Mickeys

Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school’s toilets.

Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood

Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.

Some parents are furious at what they say is a “total invasion of privacy” and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.

One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.

She told the Sunday Mercury: “She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl’s toilets but we didn’t know anything about it.

“You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision.”

Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.

Privacy campaigners warn of the psychological effects of overuse of CCTV

School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: “It’s to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now.

“We had a parents’ forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied.

“We’ve found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure.”

But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.

Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: “Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else.

“We’re raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not.”

Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.

The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children’s privacy.

Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.

Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.

In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent’s consent.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.

story from SkyNews

Pretoria – With only 93 days to go before the start of the 2010 World Cup, residents of Mamelodi-East near Pretoria during violent protests on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the tournament.

They are demanding that the government immediately supply them with houses, electricity, running water and flushing toilets.

“If the government could spend millions of rands and prepare for the World Cup so quickly, it’s a disgrace that people are still living in squalor in squatter camps,” Vusi Nkosi, a resident, said on Tuesday.

A schoolgirl armed with stones walks towards a police vehicle in Tsamayaweg, Mamelodi-East.

“The soccer means nothing to us because we won’t be able to watch it anyway, since we don’t have electricity.

“This time we will fight and toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us.”

Over 6 000 people live in seven squatter camps in close proximity to each other in Mamelodi-East.

Riotous residents have been blockading Tsamaya Road, Hector Peterson Street and Hans Strijdom Avenue with burning tyres and rubbish since 20:00 on Monday.

On Tuesday the police repeatedly tried to disperse the crowd by firing rubber bullets at them and firing live rounds in the air.

Several people were hit by rubber bullets.

Johannes Maheso, police spokesperson, said four men were arrested.

This protest followed similar demonstrations in Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and Brits.

Veronica Mphahlele, a community leader, said the government promised in 2000 that they would be given permanent houses and land of their own.

“It’s 10 years later and we’re still in the same position. All they do is send police to come and shoot at us.”

The residents are accusing council members, the police and the metro police of illegally selling land and houses intended for the poor to enrich themselves.

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He loved him and was a big fan of his music, but now this musician had robbed them of their little boy, said a grieving Joyce Ntoga, aunt of Prince Mahube, 17, outside the Kliptown mortuary in Soweto, moments after she and other family members identified Prince’s body.

Phumelelo Masemelo's mother, Mameetse, lies in bed with a photograph of her son next to her.

Prince, Phumelelo Masemelo, 16, Mlugisi Cwayi, 17, and Andile Mthombeni, 19, died on Monday after musician Molemo Maarohanye, better known as Jub Jub and his friend Themba Tshabalala, drove their two Mini Coopers into the group of children.

The four friends died on the scene while two other schoolchildren, Fumani Mushanana, 17, and Frank Mlabo, 18, were seriously injured and taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

One of the boys is currently in a coma.

Maarohanye – who had also been a contestant in Survivor SA: Santa Carolina – and Tshabalala were apparently drag racing when the accident happened.

Blood samples were taken to determine whether the men had used drugs.

Police were still waiting for the lab results, said police spokesperson Inspector Kay Makhubela.

According to metro police spokesperson inspector Edna Mamonyane, breathalyser tests showed that Tshabalala’s blood alcohol levels were twice over the legal limit and Maarohanye’s was under the legal limit.

Family, friends and bystanders reacted with shock and anger on Wednesday.

“He was such a clever boy and wanted to become an architect.”

“He always told his mother: ‘Give me only two years and I will change this little house of yours. Jub Jub robbed us of him and he loved Jub Jub so much,” said Ntoga.

Prince’s mother, Janette Mahube, was too shocked to talk to the media.

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Police are quizzing six people over the kidnap of a five-year-old British boy in Pakistan and believe he will be returned safely within hours, Sky News has been told.

Sahil's mother Akila Naqqash at her home in Oldham

One of those being questioned is a taxi driver booked to take Sahil Saeed and his father Raja Naqqash Saeed to the airport ahead of their return to the UK.

Sky’ Asia correspondent Alex Crawford said she believed mobile phones stolen by the kidnappers may have been traced by officers.

She added that it was well known that police in Pakistan had a “reputation for brutality” and had been implicated in previous kidnappings.

Sahil, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was taken from his grandmother’s house in the Punjab region on Thursday morning by men wielding guns and grenades.

The attackers subjected the family to a six-hour ordeal and are said to have demanded a £100,000 ransom for the boy’s return.

Pakistani police investigator Raja Tahir Bashir said officers were working on leads.

“God willing, we will recover the boy very soon,” he said, declining to give further details.

Crawford said Pakistani police carried out a series of raids during the night.

“Five men were arrested overnight from different parts of Jehlum and there’s a suggestion that they have some links or at least know the kidnappers.

“That’s on top of a sixth man, a taxi driver, the man who was booked by Raja Naqqash Saeed to pick them up from the house in Jehlum and take them to the airport.”

Referring to corruption in the police in Pakistan she added: “The Punjab police are known for their brutality.

“There’s a level of corruption, not only in the Punjab police but also throughout the entire Pakistan police authority.

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Baby Ashleigh Louw died on Friday, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital clinical manager Dr Pungie Lingham said.

“Sadly, she has passed on,” he said. “Our condolences go out to the family.”

He said she died around midday but could not reveal the cause of death for privacy reasons.

“Baby Ashleigh was very ill and she’s been in ICU [intensive care unit] under very intense management both medically and otherwise,” said Lingham.

Ashleigh had an operation on January 17 after being born on January 9 with her heart outside her chest, covered only by a thin layer of skin.

The condition is known as Pentallogy of Cantrell which occurs in one in a million babies.

taken from News24

Two children died and 85 people were hurt – eight of them seriously -when a goods truck ploughed into a busload of schoolchildren in Polokwane on Friday morning, said police and paramedics.

The truck driver told police the vehicle’s brakes failed after he exited the N1 highway outside Polokwane, said Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe.

He hooted to warn motorists at the intersection of Church street and the Tzaneen bypass.

The truck hit a panel van, then a minibus, then a bus, which overturned onto an Opel Corsa, said Ngoepe.

He said there were 70 children on the bus and more in the minibus. All were pupils at the nearby Dihlathaneng Primary School and had been on a school educational tour.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said five children were trapped in the minibus. The jaws-of-life were used to extricate them. Two of them died. Both were 10 years old.

All the patients were stabilised in a disaster treatment centre set up on the scene before being taken to various hospitals in the area, he said.

Ngoepe said no arrests had been made. People were investigating a culpable homicide.

taken from News24

The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger says Jon Venables is “back where he belongs” after the killer was returned to jail.

James Bulger was snatched from a Liverpool shopping centre

Denise Fergus posted her reaction on Twitter saying she “would like to let everyone know Jon Venables is were he belongs tonight behind bars is this my sons justice (sic)”.

Mrs Fergus’s reaction came as the detective who led the murder probe urged authorities to reveal why Venables, now 27, was back in jail.

Former Detective Superintendent Albert Kirby told Sky News: “I think it would help to clarify things and put this to rest once and for all if the public had some indication what he did.

“I’m not talking about where he is or details like that but the reason why his parole has been revoked and why he’s back inside.”

The Ministry of Justice confirmed Venables has been returned to an unnamed jail for breaching the strict terms of his release.

Family members said Mrs Fergus remains unaware of the nature of Venables’ breach. The precise details were not given by the MoJ.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said it was not in the “public interest” to release more details.

Mr Kirby said Mrs Fergus was suffering renewed anxiety over the news and was “very upset”.

His comments were echoed by Mrs Fergus’s husband Stuart on Twitter. He said: “Thinking when will this all end for my wife.”

Venables was just 10 when he and Robert Thompson abducted and battered the two year old to death in a crime which shocked the world.

He was released on a life licence in 2001 but was recalled to custody last week after the breach.

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A newly released file on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is “gold dust” and could lead to a breakthrough, her parents’ spokesman has said.

CCTV of the girl spotted in New Zealand

Clarence Mitchell told Sky News it was disgraceful that information about possible sightings of Madeleine has only emerged now after sitting in a box since 2008, when the case was closed by Portuguese police.

“The McCanns have been tearing their hair out for a long time, they’re very frustrated this information has been sitting in a file since July 2008,” he said.

“This information is gold dust to them. Kate and Gerry need all of it and they want a full review of all the information it contains.

“Our investigators are working at times with one hand tied behind their back.

“Any leads must come through Portugal but they must come to Kate and Gerry.

“Our investigators will now work very hard and three years on it will hopefully lead to the breakthrough Kate and Gerry have been waiting for.”

Sky’s crime correspondent Martin Brunt said the McCanns first became aware of the file after they won a court battle to ban publication of a book that claimed their daughter was dead.

It was during this case that the detective in charge of the case admitted that new information had come in since the investigation had been closed but was sitting in a box marked “not relevant”.

The new evidence is available because four newspapers applied to the state prosecutor in the Algarve.

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A swimming coach who faces charges of sexual assault has been released on R5 000 bail after appearing at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The 59-year-old man was arrested after a private investigator was hired when several children at his swimming school – which he ran with his wife – started showing signs of sexual abuse, The Times reported on Sunday.

He is alleged to have attempted suicide after the story of his arrest broke.

At the bail hearing on Wednesday, his lawyer is said to have told the court that the case had been pending for 18 months and he was no longer a threat to any of the children, Angie Chislett, a teacher from a Durban, school told News24.

“He was taken to hospital, and suffered from diabetes and stress,” she said. “His lawyer said he was too sick to be in jail.”

Chislett said they were yet to be informed of further court dates.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Jay Naicker confirmed to News24 that the man appeared at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, and was released on R5 000 bail.

“The case has been remanded for April,” he said.

taken from News24

Three teenage girls have been hit and killed by a train on the tracks of a rail bridge in Florida.

Emergency vehicles at the scene. Pic: Florida Today

A fourth teen, a boy, had gone ahead of the girls and made it safely to the other side when he saw the train approaching.

Following the tracks was the only way off the trestle bridge, which spans a creek in Melbourne, Florida.

Police said the boy shouted to the girls, warning them to go faster – but they failed to reach the end in time and were hit from behind.

“At this time it is unknown why the juveniles were walking on the train tracks,” Lieutenant March Claycomb said.

A nearby level crossing had to be closed for several hours, causing cars to be diverted around the accident scene, reports said.

Lt Claycomb said the victims have not yet been named as officers were still trying to contact next of kin.

The city’s police department along with the Florida East Coast Railway Police are investigating the accident.

Local resident John Vallee told Florida Today: “I was watching TV and I heard the train hit its emergency brakes and heard all the cars start slamming together, so I was curious to see what was going on.”

He said he walked up to the guarded crossing and saw a body near the first carriage.

“It’s going to be hard for me to get to sleep,” Mr Vallee said. “I can’t get it out of my mind.”

taken from SkyNews

A 4-year-old girl and her 18-month-old brother drowned in Florida, Roodepoort, on Sunday morning, as she was presumably trying to save him.

Pool safety

The boy was first to fall into the swimming pool and his sister apparently also fell in when she tried to pull him out.

The children’s mother was visiting a tenant on the property. The swimming pool was not fenced in or covered.

Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Nana Radebe said it was not clear what had happened exactly and the mother was too traumatised to provide details.

“We tried to revive the children but they were declared dead on the scene.”

Radebe pleaded with people to cover and fence their pools and also to keep the gate locked.

When Beeld arrived at the house on Sunday afternoon, only the owner of the house was at home. Ameenah Thomas, 34, said she was not at home when the children drowned.

“We came back from Cape Town and saw all the emergency services vehicles standing here. I at first thought there had been a burglary,” she said.

The bodies of the children were already in body bags when Thomas arrived. “The mother was devastated,” she said.

“The tenant’s husband said he heard screaming. One of the children was floating in the swimming pool. They pulled out the child and the neighbours helped to pull out the other one,” said Thomas.

taken from News24

The dramatic arrival of baby born at the doors of a hospital has been captured on CCTV footage.

The couple race through the first set of hospital doors

Caroline eech, 32, and her husband Mike raced to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester for the birth of her third child – just in the nick of time.

As Mrs Meech stumbled into the foyer in the early hours of Tuesday last week, she found herself simply unable to take a step further and fell to the floor in the last stages of her labour.

Adding an element of the ridiculous to the situation, Mrs Meech found that every time she gave a push, the automatic doors would slide open.

Happily midwives came to her aid and within ten minutes her daughter Alice Harriet was born – just inside the doors, by the water cooler.

She weighed in at a healthy 8lb 3oz.

Mrs Meech, of Chandler’s Ford, near Southampton, told the Southampton Daily Echo: “I knew the baby was coming so I told Mike to take me to hospital. My waters broke in Hursley and I saw her head coming down, so I said ‘drive faster!’

Mrs Meech is felled by her contractions and sinks to the floor

“We screamed into the car park, managed to find a space. I was worried about leaving the car doors open.

“I pressed the buzzer and just made it through the double doors. The midwives came running down. They tried to persuade me to get in a wheelchair. But there was no way I could move.

“They asked me to move forward because every time I pushed, the automatic door opened. It was a comedy situation.

“Mike was brilliant. I was biting his thumb. He didn’t seem to mind. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Mr Meech, 34, who works for IBM, said: “Caroline got in and the midwives came down and they were superb. It was all very exciting.”

taken from SkyNews

Newcastle – “The housemother tried to save us. I saw her entering a burning room to try to save everyone from the flames.”

amily and friends of Sara Allen mourn at the Hope in Christ Home near Newcastle after it was gutted by fire, killing her and 10 others.

This was the explanation from a traumatised 11-year-old after she was found outside the gutted remains of the Hope in Christ safe haven near eNgogo between Newcastle and Volksrust, which was gutted by fire.

At least 15 people died in the blaze.

It would appear at this stage that 13 of the victims were children, of which nine were orphans.

Six children, among them a seven-day-old baby and four adults, managed to escape from the burning house and were admitted to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, said Bhekani Mswane, the acting head of the department of community services at the Newcastle municipality.

According to KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for welfare, Meshack Radebe, who sent senior officials to eNgogo, four residents of the orphanage were still missing on Tuesday afternoon.

Premier Dr Zweli Mhize expressed his shock and horror at the victims’ horrific death.

Two of the victims were asphyxiated when they tried to reach the door of a storage room where they hoped to reach a window, said Mswane.

The other victims were burnt beyond recognition. Most were surprised by the flames while asleep in their beds.

Police said they were informed of the fire at the orphanage at 06:00 on Tuesday.

The orphanage’s nearest neighbour was an elderly man who lives in a shack.

“There was not much that anyone could do to put out the flames,” said Mswane.

The 58-year-old housemother ran Hope in Christ, which was accredited as a safe haven with the provincial welfare department, from her large home in the rural eNgogo area about 20km outside Newcastle.

According to Mswane, her next-of-kin still had to be informed of her death on Tuesday afternoon and her name could not yet be released.

After police arrived, Newcastle’s fire department and other emergency services finally managed to put out the flames. The remains of the victims were discovered in the rubble.

A minibus and bakkie belonging to the orphanage and which were parked next to the building,  were also gutted.

Radebe informed the provincial government’s executive council that the cause of the fire was presumably a gas explosion or electrical fault.

According to Mswane, firefighters could find no obvious cause for the fire and police requested a forensic team from Pretoria to investigate.

Mswane said the 11-year-old said that the “housemother couldn’t do anything.”

Apart from the housemother, another adult woman and her four children were among the victims, said Mandla Ngema, spokesperson for the department of welfare.

The other victims were orphans between the ages of two and 15.

taken from News24

A teenage girl has told how she bashed an attacking shark over the head with her body board until it let her go.

Lydia Ward, 14, was in waist-deep water with her brother at Oreti Beach, on New Zealand’s South Island, when the sea creature grabbed her hip.

The teenager's wetsuit was ripped in the attack

She said she did not notice the shark until the attack was under way.

“I saw my brother’s face and turned to the side and saw this large grey thing in the water, so I just hit it on the head with a boogie board,” Ward told National Radio.

Explaining how she had read about a surfer who fought off a shark attack with her board, Lydia said: “That’s what she did, and that’s what you’re meant to do.”

The siblings fled from the water after the attack.

Lydia added: “I showed Dad and he didn’t really believe me. But then I showed him my wetsuit, with all the blood coming out, and he believed me.”

The girl’s mother Fiona Ward said the shark’s bite had ripped Lydia’s wetsuit and penetrated her skin, but the teen did not need stitches.

Marine scientist Clinton Duffy said the shark was probably a broad-nosed seven gill shark.

The species grows to up to 10ft long and has attacked swimmers at the Oreti Beach in the past.

The last time such a shark preyed on a human there was in 1999, and the young girl victim required 60 stitches, the scientist said.

Lydia, a former competitive swimmer and regular beach swimmer, said she would be sticking to rivers and lakes in the future.

story from SkyNews

A five-year-old girl mauled along with two siblings by a pack of escaped dogs remains unable to breathe on her own, police have said.

A pit bull terrier, similar to the dogs that attacked the children

The girl, whose name has not been released, had been walking with her mother and three siblings along train tracks in California when they were attacked on Monday.

The five dogs had escaped from a nearby garden by digging under a fence, Fontana police Sergeant Jeff Decker said.

One dog, a mastiff, pulled the girl from her mother’s hand “and tossed the child around like a rag doll”, the officer said.

The girl suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and numerous bites.

She remained in a critical condition and was breathing with the help of a ventilator, Sgt Decker said.

Her brother, aged about seven, also needed 237 staples to close a leg wound, he said.

The girl’s sister, thought to be eight, was treated for leg and arm injuries.

Police found the dogs near their home shortly after the attack.

One was shot when it attacked an officer and the other four – the mastiff and what appeared to be pit bull mixes – were taken to an animal shelter, Sgt Decker said.

They have been quarantined until rabies tests are completed and a decision on whether they should be destroyed is made.

The owners could be accused of failing to properly confine their pets, but they were not immediately charged.

“My understanding is they are very sorry about what happened,” Sgt Decker said.

Fontana is in San Bernardino County, about 55 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

taken from SkyNews