A six-year-old boy from the county of Berkshire in England, United Kingdom, who fell through a frozen pond on January 5, has died. The pond is near to the location of his house where he was playing with one of his friends. Thomas Hudson — or Tommy as he was also known — was trapped underneath the garden pond in Crookham Common, which was six feet in depth, for 30 minutes. It is not clear what exactly caused Thomas to fall into the pond.
After calls for help from Tommy's playmate, a woman went into the water and searched for Thomas. It is believed that the woman was related to Tommy. A fire crew managed to take Thomas out of the water. After ambulance workers found themselves unable to restart his heart, Tommy was taken by aircraft to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Oxfordshire. There, an emergency operation was carried out on him before Thomas was placed on a life support machine. He died on January 21 after he failed to regain consciousness.
It has been reported that Thames Valley Police are launching an investigation into the death. However, the police has said that there are no suspicious circumstances as far as they are concerned.
Hugh Whitaker was one of the people assisting in the search for Thomas on January 5. "We worked as a team with the fire service to locate the boy in the water and he was pulled out," Whitaker stated. "It was thought he had been in there for around half an hour. Once he was located he was taken to the air ambulance and on to the John Radcliffe Hospital after being treated by a doctor. He was in cardiac arrest at the scene. A woman who went into the water was examined by paramedics at the scene but she did not require hospital treatment. The lake was between 15 and 20 metres by 15 and 20 metres in size. From where he was recovered from he would have had to have walked out onto the water — he was not far from the centre of the frozen lake."
A statement released from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust that said: "We are very sorry to confirm that Tommy Hudson died peacefully at our hospital this [Thursday] morning. Tommy's parents ask that their privacy be respected at this very difficult time."http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Six-year-old_boy_dies_two_weeks_after_falling_through_icy_pond_in_Berkshire,_England?dpl_id=148981
Six-year-old boy dies two weeks after falling through icy pond in Berkshire, England
Bomb scare aboard plane caused by harmless prayer box
A US Airways Express plane en route from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday morning after a harmless Jewish prayer box was mistaken for an explosive device.
According to Philadelphia police, a 17-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy on Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of black boxes attached to leather straps containing biblical passages. When used in morning prayers, one box is strapped to the left arm while the other is placed on the forehead. "It's something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever," FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver told the Associated Press.
When questioned about the object by crew members, the teen tried to explain the ritual. However, the plane's captain still thought it best to land in Philadelphia as a precaution. Once it landed, the plane was searched, passengers were questioned, and the tefillin was examined by the bomb squad and proven to be harmless.
"The boy, who is from White Plains, and was traveling with his 16-year-old sister, was very cooperative," Philadelphia police Lieutenant Frank Vanore told local media. He went on to say, if anything, the two teens were "more alarmed than we were."
Authorities said that because the whole incident was just a misunderstanding and neither of the teens had a criminal record, they both have since been released and cleared to continue their travels.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Bomb_scare_aboard_plane_caused_by_harmless_prayer_box?dpl_id=149001
TV host Conan O'Brien accepts US$45 million settlement with NBC
After a long night of negotiations, United States television personality and seven-month host of The Tonight Show Conan O'Brien and his network, NBC, have reached a deal that would buy out the contracts of O'Brien and his staff for US$45 million and reinstate Jay Leno as the show's host starting March 1, O'Brien's manager told media on Thursday. In this agreement, O'Brien will walk away with more than $33 million. The rest will be distributed to his staff of over 200 people as severance payments.
His manager went on to say that Friday will be O'Brien's last night serving as host. O'Brien reportedly plans to have an official farewell show with American actors Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell as guests, and with Canadian rock singer Neil Young as the closing musical performance.
As pertains to O'Brien's next move, ABC has said that it is not interested in hiring him. Fox, on the other hand, which lacks a late-night talk show, expressed "appreciation" for O'Brien's abilities—but for now nothing more. Comedy Central has also been mentioned as a possible new network home for O'Brien.
When asked about the issue by the Associated Press, a spokesman for O'Brien said he was currently "unavailable" to comment.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/TV_host_Conan_O%27Brien_accepts_US$45_million_settlement_with_NBC?dpl_id=149008
UK woman convicted of 'mercy' murder of son
A woman has been convicted of murder after killing her son in an "act of mercy". The Old Bailey, a London court, heard that Frances Inglis, 57, injected Tom, 22, with heroin and gave her a life sentence.
Old Bailey
Tom had been injured in a street fight in July 2007 and was put in an ambulance depite his desire not to be hospitalised. The ambulance door was opened three times; the third time Tom jumped out and sustained injuries that left him in a coma. He became mute and dependant on 24-hour care. His only method of communication was to squeeze a hand.
Frances was told that if she wanted Tom to die legally then she could ask the High Court to allow his food and water to be withdrawn, so that he would starve to death. Frances told the court "I know Tom – no way would he have wanted to live totally dependent. I can remember saying I felt I would rather he go to heaven than to hell on earth. I know Tom would not want to live. He had lost his life."
"I couldn't bear the thought of Tom dying of thirst or hunger," she said of the idea of food and water withdrawal. "To me that would be so cruel, so cruel. To die slowly like that would be horrible." Instead she used the Internet to research Tom's condition and concluded that a heroin overdose would be the most painless method available. A learning disabilities worker with no convictions, she concluded two grams was sufficient to kill and began spending time in areas she believed drugs were on sale – outside the local station, job centre and needle exchanges.
Frances was determined to release Tom from his "living hell" and said she had "no choice" in the matter. "I asked myself what I would want," she said. "I would want someone to love me enough to help me die. That's why I thought heroin – a painless, peaceful death." She obtained her two grams and stole syringes from Tom's hospital before injecting him, but he was revived by nurses and she was charged with attempted murder. She was bailed but barred from contacting her son.
Fourteen months later she obtained access to Tom by posing as his aunt and placed superglue in the lock of his door, further barricading it with an oxygen cylinder and a wheelchair. It took staff thirty minutes to break in, by which time Frances had injected one of Tom's arms and both his thighs with heroin. This time he died.
Frances had left a letter to her family in which she talked of her concerns for her other two sons and dog, as well as the running of the house, expecting a murder arrest. On one bed she left a photograph of Tom as well as a prayer written by his girlfriend. Police also found older letter by Frances, one of which read "People keep saying Tom is not suffering. How can they know how he feels?"
She was asked if guilty of murder and attempted murder, to which she responded "I don't see it as killing or murder. The definition of murder is to take someone's life with malice in your heart. I did it with love in my heart, for Tom, so I don't see it as murder. I knew what I was doing was against the law. I don't know what name they would call it but I knew that the law would say it was wrong. I believed it would have been Tom's choice to have been allowed to die rather than have the intervention to keep him alive."
The jury "could not have had a more difficult case," according to Judge Brian Barker, but he told them nobody was allowed to override the law. Ten members of the jury agreed, but two sided with Frances, leaving a conviction by majority verdict. The jury foreman was greeted by cries of "shame on you" from France's relatives, for which they were ejected from the building. "We can all understand the emotion and the unhappiness that you were experiencing," Barker told Frances, later adding "You knew you were breaking society's conventions, you knew you were breaking the law, and you knew the consequences." He ordered her to serve a minimum of nine years.
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Should the law be changed?
"What this case and a number of others have exposed," said France's eldest son, Alex, "is a need for a complete rethink of existing laws in regard to people that have been, and will be, in the same position as Tom. How can it be legal to withhold food and water, which means a slow and painful death, yet illegal to end all suffering in a quick, calm and loving way? It's cruel, inhumane and illogical... We have a duty of care to them and we should not allow this situation to continue. It should not be left to a wife, husband, mother, father, sister or brother to have to end their suffering, and be convicted for murder." Detective Chief Inspector Steve Collin, who was in charge of the case, flatly disagreed. "There's no such thing as a mercy killing in law."
"I want to say that all of the family and Tom's girlfriend support my mum 100%. All those who loved and were close to Tom have never seen this as murder, but as a loving and courageous act," said Alex.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_woman_convicted_of_%27mercy%27_murder_of_son?dpl_id=148963
Eight killed in Virginia shooting, suspect surrenders
Four adults, three teens and a child—both men and women—were murdered on Tuesday morning in a mass shooting in Appomattox, Virginia. According to police sources, three of the bodies were found inside a home, and the other four directly outside it.
Later in the day, civilians came upon an eighth victim in serious condition on the side of a road—which led to police being called. However, the man died en route to the hospital. Soon after, authorities identified the alleged shooter as Christopher Speight, aged 39, whom state and local police working in conjunction with the National Guard had surrounded in nearby woods.
The rural area was under an almost complete lock down as a perimeter was established that included hundreds of law enforcement officers and soldiers patrolling the area for the suspect. While being pursued, Speight is said to have fired multiple high-powered rounds at a state helicopter. Although there were no reported injuries, the bullets did rupture the fuel tank forcing it to land.
After an entire night of playing cat and mouse games with police, Christopher Speight surrendered to police of his own volition early Wednesday morning unarmed but wearing a bulletproof vest. Following this, police searched his Appomattox residence where they discovered several explosive devices on the premises.
In a statement to the media, Tom Molinar of Virginia State Police said that bomb technicians and canine units were on the scene. He went on to say that the situation was now under complete control, and that the proper authorities were safely detonating said devices as he spoke.
Christopher Speight is currently being housed in a local jail until charges are officially filed. The Appomattox Sheriff said that although motives for Speight's action are for now unknown, it is believed that he acted alone.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Eight_killed_in_Virginia_shooting,_suspect_surrenders?dpl_id=148880
Scott Brown wins special election for Massachusetts's Senate seat in upset victory
Republican State Senator Scott Brown has won the Massachusetts United States Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy in a major upset victory, becoming the first Republican that state has elected in 38 years. The state senator from Wrentham beat Massachusetts's Attorney General, Martha Coakley, in a closely watched race that many believe may have a nationwide impact.
With higher than expected turnout — despite snow and rain blanketing much of the state — Brown won with 51.9% of the vote, as Coakley lagged behind closely with 47.1% of the vote in a state generally considered to be heavily Democratic. The race garnered national attention when Brown came from behind in opinion polls to take a last-minute lead, leaving Democrats scrambling. Meanwhile, Independent Libertarian Joseph L. Kennedy, who has no relation to the late Senator Kennedy, ran under the Liberty ticket on the ballot and only garnered one percent of the vote with 22,237 votes.
Results by county
Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin predicted earlier in the day that turnout would be 40 to 55 percent. Galvin was quote as saying, “We’ve been in touch with many of our city and town clerks to monitor turnout. They uniformly tell us that turnout is brisk, that interest is strong.”
Galvin added, “We’re particularly seeing a high level of interest in some of the suburban communities. Traditionally cities tend to vote somewhat later. But we have seen a number of communities (with) lines, and people standing in lines, very patiently, in the snow.” His office sent out 105,000 absentee ballots.
Brown's strongest vote came from the suburbs of Boston where independent voters, which make up a majority in Massachusetts, generally live.
Coakley's strongest vote came from the cities, including the capital, Boston, where she won by a large margin, along with Massachusetts' second and third largest cities, Worcester and Springfield. Other large cities that went for Coakley included New Bedford, Fall River, Brockton, Lynn, Salem, and Lawrence.
Wikinews reporter Patrick Mannion noted the turnout at his polling place in Lynn was small to moderate.
Brown has promised to be the 41st Republican senator that will end the Democrats' filibuster proof supermajority and in a ironic twist of fate possibly end health-care reform of which his predecessor Ted Kennedy called "the cause of my life."
Cquote1.svg I’ll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C. And I hope they’re paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken. ... I’m Scott Brown. I'm from Wrentham. I drive a truck, and I am nobody’s senator but yours. Cquote2.svg
—Senator-elect Scott Brown
Coakley called Brown shortly before the election was called for him to concede to him. She then went in front of supporters at Boston's Sheraton Hotel saying, "Although our campaign ends tonight, we know that our mission continues and our work goes on." Coakley continued, "I am heartbroken at the result and I know that you are also, but I know that you will get up together and continue this fight even with this result tonight."
Coakley finished her speech with a slight crack in her voice by quoting Ted Kennedy's famous line from the 1980 Democratic National Convention, "The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."
Meanwhile, at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, Brown gave his victory speech to supporters saying, "I’ll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C." Brown continued, saying, "And I hope they’re paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken."
Brown added, "This Senate seat belongs to no one person and no political party — and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear today, it is the people’s seat." He continued, "The people, by their votes, have now filled the office themselves, and I am ready to go to Washington without delay."
Brown was joined on stage by his wife, Gail Huff, a reporter for local television station WCVB-TV, and his two daughters Arianna and Ayla Brown. Ayla was previously a contestant on the reality singing show American Idol. Brown said, "I rely as always, on Gail's love and support and that of our beautiful daughters."
Brown jokingly added, "And just in case anyone who's watching throughout the country they're both available. No, no. No. Only kidding, only kidding. Only kidding, only kidding. Arianna... Arianna's, definitely not available. But Ayla is. This is Arianna. This is Ayla. I can see I'm going to get in trouble when I get home."
Brown closed by saying, "I’m Scott Brown. I'm from Wrentham. I drive a truck, and I am nobody’s senator but yours."
President Barack Obama phoned both candidates Tuesday night, congratulating Brown on a well-run campaign and saying he is eager to work with him on the urgent problems facing Massachusetts voters and all Americans.
Coakley noted the President's call in her concession speech saying, “He actually just called me before I came onstage to say that we can’t win them all, and he knows that better than any, as he told me. But he appreciates what I did and what you did, and he said to extend his heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked on the campaign.”
Brown's response to the President's call was, "Would you like me to drive the truck down to Washington so you can see it?" Brown was referring to his 2005 GMC Canyon pickup truck which became an icon of his campaign, which featured in commericals portraying him as an everyday, regular joe Massachusetts citizen. The pickup truck was mocked by President Obama when he made a campaign stop on Sunday to drum up support for the lagging Coakley.
This led Brown to quip, "I didn't mind when President Obama came here and criticized me — that happens in campaigns. But when he criticized my truck, that's where I draw the line."
Senator-elect Brown will fill the remaining two years of Ted Kennedy's term. Brown will replace Senator Paul Kirk, a longtime friend of Ted Kennedy who was holding the seat in the interim until the special election was concluded.
The last time Massachusetts elected a Republican was in 1972 when they re-elected Edward Brooke, the state's first African-American senator, to a second term. Brooke first ran in 1966 and was elected then.
However, the seat that Ted Kennedy held, which is the Class 1 seat, was held by a Republican until 1952 when Henry Cabot Lodge lost his re-election bid to Ted's older brother, John F. Kennedy, who would later become the 35th President of the United States. Ted Kennedy won the seat in a special election in 1962 against Lodge's son, George C. Lodge. Kennedy held the seat for 46 years until dying of brain cancer in August 2009.
Google may shut down Chinese operations due to censorship and cyber attacks
The U.S.-based multibillion dollar online search engine, Google Incorporated, has announced Tuesday in a public statement on its official blog that the company has been the victim of a "highly sophisticated" and "targeted attack" against their corporate infrastructure that they allege "originated from China."
The author of said statement, David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, noted that Google was not the only multinational corporation targeted. "As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses—including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors—have been similarly targeted." The names of these other corporations in question have yet to be released. To this end, Google states that they are "currently in the process of notifying these companies," and they are cooperating with the "relevant authorities."
Drummond goes on to say that through a separate and unrelated investigation, Google has additionally discovered that the accounts of "dozens" of Gmail users worldwide who are "advocates" of political and human rights in China "appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties" as well.
However, he affirms that "...these accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers."
As a result of what has occurred here, Google said it has already made significant changes to the security infrastructure of its users' accounts as to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
At the same time, Google advised individual users to use more discretion while online, "We would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords."
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Cquote1.svg We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn...We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China. Cquote2.svg
—David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer
Google launched its Chinese-language search engine, Google.cn, in January 2006. The only precondition to operating in China was that the company had to acquiesce to certain censorship demands from the one-party government. When defending their controversial rationale for operating in the socialist republic, Google said "…that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China, and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results."
Nevertheless, Google has still been widely criticized for this voluntary censorship of search results of topics, such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, movements for Tibetan and Taiwan independence, and the Falun Gong religious movement along with other information considered harmful to the Chinese government. Some feel it goes against and is hypocritical of Google's informal motto, "Don't be evil".
In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Consulate in New York City, Wenqi Gao, said in a phone interview to The New York Times, “I want to reaffirm that China is committed to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of foreign companies in our country.”
In contrast, Sharon Hom, the executive director of Human Rights in China said, "It's a wakeup call for the international community about the risks of doing business in China. The tendency has been for companies to keep their eye just on the benefits of doing business. But the risks are real—The risks are to our intellectual property. The risks are to our values."
Analysts noted that this move has the potential to financially hurt Google, which has a somewhat limited share of the Internet search market in China, which is dominated by the Chinese-based Google-like website Baidu. Google's shares fell just under two percent after hours to US$579.50. Meanwhile, Baidu shares rose five percent to US$406.
Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie said, "The consequences of not playing the China market could be very big for any company, but particularly for an Internet company that makes its money from advertising."
"It will hurt their profits. They get eight to ten percent of their revenues from China," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst for Global Equities Research. "If they walk, they will eventually be invited back into China, because the Chinese people will request that. Openness always wins, but it will take some time."
Tim Ghriskey, the chief investment officer for Solaris Asset Management said, "Clearly not good news for Google and clearly not good news for consumers. You've got to think that eventually Google figures out a way to deal with this. If they do have to shut down their Chinese operations, that they would be able to reinstate them. Hopefully soon. I can't imagine that this would be permanent." He added, "China is a great growth engine for every business. It is a great opportunity for Google as well."
In response to all that has happened and what has been said, Drummond explains that this has "led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."
He goes on to state, "We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
Drummond concludes his statement by trying to assuage the situation the best he can, "The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences…We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised."