Mas Selamat makes wild claims about ill treatment in S’pore to human rights official

Mas Selamat makes wild claims about ill treatment in S’pore to human rights official
He claims he was ‘drugged’ in S’pore
By Elysa Chen
September 21, 2009

HE HAD no idea the clean-shaven man standing in front of him at the detention centre in Malaysia was Singaporean terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari.

The same Mas Selamat who had escaped from the Whitley Detention Centre in Singapore in February last year.

The same Mas Selamat who was captured in April after an intense manhunt by Singapore and Malaysian authorities.

Mr Simon Sipaun, the vice-chairman of Suhakam (Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission) said: ‘I didn’t know it was him until later. He looked very normal, he was smiling at me.’

Mr Sipaun found out that he was talking to the terrorist who had made headlines only when he asked where he was from. Mr Sipaun was visiting the Kamunting Detention centre to report on conditions there on Friday.

Under the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act, it is part of his organisation’s duties to visit detainees in such centres, said Mr Sipaun.

Mas Selamat made a series of wild claims which the Singapore Government has since refuted. (See MHA response on facing page.)

Speaking to The New Paper over the phone last night, Mr Sipaun said: ‘It was only when we asked him where he was from, and he said that he was from Singapore, that we realised it was the terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari we were talking to.’

Mr Sipaun, who was surprised that the man wearing a white skull cap was Mas Selamat, said: ‘I didn’t quite expect him to be such a normal human being. I don’t know how a terrorist would look like, but I expected Mas Selamat to look more fierce.

Can’t look fierce

‘I suppose, someone who’s already in detention can’t look very fierce.’

Mr Sipaun, who has been the vice-chairman of Suhakam for the last 10 years, said: ‘He seemed very forthcoming, he looked at me when he spoke… It was just like a conversation you would have with someone you met on the street.’

Except that this was no ordinary man on the street.

Mas Selamat was a key player in a plot to crash a plane into Changi Airport in 2002. He was also the head of the Singapore cell of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Mas Selamat sleeps in a dormitory the size of a small hall. It had four or five fans, and he said he was ‘very happy’ there, said Mr Sipaun.

While he was comparing the conditions in the detention centre with those in Singapore, said Mr Sipaun, Mas Selamat told him that he suspected that he was being drugged.

Mr Sipaun said: ‘He brought up the idea of being drugged when we asked him if he wanted to go back to Singapore. He also told us that his family in Singapore had wanted to see him.

‘He said the Malaysian authorities had no problem with the visit, but the Singapore authorities took the passports of his family.’

Mas Selamat claimed that he never felt normal during his detention in Singapore, liberal news portal Malaysiakini reported.

He suspected that the authorities were administering drugs to him through his food.

He said he always felt dizzy and tried to eat as little of the food as possible and escaped at the very first opportunity that he got.

During their visit, Mr Sipaun and his colleagues spoke to eight of the nine detainees at the centre.

Mr Sipaun said he had lingered in Mas Selamat’s room, spending 30 minutes of his two-hour visit there because he had read about his escape in the newspapers.

Mr Sipaun said: ‘I wanted to ask him how he escaped from Singapore, but we started talking about other things, and it just slipped my mind. It is one of my biggest regrets.’

Seasoned Malaysian journalists said Suhakam, which was established by Parliament under the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, does not have much authority.

It made a series of recommendations to the Malaysian government but few were taken up.

The appointees have largely been ex-government men. It is fighting for credibility and risks being tagged as a toothless organisation, they said.

Investigate claims

Said one journalist: ‘Their job is less to investigate and more to do with articulating the claims. They act as the mouthpiece to counterbalance government statements.

‘So if government says black, they say white. In the recent case involving the death of a young DAP (Democratic Action Party) politician, Suhakam echoed claims made by the family of the deceased against the corruption agency. But they did not investigate the claims; they just repeated it.’

The Star newspaper in a recent report about Suhakam said it is under intense pressure to keep its A status, which lets its members participate in the UN Human Rights council. With B status, they will be able to participate only as observers.

Said one journalist: ‘A foreign detainee is the best. If you read carefully, Mas Selamat’s claims are about his detention in Singapore, not Malaysia.

‘By repeating those claims out loud, they get to show they are not toothless and yet not hurt the image of the authorities here because the claims are about the time in Singapore.’

Mr Sipaun, who holds the title of Tan Sri, is a former Sabah State Secretary.

He was also Sabah Public Services Commission chairman.

In April 2000, he was among the 12 people appointed into the Malaysian Human Rights Commission – headed by former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam.

S’pore detainees treated better than prisoners

DETAINEES at the Whitley Detention Centre would be treated better than criminals at normal prisons, Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research told The Straits Times last year.

He said: ‘If you treat them badly, their resentment will grow.’

Unlike in Changi Prison where a vast majority of prisoners share their cells with other inmates, at Whitley Road, detainees are housed singly to keep extremist ideology from spreading.

Detainees at Whitley Road have further privileges – their families get to visit weekly.

They are allowed to wear civilian clothes and to ‘spruce up’, by shaving for example, when their families visit.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said: ‘The family is an integral part of the rehabilitative process.’

Detainees also meet Internal Security Department (ISD) warders, case officers and psychologists frequently.

The Whitley centre aims to provide a holistic environment in which detainees can be rehabilitated, said MHA in a previous report.

‘These places are not just about punishment, but also to integrate them back into society,’ said Dr John Harrison of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Also in April last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said security agencies from the US and Europe had come here to compare experiences with the ISD and study Singapore’s methods in fighting Islamist terrorism.

Some 30 Islamic religious teachers make up the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), which works to steer detainees away from the JI’s distortions of Islam.

The group started when a handful of senior religious leaders were approached in 2003 to help counsel the detainees. They roped others in, embarked on a study of JI teachings and how to counter them, and began counselling in April 2004.

Since then, religious counselling has been a key part of the rehabilitation process for these detainees, reported The Straits Times.

The RRG also counsels the detainee’s family to ensure that wrong lessons are not passed on to the next generation and to help wives, sons and daughters assimilate into the mainstream. Many families receive financial support from the Government, and detainees have jobs waiting for them when they are released.

As of May, 40 former terrorists, or roughly two-thirds of the detainees Singapore has arrested since 2001 have been rehabilitated and released, reported The Straits Times. None have returned to their violent past.

This month, the Government has released three more, having assessed that they no longer pose a security threat.

MHA: Mas Selamat had ample opportunity to report ill-treatment

A MINISTRY Of Home Affairs spokesman said in response to media queries that the passports of Mas Selamat’s family members had been officially seized in 2005 because of immigration offences committed by them while they and Mas Selamat were on the run from the authorities and hiding in Indonesia in earlier years.

Mas Selamat had procured a false Indonesian identity card, and he and the family had hidden in Indonesia as illegal immigrants.

Their passports were also seized for security reasons, as Mas Selamat’s wife was a member of the JI’s women wing.

The family’s request for travel documents to enable them to visit Mas Selamat at the Kamunting Detention Centre is currently being assessed by the Singapore authorities.

We will have to consider, given the family’s past immigration offences, Mas Selamat’s terrorist activities and plots against Singapore, and the fact that Mas Selamat’s wife was also a member of the JI, whether it is in our national security interests to grant the family travel documents to leave Singapore to visit him in Malaysia.

As for Mas Selamat’s allegation that his food was drugged, all detainees are examined daily (on weekdays) by a doctor and they may also ask for a doctor at any time.

Those who have medical problems requiring additional attention are sent to the hospitals.

In addition, a Board of Inspection makes unannounced visits to the detention centre to ensure the detainees’ well-being.

Any report of ill-treatment of the detainee is sent to the Minister for Home Affairs.

The Government did not receive any report of ill-treatment from Mas Selamat, the doctor, his family, or the Board of Inspection during his detention.

It should also be pointed out that in the last few years since Mas Selamat was repatriated to Singapore from Indonesia, despite his having plotted terror attacks against Singaporeans and despite his having deserted his family in Singapore and fleeing to hide in Malaysia, ISD and members of the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group (ACG), which comprises several Singaporean Malay-Muslim organisations and individuals including AMP, Khadijah Mosque, Mendaki and Taman Bacaan, had provided the family social and financial assistance such as help with their utilities bills, and tuition and school textbooks for the children.

Hoi Wan Theng (Ms)
Senior Manager (Comms)
Ministry of Home Affairs

She is arrested for raping son

She gave up son for adoption. 10 years later, she uses Internet to track him down and now…
She is arrested for raping son
September 15, 2009

STORIES of deviant parents seem to get weirder as time goes by.

First, there were parents who abused their kids.

Then, there were those who kept them in dungeons as sex slaves and even made them pregnant.

Now, a woman in the US has allegedly used technology to abuse her child – by reportedly using the Internet to track down a long-lost son, then having sex with him.

Ten years ago, Aimee Louise Sword gave up her son for adoption.

MyFOXDetroit reported that she tracked him down, then seduced and raped the teen.

Sword, 35, from Detroit, was ordered to court last week on three charges of criminal sexual conduct for the alleged rape of her biological son.

Details of his age and whereabouts have not been revealed.

Prosecutors say the boy is still a minor, but won’t disclose whether he knew the woman was his mother.

Dr Gerald Shiener, chief of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry at Sinai Grace Hospital in Detroit, said: ‘I don’t think I’ve heard of another case like this in my career.

‘Abomination’

‘Our first reaction to hearing about something like this is that this is every man’s nightmare. It’s an abomination.

‘I’m at a loss for words because it’s something that we consider to be so out of the normal, so prohibited in every culture that it unnerves every man just to think about it.’

Sword surrendered to Waterford Township police on 24 Apr, the Oakland Press reported, but was freed on bail last Wednesday following her arraignment. The house at her listed home address is abandoned.

Waterford Township Police Sgt Scott Good told ABCNews.com that Sword began a sexual relationship with her biological son in the summer of 2008 after reconnecting with him on the Internet.

He said: ‘She had given the child up early on in life for adoption.’ He added that Sword’s adoption agreement permitted limited contact with the boy.

Sgt Good said police were notified about the alleged incestuous romance in the fall after being contacted by Child Protective Services (CPS).

After an investigation that resulted in the three-count warrant, Sword surrendered to police. She was released on a US$3,000 ($4,300) bond.

Sword’s lawyer Kenneth Burch told ABCNews.com that his client has pleaded not guilty ahead of the pre-trial date set for 21 Sep.

‘Anybody would be distraught and she is, because of the allegations she is faced with,’ he said. ‘She’s meeting this head on.’

Mr Burch would not go into detail about Sword or her life, but confirmed she has other children who have since been removed from the house by CPS.

There were never any allegations of abuse involving the other children, he said.

He also said that his client ‘maintains her presumption of innocence’ and the accusations of incest have been very difficult for her.

Sword wrote on her MySpace page that she was inspired by rapper and former jailbird Lil’ Kim because ‘she rises during the worst of obstacles’.

She wrote on the web page, where she uses the name Aimee Pope, that Lil’ Kim ‘reminded me of myself’.

Though Sword is apparently confident of her ability to recover from the charges, Dr Shiener, the psychiatric doctor, worries that if the allegations are true, the damage to the boy could be long-lasting.

He said: ‘This could be his first sexual experience, and his first sexual experience could be something so conflicted, so unusual, so prohibited that it will stay with him for life.’

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Prisons Department cleared to cane Kartika

CANING OF M’SIAN WOMAN
Prisons Department cleared to cane Kartika
September 08, 2009 Print Ready Email Article

MALAYSIA’S Prisons Department has been given the green light to carry out the caning sentence on Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said department director-general Zulkifli Omar and a woman officer came to his office last week to conduct a caning demonstration for him.

In an exclusive interview, he told The Star: ‘She tapped the back of a chair with the cane.

‘There was little force involved and it was not going to inflict pain, not even like the caning carried out in schools in those days.

‘I am now satisfied that the caning can be carried out by the department if the court decides to proceed and enforce the sentence.’

Two weeks ago, Mr Hishammuddin had said the Prison Department could not cane her as it did not have ‘the capability or experience’.

The minister felt a study of proper procedures is needed before caning the woman according to Syariah law.

Kartika, 32, was arrested by Islamic morality police for drinking beer at a beach resort in Pahang in December 2007.

In end July, the Pahang Syariah court sentenced her to six strokes of the cane and fined her RM5,000 ($2,050), which she has already paid.

Later, they deferred her sentence until after Ramadan.

No experience

Several organisations such as the Bar Council have since called for the sentence to be annulled.

While Mr Hishammuddin was satisfied that the department was able to conduct the caning, he still felt it had no experience to do so.

He told The Star: ‘This is because the woman (Kartika) will be the first to be caned (under Syariah laws applicable to Muslims). Four men who have received caning sentences by the Syariah Court are appealing their sentence.’

Mr Hishammuddin told the Prisons Department not to get ’embroiled’ in the legality of the caning sentence.

He said: ‘That is not (under) their purview. It is the judicial process which decides that.

‘If the caning sentence is to be imposed, it is their duty to carry it out fairly.’

Meantime, Kartika’s father, Mr Shukarno Mutalib, said the family was happy to hear that the department was able to handle the caning.

When contacted, he said: ‘Alhamdullillah (praise be upon Allah). Kartika wants it over and done with.’

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He kept them hidden for 18 years

Kids of kidnap victim ‘starved of information’ by father

He kept them hidden for 18 years

September 04, 2009

THE President of the United States? What’s that? IMPRISONED: Jaycee Lee Dugard was held for 18 years. PICTURE: AP The daughters of Jaycee Lee Dugard, the woman who was kidnapped for 18 years, have no clue of life outside the tents they called home, said California state officials. The girls, 15, and 11, were ‘starved of information’ by their father, according to police. They have never watched TV and have no concept of maths, geography and history, reported the Sun. The girls’ father, Phillip Garrido, 58, kidnapped their mother when she was 11 in 1991 and started having sex with her when she was 14. Jaycee, now 29, and her children, were kept in squalid conditions in the backyard of Garrido’s home which he shared with wife Nancy, 54. Garrido and Nancy were arrested last week and charged with 29 felony counts of rape and kidnapping. Both girls are now being counselled by psychologists and have been moved to a safe house in San Francisco with Jaycee’s mother, Ms Terry Probyn and their aunt, Ms Tina Dugard. A detective at the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department told The Sun: ‘They are both intelligent kids but they are very naive about the real world. ‘They have never watched TV and have no concept of maths, geography and history or anything outside their town of Antioch. They have never heard of the President of the US or anything about the wider world.’ Psychologists are trying to keep their lives as close to what it was when they lived in tents in a backyard, and are even feeding them the same food they had. The detective added: ‘They are being given TV microwave dinners and their favourite meatloaf meals. They have never had fizzy drinks so they get cooled water, which is what they are used to. ‘The girls have never seen TV before and the TV in the house where they are staying has been removed. They all sleep in the same room, as they did in the compound behind Garrido’s house. ‘With every day, the (younger girl) becomes more lively but the (elder one) is quiet and appears very shy.’ First victim speaks up Meanwhile, Garrido’s first kidnap victim has come forward to describe her ordeal. She has thought about him every day since that day in November 1976 when he asked her for a ride at a supermarket in California. He then handcuffed her, bound her and took her to a mini-warehouse in Reno, Nevada, where he raped her. He was jailed 50 years for this but was released after 11 years on parole. Ms Katie Callaway Hall said she trembled for four hours when she heard Garrido was arrested for kidnapping Jaycee. She said the mention of his name sent a flurry of emotion running through her mind, reported CNN. ‘I screamed,’ she told CNN’s Larry King on Monday night. ‘I started screaming ‘Oh my god, Oh my god, it’s him’.’ She said: ‘I can’t imagine what Jaycee is going through. He had me for 8 hours. He had her for 18 years. ‘I was an adult, with instincts that helped me deal with the situation. She was a child.’ Ms Hall said Garrido’s arrest took her mind back to that night in November. ‘A man tapped on my window and asked for a ride,’ she said. ‘I agreed.’ ‘Soon after, I was cuffed, bound, gagged, and taken to a warehouse,’ Mr Hall told CNN. She was kept in the 2m by 3.5m storage facility, which Ms Hall remembers was stacked with half-opened boxes with china-type dishes inside. She said she feared for her life. Ms Hall said she was held there for five hours before she heard a noise. Someone had banged on the door and Garrido had opened it and gone outside. Ms Hall charged through the door, and when she saw that it was a policeman, she screamed for help. Garrido was arrested. Ms Hall said that night changed her life forever. ‘For years, I walked around like a zombie,’ she said. ‘He changed my life in an instant… Being victimised is something that only a victim can understand. I hate that he did this to me, and I doubt I’ll ever get over it.’

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Madoff probes mishandled

Sep 3, 2009

Madoff probes mishandled <!–10 min–>

Three of the five high-ranking SEC officials who were lambasted over the Madoff affair at a congressional hearing in February have left the agency. — PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON – THE watchdog of the Securities and Exchange Commission has found the agency consistently mishandled its five investigations of Bernard Madoff’s business, despite ample complaints over 16 years about the multibillion-dollar fraud.

Comptetent investigation never performed THE testimony will ‘guide us as we continue our work on a bill to modernize financial regulations,’ Mr Dodd said in a statement. Between June 1992 and last December, when Madoff confessed, the SEC received six ‘substantive complaints that raised significant red flags’ regarding Madoff’s operations. But ‘a thorough and competent investigation or examination was never performed,’ the report says. … more

But SEC inspector general David Kotz’s report found no evidence of any improper ties between agency officials and Madoff.

Despite speculation that senior SEC officials may have tried to influence the probes, a summary of Kotz’s 450-page report released on Wednesday also found no evidence of that.

The SEC enforcement staff, conducting investigations of Madoff’s business, ‘almost immediately caught (him) in lies and misrepresentations, but failed to follow up on inconsistencies’ and rejected whistleblowers’ offers to provide additional evidence, the report says.

Revelations in December of the agency’s failure to uncover Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme over more than a decade touched off one of the most painful scandals in the agency’s 75-year history.

Mr Kotz’s exhaustive inquiry was intended as an investigation into the SEC’s conduct in the Madoff affair and doesn’t make recommendations for actions the agency should take.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, appointed by President Barack Obama, has brought changes since taking the helm in January. Enforcement efforts have been strengthened and the agency has started a number of initiatives meant to protect investors in the wake of the financial crisis, officials say.

Three of the five high-ranking SEC officials who were lambasted over the Madoff affair at a congressional hearing in February – including the enforcement director and the head of the inspections office – have left the agency.

Mr Kotz’s report ‘makes clear that the agency missed numerous opportunities to discover the fraud,’ Mr Schapiro said in a statement.

‘It is a failure that we continue to regret, and one that has led us to reform in many ways how we regulate markets and protect investors.’ Sen Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that panel has scheduled a hearing for Sept 10 on Mr Kotz’s report, at which the inspector general is expected to testify. — AP

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Model says she’s true-blue M’sian

CANING CONTROVERSY
Model says she’s true-blue M’sian
She wants to quell speculation that she’s S’porean or Indonesian
KARTIKA Sari Dewi Shukarno, the woman in the centre of Malaysia’s caning controversy, has come out to defend her nationality.
02 September 2009

KARTIKA Sari Dewi Shukarno, the woman in the centre of Malaysia’s caning controversy, has come out to defend her nationality.

The 32-year-old said she was born a Malaysian and raised in a village in Perak before moving to Singapore.

The mother of two drew international attention after she refused to appeal against a sentence which stipulates that she would get six strokes of the cane for drinking beer.

She would be the first woman in Malaysia to be caned. But the Syariah Court in Pahang has announced that the punishment would be meted out only after the fasting month of Ramadan.

It is understood that the religious authorities are also reviewing her case.

In reports in two Malaysian dailies yesterday, Kartika, who has been living in Singapore for the past 15 years after marrying a Singaporean, was quoted as saying her ancestors are Malaysians.

She added that they were people of significance in Malaysian history.

Perak ruling class

One was a Perak ruler who fought off the British, while another was a member of the ruling family in the state, she claimed.

She revealed these details, she said, not because she wanted to gloat, but to rebut what she called ‘negative’ postings on blogs about her.

She told Harian Metro: ‘I am a Malaysian citizen. So many have presumed and said I was born in Singapore or that I’m from Indonesia.

‘But the truth is, I was born and raised in Malaysia.’

She added: ‘I am upset to read some of these blog posts which debated and argued over my nationality. Some even suggested that I should be stripped of my citizenship.’

She told Berita Harian Malaysia that her paternal family has blood ties to Ngah Ibrahim, a Malay nobleman and chieftain in Perak who fought the British in the late 19th century.

Her mother’s ancestors include Megat Terawis, a Perak bendahara (palace-appointed chief of a Malay state), she said.

Kartika disclosed the information to reporters who had followed her to the tomb of Ngah Ibrahim in Taiping, where she went with her father to pay her respects.

She added: ‘These bloggers should research their information carefully before they post negative things on their blogs.’

On 20 Jul, a Syariah High Court in Kuantan fined her RM5,000 ($2,000) and sentenced her to six strokes of the cane after she was caught drinking beer at the lounge of a resort hotel in Cherating in 2007.

She pleaded guilty and paid the fine but refused to appeal her caning sentence, instead, urging the court to carry it out in public.

The court’s decision to cane her, the first Muslim woman to be caned under such laws in Malaysia, has sparked not only international media coverage, but saw fierce debates over the appropriateness of the sentence.

According The Star, her father hopes Kartika will be spared the cane if her case comes up for review.

Said Mr Shukarno Mutalib, 60: ‘I’m looking forward to hearing good news and I have sought the counsel of Perak Mufti, Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria, who assured me everything would be okay during this holy month.’

But he said he and his daughter would accept the authority’s decision.

He also said he was touched by the support from those who sympathised with his daughter’s plight.

Said Mr Shukarno: ‘Now that it’s Ramadan, it’s never lonely at home. People come with kind words for Kartika as her child is sick. There are those who bring food and come to break fast with us.’

Mr Shukarno also said the media hype had brought members of many Muslim non-governmental organisations, such as the Sisters in Islam, to his doorstep.

He said: ‘This shows that not all Islam-based NGOs are lobbying for Kartika to be caned. Some want her to undergo religious classes and such as punishment.’

He pleaded with reporters to stop harassing Kartika for comments on the phone or by staking out their family home as she is looking after her second child, who is down with pneumonia.

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‘I wish I never won $4.5m lottery prize’

UK GIRL BROKE AFTER SPENDING WINNINGS

‘I wish I never won $4.5m lottery prize’

THE numbers 1, 10, 17, 23, 29 and 35 changed then-teenager Callie Rogers’ life.

29 August 2009

THE numbers 1, 10, 17, 23, 29 and 35 changed then-teenager Callie Rogers’ life. She was 16 when she won £1.9 million ($4.5m) in a British lottery in 2003. It made her Britain’s second youngest winner. It also made her one of Britain’s youngest losers. Now 22, Miss Rogers is broke, having spent her money on two breast enlargement operations, luxury cars, booze and a string of deadbeat boyfriends. The one-time millionaire is now living with her mother in a small house and has to take on three cleaning jobs to make ends meet, reported News of the World. She has put her home up for sale at a cut-price £180,000 and faces bankruptcy if it isn’t sold as she has a £3,000 legal bill to settle. She is also locked in a custody battle over one of her two kids – and has attempted to take her life for a second time. According to The Daily Mail, Miss Rogers told a friend: ‘My life is a shambles and hopefully now the money has all gone I can find some happiness. It’s brought me nothing but unhappiness. It’s ruined my life. ‘I’ve just wanted to make people happy by spending money on them. But it hasn’t made me happy. It just made me anxious that people are only after me for my money.’ This is a far cry from the heady times soon after she won the money. She quit her £3.60-an-hour job and was on the front page of nearly every national newspaper, reported the News and Star. She also made TV appearances. She said then ‘I’m going to take two years out and go travelling. ‘I’ve never been abroad before, so I need to get my passport. Then after that I would like to go back to education. I’d like to go and do my GCSEs and become a social worker.’ Top of her shopping list then was a new wheelchair for her disabled foster mum. But sadly, the money soon got to her head. She bought and furnished four homes for herself, her mum, dad and grandmother. And she splurged £200,000 on luxury holidays with relatives and pals. Around £190,000 went on gifts and unpaid ‘loans’ to loved ones, reported News of the World. Two breast jobs cost £13,000 in total. And she spent £115,000 on luxury cars plus £250,000 on parties and enjoying the high life. But a vast chunk went on a string of sponging boyfriends, reported News of the World. At the time of the win, Miss Rogers was dating boyfriend No 1 who was nine years older than her. He quit his timber-yard job, lived off the £200-a-day ‘wage’ Miss Rogers paid him and blew cash meant for furniture on booze benders. After they split, boyfriend No 2 was given a £7,000 car and £3,000 to be her chauffeur. Two weeks later, he vanished – with the car. Depression Next was an unemployed factory worker. She bought him a £pounds;15,000 sports car and they got engaged. But she went on to accuse him of stealing £pounds;53,000, dumped him but dropped the allegation and discovered she was pregnant. They got back together before their son was born – only for the boyfriend to get arrested for fighting. Amid escalating rows with her family, and battling depression, Miss Rogers overdosed on 60 pills. Then in 2007 she gave birth – only to discover two months later that her boyfriend was bedding her sister. The boyfriend is currently fighting for custody of their daughter – and was granted a temporary residence order last week, which means the little girl is living with him. Miss Roger’s last relationship was with a cocaine dealer now serving two years’ jail. Shortly before his arrest in December last year, she slashed her wrists and was found in a pool of blood and rushed to hospital. Life, unfortunately, has come full circle for Miss Rogers. Four years ago she told how her windfall had led to her first suicide attempt. She said then: ‘Until you win such a large amount of money at such a young age, you don’t realise the pressures that come with it. ‘I did it because winning the lottery has ruined my life. I wish I had never won. I haven’t been able to cope with it – and I was convinced I’d be better off dead.’ HER HUGE BILL SOME BIG-TICKET ITEMS SHE SPENT ON Houses for herself, parents, grandma Cars Holidays Gifts, unrepaid loans to family Food, designer clothing, bills Partying Plastic surgery Cash, gifts, unrepaid loans to friends AMOUNT £550,000 £115,000 £200,000 £150,000 £194,000 £250,000 £13,000 £40,000 http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=sunkopitiam&msg=36818.1

H1N1 flu found in birds

Aug 29, 2009
H1N1 FLU PANDEMIC
H1N1 flu found in birds
UN agency warns of more deadly H1N1-bird flu mix after outbreak on Chilean farms

A worker spraying disinfectant at a vehicle at the entrance of a turkey plant south of Santiago, Chile. — PHOTO: REUTERS

ROME – AN H1N1 flu outbreak in turkeys in Chile has raised fears that the new virus could combine with avian influenza and mutate into a more dangerous disease, especially in South-east Asia, which has been hardest hit by bird flu, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned.

Britain, France get first lot of vaccine
BELGIUM/LONDON – BRITAIN and France have received their first batches of H1N1 flu vaccine, officials said, as governments began to arm themselves against a second wave of the pandemic during the northern winter.

The World Health Organisation has been warning governments for months to brace themselves for a resurgence of the H1N1 virus when the cold season hits the northern hemisphere.
… more
The outbreak in Chile was announced last week, It was the first case of the virus found outside humans and pigs. Chile said it was not a public health threat. The FAO, however, has expressed concern that poultry farms elsewhere in the world could now become infected with the virus.

‘The current H1N1 virus strain is a mixture of human, pig and bird genes and has proved to be very contagious, but no more deadly than common seasonal flu viruses,’ the Rome-based agency said in a statement.

‘However, it could theoretically become more dangerous if it adds virulence by combining with H5N1, commonly known as avian flu, which is far more deadly but harder to pass along among humans.’

The FAO noted that Chile does not have avian influenza, also known as bird flu. But it added: ‘In South-east Asia, where there is a lot of the (avian flu) virus circulating in poultry, the introduction of H1N1 in these populations would be of a greater concern.’

Bird flu, which has been circulating in Asia for years, has killed 262 out of 433 infected globally since 2003. Indonesia alone accounted for more than 100 deaths.

The H1N1 flu outbreak in turkeys in Chile was found in two farms in the Valparaiso region, 160km west of Santiago. The virus was transmitted by humans.

The Chilean authorities have established a temporary quarantine and decided to allow the infected birds to recover rather than culling them, a BBC report said.

The FAO called for better monitoring of the health of animals and for farms to follow good farming practice guidelines, ‘including protecting farm workers if animals are sick and not allowing sick workers near animals’.

‘The emergence of new influenza virus strains capable of affecting humans and domestic animals remains a broader, more general concern that is being closely monitored by the FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organisation,’ it said.

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MJ’s death a homicide

Aug 29, 2009

MJ’s death a homicide <!–10 min–>

Coroners said that Jackson, 50, seen here in 2009, had suffered from the effects of other drugs in his system. — PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES – MICHAEL Jackson’s death was declared a homicide by Los Angeles coroners on Friday as they revealed the singer had a lethal cocktail of six different drugs in his body when he died.

OFFICES RAIDED AS PART of their investigation, police and federal agents have already raided Murray’s offices in Las Vegas, Nevada and Houston, Texas, as well as a Las Vegas pharmacy that provided the drugs. Murray told investigators he was not the first doctor to administer propofol to the King of Pop, who referred to the drug as his ‘milk’, LAPD detective Orlando Martinez wrote in the affidavit, citing the cardiologist. … more

Ending several weeks of feverish speculation following Jackson’s sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25, the county coroner’s office issued a brief statement ruling that the superstar’s death was unlawful.

The statement said that while ‘acute intoxication’ from the powerful anesthetic propofol was the primary cause of death, Jackson, 50, had also suffered from the effects of other drugs in his system. As well as propofol, powerful drugs including lorazepam, midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine were found in Jackson’s body.

The coroner’s statement said police investigators and public prosecutors had ordered that the full toxicology report concerning Jackson be withheld until further notice.

Jackson’s family welcomed the findings. ‘The Jackson family again wishes to commend the actions of the coroner, the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies, and looks forward to the day that justice can be served,’ the family said in a statement.

The coroner’s announcement will fuel speculation that authorities are likely to charge Jackson’s personal physician Conrad Murray in connection with the death. Cardiologist Murray was the last person to see Jackson alive.

According to court documents unsealed in Houston, Texas, on Monday, multiple drugs were administered to Jackson by Murray in the hours before his death at his Los Angeles mansion two months ago.

Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran ‘reviewed the preliminary toxicology results and his preliminary assessment of Jackson’s cause of death was due to lethal levels of propofol.’

Murray administered propofol and other drugs to Jackson – at the star’s insistence – to treat his insomnia, but was worried Jackson had developed an addiction and ‘tried to wean Jackson off of the drug,’ the affidavit said.

Propofol is a powerful anesthetic used to induce unconsciousness in patients undergoing major surgery in hospital. Medical professionals say it should never be used by private individuals at home.

The affidavit unsealed on Monday revealed that Murray confessed to investigators two days after the star died that he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol nightly during the six weeks prior to the event. — AFP

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Backyard sex slave

Aug 28, 2009

Backyard sex slave <!–10 min–>

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		Two children taken into police care when the Garridos were arrested ‘turned out to be the children of Jaycee (left) and (Phillip) Garrido (right). — PHOTOS: AP
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SAN FRANCISCO – A US woman who turned up 18 years after she was kidnapped as a young girl had been kept in a hidden backyard behind her captor’s home and had two children with her abductor, police said Thursday.

VIDEO Kidnapped girl found after 18 yrs (1:20) Details of her captivity surfaces DETAILS about her time in captivity emerged after Jaycee Lee Dugard surfaced at a police station in Northern California, nearly two decades after she vanished outside her home. Police said Garrido held her the entire time as a virtual slave, sheltered from the outside world in tents, sheds and outbuildings in his backyard in suburban Antioch. … more Captor a religious fanatic GARRIDO’S compound was located in Antioch, a city of 100,000 about 170 miles (273 kilometres) from her family’s home in South Lake Tahoe. The house was cordoned off with police tape as it was searched by FBI agents and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. … more

Jaycee Lee Dugard, now 29, appeared at a police station in Concord, California on Wednesday and identified herself as the missing woman, police officials said.

At a press conference, the El Dorado Sherif’s Department said conversations with the woman confirmed that she was Dugard, who was kidnapped at age 11.

‘Subsequent interviews provided information that only the victim and the kidnappers could know,’ said Fred Kollar from the department.

Police officials identified a couple taken into custody in connection with Ms Dugard’s kidnap as Phillip and Nancy Garrido.

Mr Kollar told reporters that a search of the Garridos’ home ‘revealed a hidden backyard within the backyard’ that included ‘sheds, tents and outbuildings.’ He added that two children taken into police care when the Garridos were arrested ‘turned out to be the children of Jaycee and (Phillip) Garrido.’

Phillip Garrido is a registered sex offender who has served prison time for kidnapping and rape, Contra Costa county Sherrif Daniel Terry told ABC News, adding the couple were being investigated for kidnapping to commit rape.

Mr Terry told AFP the pair were arrested on Wednesday and are being held on bail of one million dollars.

Ms Dugard was 11 years old on June 10, 1991 when she was last seen by her stepfather Carl Probyn outside her home in South Lake Tahoe being kidnapped by two occupants in a car.

Mr Probyn, who is now 60, gave chase on a bicycle but was too far away to stop the abduction. ‘I had personally given up hope,’ Mr Probyn told ABC News, adding he was just hoping to find the people responsible.

Mr Probyn, his wife Terry and another daughter flew on Thursday morning from Riverside, California to San Francisco to meet Ms Dugard. — AFP

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