Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Pembroke Pines, Florida teenager killed himself Wednesday, November 19, while broadcasting on the live video site Justin.tv. After making suicide threats and being encouraged by Justin.tv viewers and Bodybuilding.com forum members, Abraham K. Biggs, 19, committed suicide by taking an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, which had been prescribed for his bipolar disorder.

Biggs first began blogging about his planned suicide 12 hours before the actual event. He died after taking pills and lying on the bed in front of the webcam. After the broadcast, viewers who apparently thought it was a hoax posted messages such as “OMG”, “LOL”, and “hahahah”.

Hours later, after being alerted by viewers who had noticed that Biggs had stopped breathing, law enforcement and paramedics arrived, discovered his body, and covered the camera. The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office has reportedly confirmed Biggs’ death.

According to Montana Miller of the Bowling Green State University, the circumstances of this case were not shocking: “If it’s not recorded or documented, then it doesn’t even seem worthwhile. For today’s generation it might seem, ‘What’s the point of doing it if everyone isn’t going to see it?'”

Biggs’ sister Rosalind was angry that neither the website nor its viewers reacted soon enough to save him. “They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours,” she said. She described him as “very happy” and “friendly and outgoing.” “On a normal day, you couldn’t really tell that he got as low as he did.” However, he did have relationship problems with his girlfriend, according to a friend.

Mental health professionals have warned about the possibility that other mentally troubled people would copy his actions. According to Dr. David Shaffer of Columbia University, “Any video showing it as heroic or romantic or glamorous could reduce the anxiety people might feel about suicide. It becomes a respectable behavior and lowers the threshold of suicide.” He and other psychiatrists recommend that potentially suicidal teens talk to others and “tell what’s going on.”

Friday, February 1, 2008

United States software giant Microsoft has launched an unsolicited bid to buy Internet search giant Yahoo! for US$44 billion or approximately US$31 per share.

The deal, which is half in cash and half in stock, if accepted by Yahoo!’s shareholders, could create a major competitor to Google, the search giant which currently dominates the Internet search market.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Following a new report into the loss of a Nimrod jet belonging to the UK’s Royal Air Force over Afghanistan the family of one of the victims is seeking a criminal prosecution. Sergeant Ben Knight, aged 25, was among the fourteen killed when Nimrod XV230 crashed in 2006.

Knight’s parents have applied via their lawyers Smithfield Partners to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider evidence contained in a report by Charles Haddon-Cave QC, who is due to appear before the House of Commons next month. The Loss Of RAF Nimrod XV230, A Failure Of Leadership, Culture And Priorities stated that the accident was preventable and that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) made spending cuts a priority over safety. A 2005 review into Nimrod safety was “riddled with errors,” the report found.

Smithfield Partners have also written to the Health and Safety Executive, asking for the MoD to be investigated for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The letter was addressed directly to deputy chief executive Kevin Myres.

XV230 had shortly completed air-to-air refueling on September 2, 2006, when it was destroyed by an explosion. “We had a 25-year-old healthy son, who used to play squash and, to put it bluntly, he ended up as a plastic bag full of bits,” said Graham Knight. “That is something which is very hard to cope with.”

The Knights met Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell in London yesterday. Rammell said he was unable to comment on possible legal action against individuals, but promised to provide answers to other questions posed by the Knights and other families. The Crown Prosecution Service has promised consider the matter, and the Health and Safety Executive said it could not comment this early on in developments. The latest report names five people in the MoD, three with BAE Systems and two with defence company QinetiQ, as responsible.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith, who was born as Vickie Lynn Hogan, was found unconscious in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida in her 6th floor hotel room. One of her attorneys has confirmed that she was pronounced dead at a hospital less than an hour later. She was 39.

Paramedics are reported to have performed CPR on the actress and had to have breathing equipment inserted into her chest after a nurse found her passed out in her hotel room and witnesses say that Smith was receiving CPR while the ambulance took her to the hospital around 2:00 p.m. [EST]. Smith’s bodyguard is reported to have given Smith “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” before paramedics arrived.

“I can confirm that she is deceased. It’s as shocking to me as to you guys. I don’t know what the cause was. This is just tragic and that’s all you can say right now and I don’t know anything further,” said one of Anna Nicole’s lawyers, Ron Rale.

Smith was taken by ambulance to Memorial Regional Hospital and “checked in Monday [to the hotel] at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out tomorrow,” said cafe spokeswoman, Danielle Giordaano.

“Our rescue crews got there, and they were escorted to a bedroom, where they found a female alone in her room and unresponsive. We then began our normal protocol for dealing with a non-breathing individual. The victim never regained consciousness and we continued with CPR and all life-support methods right up until the time we delivered her to the hospital and then the hospital takes over,” said a spokesman for the responding paramedics team. Smith was pronounced dead at the hospital at 2:49 p.m. [EST].

According to Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office investigator, Edwina Johnson, an autopsy will be performed on Smith on Friday and that her death is currently being investigated. Authorities are not yet treating her death as a crime.

One of Smith’s attorneys, Howard K. Stern, is reported to have been staying with Smith in her room, but authorities have yet to locate Mr. Stern. Mr. Stern is identified by TRIMSPA as Smith’s husband.

“He was here with her. I don’t know where he’s at right now,” said Charlie Tiger the chief of the Seminole Police Department also adding that Smith’s 5 month old baby was not with them.

Smith was a spokeswoman for the company TRIMSPA when she passed, and TrimSpa has removed all content from their site for now, shutting it down and posting only a message in response to her death.

“Today, Anna Nicole Smith’s grief stricken and tumultuous personal life came to an end. Anna came to our Company as a customer, but she departs it as a friend. While life for Anna Nicole was not easy these past few months, she held dear her husband, Howard K. Stern, her daughter, Dannielynn Hope, her most cherished friends, beloved dogs, and finally, her work with TRIMSPA. Anna knew both the joy of giving life, and the heartache of losing a child. We pray that she is granted the peace that eluded her more recent days on earth, and that she find comfort in the presence of her son, Daniel,” said the statement on TRIMSPA’s website posted by Alex Goen, CEO and Founder of TRIMSPA.

Smith was rushed to the hospital in November of 2006 after she was suffering from symptoms of pneumonia. Smith’s son, Daniel Smith, died on September 10, 2006 shortly after Anna gave birth to a baby girl 5 months ago.

Smith was shopping for a new boat in Florida and reports say she felt ill and had a fever for at least a day.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

On Thursday, Pakistan’s parliament announced a bill has been passed against the practice of honour killing. Per the legislation, those convicted of honour killing would be imprisoned for 25 years to life.

In the practice of honour killing, men had the right to kill a female relative deemed to have brought dishonour to the family. Thus, murderers could avoid death-for-death Qisas ^{((ar))Arabic: ?retribution in kind} by paying blood money according to Diyya ^{((ar))Arabic: ?blood money} in Shari’a law.

The legislation, which was jointly approved by upper and lower parliament, allows the perpetrator to avoid the death penalty if the victim’s family forgives him, but the convict still faces imprisonment.

Last year, more than 1000 honour killing cases were reported in Pakistan. The legislation was presented as eliminating loopholes from past legislation against honour-killing. Pakistani human rights activist Farzana Bari noted the judge has unrestricted power to choose whether the murder qualifies as honour killing.

Asserting in parliament that 17,000 females in Pakistan have eloped since 2014, Conservative senator Hafiz Hamdulla later told the Associated Press, “They are trying to impose Western culture over here. We will not allow […] We will impose the law that our holy Quran and Sunnah say”.

The parliament also passed an anti-rape law mandating a DNA test. According to Shari’a law, proof of rape calls for multiple eyewitnesses. According to the legislation, the rapist of a minor or disabled person would face life imprisonment or a death sentence.

After the bill against honour killing was passed, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, “Women are the most essential part of our society and I believe in their empowerment, protection and emancipation.”

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Safia Ahmed-jan, the director of the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs for the Khandahar province and an advocate of women’s rights and a strong critic of the Taliban‘s repression of those rights, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside her home in Khandahar city in southern Afghanistan on Monday.

Safia Ama-jan, as she was known locally, is the first woman official to be targeted by the Taliban-led insurgency since it was deposed in 2001.

Safia Ahmed-jan taught at a girls’ school and was a high-school principal in Khandahar prior to the Taliban’s 1996 rise to power in Afghanistan. When the Taliban regime banned education for girls and forbade women from working outside the home, she ran an underground school for girls at her home, said her son Naqibullah, speaking to the Associated Press.

After the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001, Ahmed-jan became the provincial chief for women’s affairs in 2002, when the ministry was established and has since then held that position, worked for women’s rights and particularly, championed the cause of educating girls. Her secretary, Abdullah Khan told Associated Press that among her most successful projects were the vocational training schools she opened in Khandahar, where almost 1000 women were taught baking, tailoring and other skills.

Ahmed-jan has also been fiercely critical of the repression of women during the Taliban rule, in a region that has remained conservative and emerged as a hotbed of the Taliban’s insurgent activity. Her requests for personal security guards and transport went unheeded by the government, according to local media reports, though her nephew, Muhammad Asif told the New York Times that Ahmed-jan preferred to keep a low profile and used a taxi or public transport even though her office maintained cars and drivers.

Ahmed-jan was shot dead outside her house at about 7:30 a.m. local time (UTC+4:30) on Monday, as she left for work in a taxi. The gunmen are believed to have left scene on a motorcycle, and tyre marks have been found by the police, said the provincial governor Asadullah Khaled, who visited the scene of the attack.

Ahmed-jan was shot four times with a pistol, Muhammad Haidar, who worked in her office told the New York Times. Mohammad Nader, the head nurse at Khandahar’s main hospital where Ahmed-jan was taken to, confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that she was shot four times, including once in the head.

She was about 65 years old.

Accounts of the shooting are sketchy, several reports suggesting no one witnessed it. However, one man, identified as Allaudin told Al Jazeera that he saw two men on motorcycles waiting on the road, who attacked Ahmed-jan as she left her house.

A spokesman for the Khandahar governor, Daud Ahmadi confirmed the death and said that Ahmed-jan had died on the spot. An investigation into the attack has begun, and local officials have blamed the Taliban.

Hundreds of men and women, including the Governor Asadullah Khaled were present at Ahmed-jan’s funeral on Monday evening, which took place in Khandahar’s main Shia mosque.

The killing has been strongly condemned by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as aid and human rights organisations in Afghanistan.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said that UNAMA was “appalled at the senseless murder” of a woman who was working to ensure a full and equal part in the future of Afghanistan for its women. He added, “We share the sentiment of the majority of Afghan people who are appalled at this killing.”

Abdul Quadar Noorzai, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) for the Khandahar region told IRIN News that Ahmed-jan’s death will have a “serious impact on women’s activities in the south where women are already suffering from … the deteriorating security and conservative traditions,”.

Fariba Ahmedi, a woman MP from Khandahar who was present at Ahmed-jan’s funeral told the Associated Press, “The enemy of Afghanistan killed her, but they should know it will not derail women from the path we are on. We will continue on our way,”.

Sonja Bachmann, a U.N. political officer who knew Ahmed-jan well told the New York Times that Ahmed-jan “did a good job, she worked in a very low-key way and worked hard to raise awareness about women’s issues.”

Reuters and Associated Press received phone calls, claiming responsibility for the attacks on behalf of Mullah Sadullah, a regional Taliban commander, but no confirmation of the claim has been possible.

Another caller, who identified himself as Taliban commander Mullah Hayat Khan told Al Jazeera that Ahmed-jan was killed because she worked for the government.

The Taliban-led insurgency has stepped up attacks in recent months, killing hundreds of people this year.

Last week, 19 Afghans working for reconstruction projects in the region were killed after their bus was ambushed.The Governor of Paktia province, a close associate of President Karzai, was killed in a suicide bombing on September 10.

Attacks on schools have also been stepped up. According to the Afghan education ministry, there have been 158 attacks on schools this year, compared to 146 last year. The attacks on schools are believed to be due partly to the Taliban’s opposition to educating girls, as well as a way to undermine the Afghan government and it’s reconstruction efforts.

Twelve suspected militants and two Afghan police officers were reported killed on Monday in separate incidents which also left eight others and a U.S. soldier wounded.

“People are scared, of course,” Ahmad-jan’s co-worker Haidar said, “How can we feel secure when the head of our department is killed in front of her house?”