Miscellaneous News. - Page 21

Only in America and Somalia-

"Lawyers for a child in Pennsylvania who was 11 when he allegedly shot and killed his father's pregnant fiancee attempted today to persuade an appeals court not to try him as an adult under America's harsh system of juvenile justice.

Unless the lawyers for Jordan Brown who is now aged 13, can convince the judges to change tack, he will be tried in adult court and if convicted will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole. He would become the youngest child in US history to be sentenced to be incarcerated forever.

The US is the only country where juveniles are serving life imprisonment without parole under the so-called "life means life" policy. Only the US and Somalia have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights, which rules out life sentences with no chance of release for crimes committed before the age of 18.

Brown allegedly carried out the killing using his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children. The prosecution alleges that the killing was premeditated and they found residue from the gun on Brown's shoulder.

When he was first presented to court Brown was made to wear shackles around his wrists and ankles.
~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...murder-appeals

"Even the best mothers admit to struggling with their children every now and then, but Gladys Bulinya could likely put many of them to shame with her staggering brood.
As the BBC is reporting, the Kenyan mom has borne a whopping 12 children -- six sets of non-identical twins born between 1993 and last year. But the 35-year-old Bulinya, who lives alone with 10 of her 12 children -- six girls and four boys -- in a one-roomed grass-thatched house in the village of Nzoia, says her situation is intensified by a local belief that twins are cursed by a divine jinx.
After being abandoned by her husband last year and disowned by her relatives, Bulinya recently agreed to undergo sterilization, despite the procedure being against her religion, as she could not cope with more children. "I am a Catholic," she told the BBC. "When I made the decision, I asked for God's forgiveness and I am sure God understands and will forgive me for doing that."
When Bulinya gave birth to her first set of twins in 1993, her own family ordered her to leave the babies at the hospital for adoption, as the Bukusu people, to which her family belongs, believe that unless one twin in a set dies, it means certain death for one or both parents. Luckily, Ms Bulinya says, when her boyfriend's father (who is from a different ethnic group, the Kalenjin) learned his sons had been abandoned, he took them in and has cared for them ever since. She met her now 17-year-old sons two years ago."
~ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_814974.html

"An alcohol-detection prototype that uses automatic sensors to instantly gauge a driver's fitness to be on the road has the potential to save thousands of lives, but could be as long as a decade away from everyday use in cars, federal officials and researchers said Friday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited QinetiQ North America, a Waltham, Mass.-based research and development facility, for the first public demonstration of systems that could measure whether a motorist has a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit of .08 and if so prevent the vehicle from starting.

The technology is being designed as unobtrusive, unlike current alcohol ignition interlock systems often mandated by judges for convicted drunken drivers. Those require operators to blow into a breath-testing device before the car can operate.

The Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, as the new approach is called, would use sensors that would measure blood alcohol content in one of two possible ways: either by analyzing a driver's breath or through the skin, using sophisticated touch-based sensors placed strategically on steering wheels and door locks, for example.

Both methods eliminate the need for drivers to take any extra steps, and those who are sober would not be delayed in getting on the road, researchers said.

Laura Dean Mooney, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the technology could "turn cars into the cure."

While she did not foresee the alcohol detection system ever being mandated by the government, Mooney, whose husband died in an accident caused by a drunken driver 19 years ago, said she could envision it someday becoming as ubiquitous as air bags or anti-lock brakes in today's cars, particularly if insurance companies provide incentives for drivers to use those systems by discounting premiums."
~ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_815740.html