News briefs:August 02, 2010| Wikinews Audio Briefs Credits |
|---|
| Produced By |
| Turtlestack |
| Recorded By |
| Turtlestack |
| Written By |
| Turtlestack |
| Listen To This Brief |
Problems? See our media guide. |
Former Washington D.C. police officer sues district for racial discrimination and harassmentFriday, June 22, 2007
According to court documents obtained by Wikinews, Randy Squires, an African American male and a former police officer of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (DCMPD) has filed a lawsuit against the department alleging racial discrimination and harassment by a fellow officer. Squires is also suing the former mayor of D.C., Anthony A. Williams, and the district’s Attorney Generals office. Squires is also suing his superior officer, Robert Atcheson, for racial discrimination and harassment.
“Defendant Atcheson treated Plaintiff differently than similarly situated Caucasian police officers in several respect[sic], including but not limited to assignments, evaluation, and disciplinary actions, deprivation of overtime and use of departmental vehicles,” stated court papers filed by Squires’ attorneys, Donald M. Temple and Dhamian A. Blue of Temple Law Offices in Washington D.C.
Squires accuses Atcheson, a white-caucasian male and a lieutenant in the Environmental Crimes Unit (ECU) Warrant Squad and the Paternity Warrant Squad, of discriminating against him on the basis of the color of his skin and also harassing him while on the job. Squires originally started to work in DCMPD 1988, and shortly after he was hired, he began to work in the ECU. Atcheson was in control of the unit Squires belonged to.
In court documents, Squires alleges Atcheson treated him with “flagrant racial discriminatory conduct,” like using the word “mope,” which is defined as slang for “nigger,” and that the discrimination was “designed to intimidate, insult, emasculate and humiliate” Squires. In one incident in 2002, during a training exercise, Atcheson allegedly “deprived Squires of appropriate breathing apparatus, which is designed to save life in emergency and hazardous situations,” but that the apparatus was “provided to two other caucasian officers.”
Documents also allege that Atcheson had “falsified” a report to North Carolina State Police after Squires was arrested and wrongfully charged with “unauthorized taking of a police vehicle.” Court documents say that the report to N.C. police states that “Atcheson falsely told Plaintiff (Squires) that he had photographic evidence of the police car outside Plaintiff’s home overnight and of Plaintiff driving the car from his home.”
Court documents also allege that Squires allegedly informed his superior officer of Atcheson, only known as ‘Captain Brito,’ of the incident, but no action was ever taken against Atcheson. Squires initially filed a complaint against Atcheson with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (EEOC) in a letter on March March 8, 2005.
The Washington D.C. police department has investigated the claims made by Squires, which “revealed inappropriate conduct toward Squires,” but according to documents, no disciplinary action has been taken against Atcheson or his superiors.
The defendants “deny any and all allegations” that Squires has made against them and also state that Squires “failed to exhaust their administrative remedies and/or failed to comply with other mandatory filing requirements.” Defendants also say that “all actions taken by District (Washington D.C.) relating to Plaintiffs were necessary, reasonable, pursuant to lawful authority, and based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons” and that “the district denies that any district policymaker adopted, approved, condoned and/or maintained an unconstitutional policy, practice or custom of unlawful employment practices.”
Squires is asking at least US$350,000. Squires and the Defendants also request that a jury be present during the trial, which is scheduled to conclude on June 26.
SEALs say US officer’s cover-up was reported by fake SEALTuesday, December 21, 2004
Tampa, Florida –Frank Ford, an honorably discharged U.S. veteran sergeant who works as a California state prison guard has reported witnessing torture in Iraq and the cover-upactivities of his commanding officers: December 8, 2004, Veteran sergeant accounts US torture coverup. Ford says he was hustled out of Iraq for psychological evaluations at military hospitals in Germany and USA as part of an Army cover-up strategy. David DeBatto, who wrote the original article about Frank Ford states that every doctor that evaluated Ford found him to be completely normal, with absolutely no psychological or mental health issues. However according to VeriSEAL, which claims to provide independent and no-cost verification of Special Operations Forces personnel backgrounds, the cover-up accusations are being made by a fake SEAL member.
Ford has already made several unsubstantiated claims including being a member of President Nixon’s security detail, a medical doctor, a nobleman with a castle in Europe, a Navy SEAL and knowing the exact location of Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid known as “Chemical Ali”. Also Ford has said he has saved the life of a soldier in Iraq, but according to the sources familiar with the incident—doctors and other witness—his claims were exaggerated and he did nothing more than hold the wounded soldier’s IV bag. The name of Ford is listed at the Identified SEAL Impostors page from VeriSEAL.
When inquired about some of the Ford’s exaggerated stories, David DeBatto said:Ford IS an inveterate braggart. This is beyond question as far as I am concerned. However, although that trait may make him unpopular with some, it does not make him a liar. Some people seem to have a hard time separating the two.
According to Ford he attended a discontinued BUD/S program for Navy corpsmen during 1980’s as a doctor assigned to a Navy SEAL team. However Navy records do not list Ford among the program graduates. About this DeBatto said: he called himself “Doc” when I met him too at Fort Bragg in February 2003. However, I asked him right away if he was an MD or PhD. and he told me no, he was just a medic, but he has always been referred to as “Doc” since becoming a Navy medic over 30 years ago. It just kind of stuck he said. He also said he was in some kind of medical school or internship, which, upon later research, turned out to be true. It ain’t Harvard, but it is a legitimate medical school. Actually Frank Ford is a “Doctor of Naturopathy” by the Clayton School of Natural Healing in Alabama.
According to Col. C. Tsai, a military psychiatrist who examined Ford at the Army Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, Tsai had found nothing at all unstable about Ford.” Tsai was also interviewed by Speigel Television in Germany on this issue. According to Capitain Vic Artiga, Ford’s company commander, who Ford implicates, he was evacuated for “combat stress” behavioal problems.
In a interview to Los Angeles Times reporter, Lt. Col. Timothy J. Ryan, Ford’s commander, said: all allegations of prisoner abuse in Samarra were investigated immediately and no wrongdoing was ever found. Lt. Col. Timothy J. Ryan is also implicated by Ford’s testimony.
Ford said that Artiga accused him of being “delusional” and gave him “30 seconds to retract or face psychiatric referral”. Artiga, who is a police officer in Redwood City as civilian, denied Ford claims:That’s just laughable. In my years as a policeman, I’ve done hundreds of investigations. I can tell yoou that the investigation we did was as thorough as they come.
According to Sergeant First Class Michael Marciello, an alleged witness, when Captain Vic Artiga saw an initial psychiatrist’s report, Artiga was, “livid”. He “stormed” back to the psychiatrist and “browbeat” her to change her report to read that Ford was mentally unstable, and ordered her to have Ford shipped out of the country. Ford was later strapped to a medical gurney and medvac’d out of Iraq. He was initially sent to Kuwait and eventually to Landstuhl, Germany. Ford then underwent psychological evaluation in Germany and also two bases in the United States for approximately 8 months.
The Ford accusation was reported by David DeBatto and the article can be seen at Salon News. The case is under investigation.
Grandfather held in Guantanamo dies of cancerMonday, December 31, 2007
Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) reported a fifth Guantanamo captive, named Abdul Razzak, died in captivity, on December 30, 2007.
JTF-GTMO asserted that Razzak had complained of abdominal pains in September 2007, and had begun to receive cancer therapy in late October 2007. JTF-GTMO estimated that he was born in 1939.
According to the JTF-GTMO press release that announced his death:
Abdul Razzak was assessed to be an experienced jihadist with command responsibilities and was assessed to have had multiple links to anti-coalition forces. He was detained in Guantanamo as an enemy combatant, consistent with the international law of Armed Conflict.
Abdul Razzak was one of the few Guantanamo captives who continued to attend his Combatant Status Review Tribunal and his annual Annual Review Board hearings.
Abdul Razzak had disputed all but one of the allegations against him, at each opportunity, and had provided his JTF-GTMO interrogators and the officers who sat on his CSR Tribunal and ARB hearing with easily verifiable corroborated details. At each of his Administrative review the officers were unaware of the exculpatory details he had provided.
The one allegation that Abdul Razzak acknowledged was that he had been subjected to involuntary conscription, and had served the Taliban for three months out of every year for the five years they were in power before he fled Afghanistan. He had, however, not served in the Taliban’s armed forces, but had been a truck driver, delivering non-military supplies.
One of the main allegations against Abdul Razzak was that he had plotted to help free Taliban leaders. Abdul Razzak testified that, on the contrary, two years prior to al Qaeda’s attacks on September 11th, 2001, he and his son had played a key role in a successful plot to free three imprisoned senior Northern Alliance leaders, who he identified as “Ismail Khan, Haji Zahir, son of vice president Haji Qadir and General Qassim.” — Ismail Khan is currently the Minister of Energy.
Abdul Razzak testified that his son, one of the relatively few Afghans who was fluent in English, had been conscripted by the Taliban, so he could provide some computer support. His son had contacted anti-Taliban forces, secured funds to purchase a four-wheel drive vehicle. His son, using the trust the Taliban had placed in him, due to his computer support, had lead the three men out of their imprisonment. Abdul Razzak had driven the four by four. The vehicle was damaged by a land mine. Abdul Razzak’s hand was injured. His son lost a foot. But the Northern Alliance leaders were rescued.
Abdul Razzak testified that when they arrived in Iran the Afghanistan Council paid his living expenses. But, when Hamid Karzai assumed power, following the ouster of the Taliban, he was told that the pension would be discontinued, because Afghanistan now had a democratic government.
Abdul Razzak testified that he then returned to Afghanistan, where he was falsely denounced by a distant cousin named Mohammed Jan. Mohammed Jan’s branch of the family was engaged in a feud with his branch, that had lead to the death of his father, two uncles, and three of his sons.
Abdul Razzak was also accused of being a leader of anti-coalition forces, and of being a member of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, an older militia, which was first founded to oppose the regime of Mohammed Daoud Khan,the politician who had ousted Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan, in 1973.In 1979 this militia split, and has been lead, since then, by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s militia played a major role in the resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. This militia acquired a reputation for ruthlessness, and disregard for civilian life.
Abdul Razzak testified that his only contact with the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin militia was early in the war against the Soviets. He testified he was imprisoned for four and a half months in an underground pit. They had captured him because he had served as a driver for a member of the communist regime.
American intelligence analysts assert that, when Osama bin Laden was leaving Sudan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar offered him sanctuary in the areas of Afghanistan under his control.
Although not part of the Northern Alliance the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin militia fought with the Taliban, prior to their ouster. When the USA allied with the Northern Alliance and other resistance forces to oust the Taliban the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin militia fought against the USA. In 2003 the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin formed an alliance with the rump of the Taliban.
Abdul Razzak was also accused of being the Abdul Razak who had been the second in command of the Taliban’s 40-man unit, even though witnesses described Abdul Razak the commander as a much younger man, with a full black beard. Americans held five other men in Guantanamo named Abdul Razak.
Explosives found in Malegaon, Nashik, IndiaWednesday, September 13, 2006
Police in the town of Malegaon have recovered explosives from a yellow container placed in the Mohammadiya Madrassa shopping complex on Kidwai Road. A bomb disposal squad has been rushed to the site, and the surrounding area has been cordoned off. Officers from the Anti-Terrorist Squad, along with IG P.K Jain and Superintendent of Police Rajyawardhan, are also at the site. Jain, however refused to confirm whether the device was a bomb, saying only that it was a “suspicious looking container with wires and a battery attached to it.” He said that if it was indeed an IED, police would either attempt to defuse it, or detonate it in an isolated area.
Meanwhile, police in Nashik have seized 11 detonators, 5 blasting gelatin(gelignite) sticks and a revolver from a building named Raj Sarthi. At least 38 people were killed and over 180 injured on 8 September, when three bombs went off near the Hamidia Mosque during the Shab-e-Barat festival. Although the communally sensitive town has so far been quiet, officials have once again declared an alert in Malegaon.
Former teacher makes FBI’s top 10 most wanted listWednesday, April 11, 2012
Ex-Washington, D.C. third grade teacher Eric Justin Toth, who worked at the National Cathedral’s Beauvoir school, was officially added to the top of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List yesterday, replacing Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US Navy Seals last May. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating Toth in 2008 when a school camera allegedly used by Toth contained child pornography.
The FBI also believes Toth was responsible for installing a camera in the student’s bathroom near Toth’s classroom.
When Toth became aware of the investigation he became a fugitive. Toth, who also goes by the name David Bussone, has warrants for his arrest in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
The FBI is currently offering a reward for up to $100,000 leading to Toth’s arrest.
Toth is the 495th person to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted List.
US Defense Secretary evaluates Iraq and the political climateFriday, April 6, 2007
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that limiting funding for the United States efforts in Iraq could lead to more bloodshed in the Middle Eastern country. In an interview with radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, he said it might even lead to ethnic cleansing in Bahgdad and elsewhere in Iraq.
Gates’ comment followed a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to end most spending on the Iraq war in 2008, limiting it to targeted operations against al Qaeda, training for Iraqi troops and U.S. force protection.
Sec. Gates also said that the duration of the troop increase is not clear and that evaluating whether the Administration’s new strategy was working will have to wait till mid-summer. The Army general charged with day-to-day operations has suggested that the increased deployment may extend to early next year.
Boy missing in Glynn County, GeorgiaSaturday, March 10, 2007
Six-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios, Jr. has been missing since Thursday night. He was last seen near his home in the Canal Mobile Home Park just north of Brunswick, Georgia.
He is a hispanic/black male, 3’06” – 4’00”, and 60-70 lbs. He has short black hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a blue or green long sleeve shirt with a white T-shirt underneath and long black pants. He also was wearing white tennis shoes with a blue stripe on the side with a velcro closure on top.
Police say neighbors spotted a white car driving slowly in the area, but they are not sure if the car has anything to do with Christopher’s disappearance.
If you know anything about this you are asked to call the Glynn County police at 912-554-7803 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (1-866-845-8477). There is a $27,000 reward for the return of the missing boy.
This story has new developments.
Updated information can be found here
Here’s An Opinion On:
Cool Travel Ideas Make Your Next Vacation Special
by
Carol A Miller
Cool Travel Ideas – Make Your Next Vacation Special
If your vacations are all starting to look alike – same beach house rental or trip to Disney World – consider the world of unusual travel. If youre like most people, you probably know that there are such things as Dude Ranches, but did you know that you can take trips to explore underground caves? Not into caving, you say? How about a gourmet tour? Spend your vacation traveling to the great restaurants of the world with other people who love food. Still not interested, you say? How about – riding across the desert on a camel; finding little-know magical spots in Europe while cruising the canals on a barge; learning to speak French while touring Normandy? Did I hit on one for you yet? If not, try – sailing on a yacht up coastal New England fishing villages from Connecticut to Maine; chase storms with experienced storm-chasers; go panning for gold out west; tour the vineyards of Tuscany; take a cruise down the Amazon River into the rainforest. Not up for these, you say? Maybe youd just like a change of accommodations. How about a castle stay in Scotland? A wilderness lodge in Alaska? Camping on the banks of the Colorado River? Did you know – you can still ride the Orient Express from Paris to Venice to Istanbul? Take a covered wagon trip across the prairie? Crew a sailboat? Learn to scuba on the Great Barrier Reef? What about a theater trip to London, where you see at least one show a day, and meet with the cast and directors to discuss the production. You can learn to drive a dogsled across the frozen expanses of Alaska, learn to rope cattle at cowboy school, go on an archeological dig, or improve your photography while visiting places of breathtaking natural beauty. Still not for you? Maybe you would want to consider an antiquing trip, a spiritual getaway, a hot air balloon adventure. You can take a reindeer safari, a birdwatching trip, a tour of ghost towns, visit the great museums of Europe, learn to paint in Italy or France, go windsurfing in Greece or the Caribbean Islands. If you have an interest, there is almost certainly a tour built around it, most likely many. In addition to special interests like those listed here, there are singles cruises, spa vacations, gay/lesbian trips, meditation tours, pilgrimages, and much more. Dont have anyone to go with? An adventure tour is ideal for you. Youll always have companions and a guide to smooth the way. Meet other people with similar interests, and come home with new lifelong friends. The truth is, you can often have a better time traveling solo with a tour – its a fine opportunity to learn more about yourself. If youre in the mood for a trip of a lifetime, break away from the commonplace and think about what would make a perfect vacation for you. Maybe all you really want is to lay on the beach and drink tropical concoctions, but if you feel like something more, look over this list, listen to your heart, and do something incredible. You wont regret it.
Interested in learning more about unusual ways to
travel
? Then visit http://www.CoolTravelIdeas.com where you can get lots of terrific ideas to create your own
travel
experience of a lifetime.
Article Source:
ArticleRich.com
Toronto prepares for Monday transit strikeSaturday, April 9, 2005
The Toronto Transit Commission is expected to strike Monday. The TTC workers union, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, rejected a deal offered by TTC management. They last went on strike in 1999. The average daily ridership exceeds 1.3 million passengers.
The city of Toronto has prepared to help deal with the forecasted traffic congestion by opening up free parking for car-pools at 14 city-owned community centres, banning parking on some city streets, and opening up some bus-only lanes to car-pools.
The initial deal, which was rejected, offered a 2% wage increase over five years. With a huge turnout the union-members voted against accepting the offer with a 99% majority according to a press release by the union. The union rejected the latest offer Friday reported to be a three-year contract with raises of 2.75 percent in the first year, three percent in the second and 3.25 percent in the third.