keaton’s talents nor even a desperate horror fan’s attention,” Manohla Dargis, film critic for the New York Times, said.

But not all reviews were bad. Hollywood Reporter critic, Kirk Honeycutt said, “Even though logic takes a holiday in White Noise, Geoffrey Sax, a British television director making his theatrical debut, lavishes enough craft on the paranormal thriller to send more than a few chills down the spine.”

The movie faces stiff competition as five other films have a wider release, playing in more theatres and reaching a larger potential audience. Universal’s Meet the Fockers, the sequel to 2000’s Meet the Parents is playing in about 1,000 more theatres than Noise and could dominate the box office for a third weekend.

‘Fockers’, starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, has made $186.5 million since its release Dec. 22, according to Box Office Mojo.

Monday, June 11, 2018

On Saturday, in Rajasthan, India, Jodhpur district’s rural police arrested 26-year old Nawab Ali Qureshi for allegedly slitting the throat of, killing, his four-year-old as a “sacrifice” for Allah in the Islamic holy month of Ramzan.

Four-year-old Rizwana was the eldest of the two daughters of Nawab Ali Qureshi. She was killed in Piparcity on Thursday night. According to police, Rizwana’s mother Shabana had found her daughter missing, at about 3 AM, and later found Rizwana in a pool of blood. Shabana later lodged a complaint. “Investigation revealed the suspicious role of the father. His psychological questioning helped reveal clues. Ultimately he confessed to his crime”, read the police statement. Initially, Ali Quereshi blamed a cat for slitting the throat and killing Rizwana.

Rizwana was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead. The police used dog squad and forensic science laboratory teams for investigation. Nawab Ali Qureshi was arrested after police interrogated the family members. They ruled out the likelihood of an outsider’s involvement. Qureshi had confessed his crimes to police saying he had “sacrificed” his “most beloved possession” and the devil had gotten into him when committing the crime.

“I had to sacrifice my most beloved possession for Allah” ^{((hi))Hindi language: ??? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??}, quoted police superintendent Rajan Dushyant from Qureshi. The accused told the police, “I am a devout Muslim and I love my daughter more than my life. For several days she was at her grandmother’s place and returned on Thursday. I took her to the marketplace and bought sweetmeats and fruits. In the night, I took her to the courtyard downstairs, recited a kalima, killed her, and went back to sleep upstairs.”Rizwana’s postmortem and burial ceremony were on Friday.

Monday, December 28, 2009File:4wiki nykaenen matti.JPG

Police in Finland have arrested Matti Nykänen, a four-time Olympic gold medallist ski jumper, on suspicion of attempted murder. He spent the weekend in custody following an incident on Christmas Day in which his wife was injured.

Nykänen, 46, is alleged to have left his wife with wounds to her hands and forehead in a knife attack, causing her to flee to a neighbour’s house where she called the police. The Agence France-Presse reported that the Helsingin Sanomat expects Nykänen, from Jyväskylä, to be charged tomorrow.

Nykänen, who won three of his gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and has nineteen medals from various competitions, is best known for sport although recently he has taken up singing, performing in bars and nightclubs, and written an autobiography. A regular sight in the tabloid press, he has sought treatment as an alcoholic and is known to the police, previously serving time in prison for violent offences.

His convictions include assaulting his fourth wife in 2006, and he served four months despite requesting community service; a stab attack from behind with a five-inch blade on a friend landed him a two-year suspended sentence and put the man in hospital. He also served thirteen months for stabbing a friend while drinking and has been prosecuted for attacking a man with a knife in a restaurant, a case dropped through lack of evidence.

He was regularly drunk in training sessions and in public. A weekly Finnish gossip magazine paid for a series of laughing gas treatments in exchange for story rights in a bid to combat his alcoholism. He has worked as PR representative for Jyväskylä and gave relationship advice answering phones for a sex line. He has also been employed by a club known to hire out prostitutes which asked him to be a stripper; media reported he did private shows, an allegation he denies. Swedish and US porn producers offered him roles in their films.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Wikinews has obtained a list of middle management teaching staff allegedly made redundant, or laid off due to restructuring, by Sunshine Coast Grammar School (SCGS), in Queensland, Australia. Sources say that those staff have been told that they can apply for new positions that have opened up.

The list, published on the SCGS alumni Facebook page, contains the names of twenty-two staff members, eight of which taught this article’s primary contributor. Seventeen positions are reportedly being opened up by the private Christian school, eight of which seem to significantly overlap the old ones.

The changes are, apparently, designed to get teachers back into the classroom. “We are not cutting subject choices and extracurricular activities, but retaining a student-driven curriculum that integrates with the new Australian Curriculum, in keeping with our commitment to teaching and learning opportunities,” said headmaster Nigel Fairbairn.

Fairbairn could not guarantee that any of the staff would be given a position in 2011. “That will depend on how many people on that list apply for new positions of responsibility and are successful,” he said.

“The Head of the School cannot guarantee the 21 staff a job at the School in the future, with many of the positions being advertised to external applicants,” said Terry Burke, secretary for the Independent Education Union of Australia Queensland branch (Queensland Independent Education Union, QIEU).

“There has been little or no consultation with affected staff, who should not have to reapply for their jobs,” he said. “Most of the proposed restructuring is highly questionable and places at risk the high quality education at the School.”

Some former students responded angrily to the news.

Four of the affected teachers “were the backbone of the school when [controversy surrounded founding headmaster John Burgess] happened,” a former prefect (student leader) said. “They got it through that crisis and this is the thanks they get.”

“People are angry and shocked,” they continued. “I am aware of at least 10 families who have said they will pull their children out of the school – it’s that bad.”

The student body has not ruled out protesting the schools plans. “It’s getting to that stage,” the former prefect said. “People are trying to look at it in an intelligent way but there is so much anger out there.”

Wikinews understands that Fairbairn attracted criticism when he was a head teacher in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a former student claimed that Fairbairn “replaced the open and welcoming culture … with the tyrannical and oppressive one.”