Sunday, December 23, 2012

Wind storms swept across a large part of Texas on Wednesday, leaving property damaged and many homes without power.

Downed lamposts and trees were reported in multiple locales. One media source reported overturned playground equipment in the city of Rockwall. Winds up to 40 miles-per-hour (mph) were reported over much of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Approximately 9,500 people within Tarrant and Dallas counties were without electrical power as late as Thursday afternoon.

Late Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service reported winds at Dallas Love Field up to 66 mph. The city of Edgewood recorded wind speeds up to 70 mph during the storm; three homes, two barns and two business buildings sustained damage. A home in Chandler was damaged when a tree was toppled during the storm (see photo at left).

Dust from as far away as west Texas covered vehicles and other property early Thursday morning in the eastern part of the state. A car wash manager in Tyler told media his business cleaned about three hundred cars on Thursday, busier than usual even for holiday season.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Photos showing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) leader Warren Jeffs with child brides were entered into evidence Friday in a Texas court case involving children seized from the Yearning For Zion (YFZ) Ranch by State authorities in April. Texas officials removed over 400 children from the Eldorado, Texas YFZ Ranch in early April on suspicion of widespread child abuse.

The photos were entered into evidence as part of the case in Tom Green County District Court. Officials claim there is a “pervasive pattern” of underage girls forced into marriage with older men. The photos show Warren Jeffs kissing and hugging young girls, and attorneys for Texas Child Protective Services claim that one of the girls shown in the photos is a 12-year old “bride”. The photos are dated from July 2006 and January 2005.

The State of Texas is seeking custody of a baby boy born to Louisa Bradshaw and her “husband” Dan Jessop. According to the Deseret News, Jessop was asked if he thought the photos of Jeffs and the girls was evidence of sexual abuse, to which he responded, “I do not consider a girl kissing a man sex abuse.” Child Protective Services lawyers told the court that the photos show Jeffs kissing the girls similar to “how a husband kisses a wife”.

Deseret News reported that Protective Services lawyers did not say how the images of Jeffs were obtained, but said that the photos illustrate a culture of abuse at the compound. According to CNN, information revealed in court shows that one of the girls in the photos is an aunt to the children involved in the Texas custody hearing and lived on the YFZ Ranch. CNN reports that the girl’s birth date was given as July 1994 and she is 13 years old. She was taken into state custody by Texas officials along with other children in April.

ABC News reported that an alleged child bride shown in the photographs was set to give testimony in court, but state attorneys and FLDS representatives came to a resolution and agreed that Protective Services would retain custody of Louisa Bradshaw’s baby. The baby was born in Texas state custody. Bradshaw was initially taken into custody as well because authorities thought she was under age, but it has since been revealed that she is over the age of 18. According to ABC News Bradshaw will remain with her baby in a shelter. Protective Services said that Bradshaw and Jessop lived in the same building as the 12-year old girl shown in the photographs with Jeffs.

Jeffs is seen in one set of photos from January 26, 2005 labeled “First anniversary” with a girl called “Loretta”. In another set dated July 27, 2005, Jeffs is shown with a girl referred to as “Merrianne”. Child Protective Services officials said that they have evidence that “Merrianne” was 12 years old when she was married to Jeffs at the YFZ compound. The Vancouver Sun reported that, per a family member, “Loretta” was no older than 12 when she was married. Portions from the set of photos were displayed at media sites including Radar Online, CNN, FOX News, National Nine News and ABC News, and the website The Smoking Gun made three of the court exhibits available for viewing.

In a statement made Tuesday to CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah attorney and spokesman for FLDS families Rod Parker said the photos were an effort by Child Protective Services to “get publicity” and “paint everybody with the same brush”. “What I’m saying is, that isn’t fair, and each parent of each family is entitled to stand on its own. And these photos have no ties to this particular family in a way that’s relevant to these proceedings,” said Parker.

“I’m sure law enforcement in several states will take a look to see what more can be done,” said Utah Attorney General‘s Office Paul Murphy in a statement to ABC News. Murphy said that investigators may look further into the photographs to determine if evidence shows the girls were abused, and if so where, before charges could be brought. “Everyone who saw those photos did a complete gasp. I think they’re shocking,” he said.

In a ruling made last week in a case involving 38 FLDS mothers and 124 children, the Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals said that the state did not have the right to remove those children from the compound. The appeals court said that Child Protective Services was unable to prove that the children in the compound were at risk of immediate physical harm. Texas law states that “a danger to the physical health or safety of the child which was caused by an act or failure to act of the person entitled to possession and for the child to remain in the home is contrary to the welfare of the child” must be shown in order to remove that child from the home.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services filed court papers Wednesday asserting that FLDS families may flee the state if they are reunited with their children after the Texas appeals court ruling. Protective Services officials are worried that if the families leave the court’s jurisdiction, children could be at risk of abuse. In response, attorneys for mothers of the children in custody filed a counter-motion. The mothers claim that the children are under “continuing, irreparable harm every day that they are separated from their parents”.

Warren Jeffs was convicted in September 2007 of two counts of being an accomplice to rape related to a 2001 wedding he arranged between a 14-year old girl and her 19-year old cousin. He was sentenced to two consecutive five-year prison sentences in Utah, and faces an impending trial in Arizona on eight charges including sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy.

The FLDS group has approximately 10,000 members total, and was founded in the 1930s. It split from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) after the LDS Church abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Former Salt Lake City mayor and human rights activist Rocky Anderson took some time to discuss his 2012 U.S. presidential campaign and the newly-created Justice Party with Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn.

Anderson served as mayor of Salt Lake City for eight years (2000–2008) as a member of the Democratic Party. During his tenure, he enacted proposals to reduce the city’s carbon emissions, reformed its criminal justice system, and positioned it as a leading sanctuary for refugees. After leaving office, Anderson grew critical of the Democratic Party’s failure to push for impeachment against President George W. Bush, and for not reversing policies on torture, taxes, and defense spending. He left the party earlier this year and announced that he would form a Third party.

Anderson officially established the Justice Party last week during a press conference in Washington D.C.. He proclaimed “We the people are powerful enough to end the perverse government-to-the-highest-bidder system sustained by the two dominant parties…We are here today for the sake of justice — social justice, environmental justice and economic justice.” The party promotes campaign finance reform and is attempting to appeal to the Occupy Wall Street movement. It is currently working on ballot access efforts, and will hold a Founding Convention in February 2012 in Salt Lake City.

Among other issues, Anderson discussed climate change, health care, education, and civil liberties. He detailed his successes as mayor of Salt Lake City, stressed the importance of executive experience, and expressed his views on President Barack Obama and some of the Republican Party presidential candidates. He spoke in depth about former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, with whom he worked during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and fellow Utahan, former governor and U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr..

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

In Seattle, on Sunday, Seattle Sounders FC beat the Portland Timbers 1–0 in the Cascadia Cup battle. Stefan Frei notched his fourth shutout this season while Clint Dempsey scored the winning goal in the 77th minute with an assist from Andy Rose. Seattle is now 1–0 in the cup while Portland falls to 0–2.

Portland almost scored minutes later when sub Fanendo Adi rattled the crossbar in the 81st minute. The Timbers also led the Sounders in shots with 11–10. Seattle was glad to have points before hitting the road. Head Coach Sigi Schmid added “We’ve got 13 points now in seven games, so we’re happy with that and we want to come back from these three road games with as many as possible.”

The total crowd on Sunday was tallied at 41,451. Seattle now stands at 4-2-1 with Portland struggling at 2-3-3. Portland hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps next weekend and Seattle travels to face New York City FC.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Azerbaijan Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov allegedly worked as a “triple agent” for Russian, Turkish, and US intelligence agencies, according to a report by Ukrainian online newspaper Gordon last Wednesday.

Sharifov allegedly worked as a human asset for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service before Turkish intelligence recruited him in South Yemen in 1989–1990. Soon after, he allegedly began working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In the Gordon article, their source ascribed this information to “sources in the Russian intelligence community” who said, “[Russia’s] agencies penetrated the U.S. intelligence community and obtained important information about some of its human assets.”

The claims made in the article have not been verified, according to Russian newspaper ????? ?????? ^{((ru))Russian language: ?Oil of Russia}.

Mais Piriyev, press secretary for the Azerbaijan Ministry of Finance, said Sharifov would not comment on what Piriyev called provocative, ridiculous claims. Piriyev told reporters, “Lack of seriousness in Yuri Shvet’s claims can be seen immediately. Only three countries? Where [is] Mossad, special services of the UK and other countries?”

Former Azerbaijani diplomat Arif Mammadov has publicly supported the accusations. In a statement on social media, Mammadov wrote, “The country has a very powerful network that is working against the state. It consists of the most influential people — ministers, deputy ministers, senior representatives of the presidential administration.”

The Gordon article was published on the eve of Sharifov’s trip to the United States to discuss financing for the Southern Gas Corridor energy project.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

One hundred and twenty detainees at an immigration removal centre in Oxford, UK, are on hunger strike. The protest started when some detainees refused breakfast on Wednesday 14th June 2006. A letter from the hunger strikers explaining why they are seeking to draw attention to their plight in this way has been reproduced in full below.

Those detained at the centre are mostly men who have sought asylum in the UK and whose asylum applications have been rejected. These people are then held without knowing how long they will be detained for – some end up being held for many years while awaiting deportation.

The removal centre, known as Campsfield, or Campsfield House is approximately 5 miles north of Oxford and has been in operation since 1993. It was managed on behalf of the UK Government by Global Solutions Limited, until may 2006 when it was taken on by GEO UK, the centre has a capacity of 198. Only males are detained at Campsfield.

According to the campaign group Barbed Wire Britain Over 2,600 individuals, mostly asylum seekers, are detained indefinitely in the UK without trial and with no automatic right to bail.

There have been reports in the UK press of the state taking people to detention centres without notice, in the early hours of the morning using excessively heavy handed tactics, taking children out of schools and separating families.

Many UK people and politicians express their disgust at the way detainees are treated, yet it continues. Perhaps this action by the detainees themselves will further highlight their plight and result in more UK electors writing to their MPs and demanding improvements to the way in which rejected asylum seekers are treated.

“We are detainees at Campsfield removal centre in Oxford. Most of us have been here for a long while now. There are people who have been detained for up to two years and down to three months. We are cramped in here like animals. We are treated like animals and moved around different detention centres like animals. The immigration service have taken husbands from their families and taken people who ran away from persecution in their various countries, and dumped everyone in here.

Once you are put in here the immigration service forget you. There are detainees who have applied to go back to their own countries that are still being held here for months without any news about their cases, just so that the private security companies get more money.

Detainees are asked to seek asylum and then refused. The immigration service also ask detainees to apply for bail. When you get a bail hearing date all of a sudden they serve you with removal papers that are not valid. There are many of these situations. In most cases the immigration service don’t take you to your court hearings. And then they tell the judges you refused to turn up, just so the hearing goes ahead in your absence. Many detainees have been served with removal papers and travel documents but nothing happens on the removal day.

Campsfield has become a slave house. We detainees are treated like slaves, to do odd jobs for officers. Detainees are handcuffed to see doctors or dentists in hospitals or clinic appointments. We have some racist security officers who make racist comments to detainees and go out of their way to make you feel like committing suicide. Detainees have to be at the point of death before they get to see the doctors.

The food is not worth eating. Even dogs would refuse to eat what we eat. But we don’t have a choice; every single day we eat the same food (the food we eat is rice, chicken, sandwiches, and left-over eggs)”.

• “120 Immigration Detainees on Hunger Strike at Campsfield IRC” — Oxford Indymedia, June 14, 2006
• UK Home Office webpage on Campsfield
• Close Campsfield Campaign
• “Dawn raid furore family deported” — BBC, September 29, 2005
• Barbed Wire Britain
• “Asylum seekers on hunger strike” — BBC, July 14, 2005
• “Construction/Building Press Releases” — PR Newswire, Oct 01, 2005