Parent Pages new website

The helpful advice of Modeling Camp

Perhaps justifiably, the modelling industry doesn’t have the sweetest reputation.

Just ask 15-year-old Danielle Samuel, who has been told to ‘work on her height’ by a Wilhelmina modelling agency rep.

Visiting New York from Saint Lucia, the youngster was given the sage advice by the international modelling agency as part of her $999 Modeling Camp.

The camp dishes out seasoned advice to model hopefuls, ranging from how to walk a runway to holding poses in front of a camera.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A mother frantically attempted to revive her one-year-old twin boys who tragically died after falling into the family swimming pool.

She found the children in her backyard pool in Visalia, California, and pulled both out before trying to perform CPR on them.

But she was too late and was heard screaming as the twins were taken to hospital, where they died after the incident on Friday afternoon. The mother was at home with her children when she noticed her twins had gone missing and found them in the pool, reported ABC 30.

Firemen believe the one-year-old boys found their way through a sliding glass door and into the pool before they drowned.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Bad weather conditions have disrupted a major search for a Derry teenager who has gone missing in Lough Swilly, County Donegal.

Sean McNair, 17, had been enjoying a birthday celebration when he got into difficulties at Rathmullan pier at about 0130 BST on Saturday.

He had jumped from the pier with a cousin and a friend. Seconds later they heard him call for help.

Then, he was gone.

Efforts to find him have been continuing over the weekend.

The search was called off on Sunday evening in bad weather.

Divers were supposed to go into the water on Sunday morning to search for him. But they could not proceed because of safety issues.

Strong gales and a swell coming in from the Atlantic have been causing bad visibility and hampering the search.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

A schoolboy who ran away from home and lost his memory after being beaten by a gang of street orphans has been reunited with his family – 18 years later.

In 1993 an eight-year-old Ionel Spiridon Andronache vanished from his home in Vulcan, Hunedoara county, Romania, after taking out the rubbish bin.

He finally returned to his family home this week, now aged 26, where his delighted mother welcomed back the son she had given up for dead. She said: ‘He didn’t like his step dad and they had a row – then he vanished.’

Ironel, who had raided his savings tin, bought a train ticket to Bucharest where he was beaten up and robbed by a gang of street orphans.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Feminist author Erica Jong and her daughter Molly have very different ideas about parenting and sex – one famously bohemian, the other conservative. Kira Cochrane meets them

In Erica Jong’s vast apartment, the Manhattan skyline thrusting up to my right, an image of a naked woman sprawling across a wall to my left, we are talking about sex. Specifically, nudity. Erica’s daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, is with us and I’m trying to find out what it was like for her to grow up with a writer synonymous with the sexual revolution – that era of feminism, threesomes, consciousness-raising and beautiful, bountiful pubic bushes.

Molly has made some outlandish claims about her mother in the past, and it can be hard to work out what is true, what is satire. Did Erica really saunter around the house completely naked? “She was totally naked all the time,” says Molly firmly, “and my grandmother too”. She prods her mother for confirmation. “Were you naked all the time?”

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Birth certificate blunder in Spain means British girl can’t get passport or even a bus pass

A teenager is trapped in a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’ that means she may never be able to leave the country or open a bank account – because she does not officially exist.

Aimee Rayner-Okines, 14, was not issued with a birth certificate to prove her identity due to a registering mix-up after she was born prematurely during a family trip to Spain.

The blunder has meant that she is unable to get a passport to go abroad and has even been refused a bus pass.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A teenager on a family holiday was sucked to her death by a swimming pool’s circulation pump after hotel workers forgot to place a safety grille over it.

Sarah Eberhardt, 13, from Germany, was on holiday with her father at the resort town of Slatni Pjassazi on the Black Sea in Bulgaria when the tragedy happened.

‘The pump was so strong that as she swam it had the effect of a whirlpool and pulled her under and sucked her in,’ said a police spokesman. ‘It was a terrible way to die.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

A London independent school pupil has died one day after falling ill with meningitis on her 18th birthday.

Georgia Tait had just returned home from a holiday with friends to the Greek island of Kos to celebrate completing her A-levels and was due to start university in September.

Two days before her birthday she had collected prizes for religious studies and psychology in an awards ceremony at Sutton High School, where she was a house captain.

She died of meningococcal septicaemia – a form of blood poisoning caused by the same type of bacteria associated with meningitis – surrounded by members of her family.

Katherine Crouch, acting head of the girls’ school, said pupils and staff were “deeply saddened”.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

Dozy pair are tired of the attention after rare feat of birth in capitivity

This pigeon pair of Bornean orangutans look too tired to be worried about the excitement, but their birth could be good news for conservation efforts.

The twins were born in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens last Friday, with the male baby weighing 2 kg and the female about 1.4 kg.

This is the first successful breeding of Bornean orangutan twins in Hong Kong, bringing to five the total number of this primate in the Zoo.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Teens in Tech and Appcelerator have announced the first crop of startups accepted into the Teens in Tech Incubator

The incubator was announced at the beginning of 2011 as a way for aspiring teen entrepreneurs to get hands-on instruction and mentorship to bring their ideas to life.

Each team includes up to three members, all of whom are 18 or younger. The teams began their work with Teens in Tech and Appcelerator June 22. The incubator program will run for six weeks at Appcelerator’s Mountain View headquarters. The young hackers and entrepreneurs have been given advice and tutelage from an all-star lineup of mentors and advisors during “office hours” events and workshops

Source: Mashable>> Read full article and comment

A ban on smoking in cars where children are present may be introduced in Wales if a campaign to highlight the issue does not work.

The Welsh Government says it will consider legislation if people’s attitudes do not change in three years.

Anti-smoking campaigners say an outright ban should be introduced now.

But smokers’ lobby group Forest said there was no need for “heavy-handed legislation” as it was common sense not to smoke in a car carrying children.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has outlined his government’s plans to protect youngsters from the effects of smoking in cars.

He said legislation would be “the next logical step” following the ban on smoking in enclosed areas such as offices, pubs and restaurants

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

Schools need to give more support to disadvantaged pupils, according to inspectors in Wales.

Education body Estyn wants schools to target support at children from poor backgrounds, even if they are achieving above average results.

The report calls for a more “systematic approach” to identifying, tracking and monitoring disadvantaged children.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said the education minister was committed to raising standards across the board.

Chief inspector Ann Keane said poverty is the “biggest obstacle” to a good education.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

A father died and his three-year-old daughter was injured when they were hit by an 100mph express train yesterday after walking on to the track.

Police were trying to find out whether the man deliberately walked in front of the train with the child or if it was an accident.

British Transport Police, who were amazed that the child survived, said the incident happened on a foot crossing close to Adwick station, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, at 12.28pm.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

“Let him go or let them operate and take a chance.”

That was the dilemma facing the parents of 13-year-old Lee McMillan after being told their son’s illness had got so bad an operation performed only once before on a child was their only chance he would live.

But that “terrifying decision” to give the operation the go-ahead saved the Merseyside teenager’s life.

Lee, from Litherland in Sefton, had come home from school one Friday in May saying he had a headache. Three days later his mother Tracy Jennings found him having a seizure.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

Detectives investigating the murder of a teenager stabbed to death in a row over a BlackBerry phone have issued a £20,000 reward in a bid to arrest a gang of killers.

Police are hunting a group of masked youths on bicycles in connection with the attack on 15-year-old Negus McClean in Edmonton.

The teenager was attacked by a mob armed with knives and a metal bar as he tried to protect his 13-year-old brother, Elijah.

The pair were chased after they went out for a takeway on a Sunday night in April. Negus suffered stab wounds to his chest and leg and collapsed as his brother wept at his side. He died later in hospital.

Local residents claim Edmonton has been overrun by teenage gangs.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

Parents are attempting to befriend their children on Facebook, but many find their efforts to keep tabs on social network activity are blocked, according to a study of online parenting.

Some 16 per cent of parents surveyed said they had tried to become their child’s friend on a social network.. A third of them were rejected however.
More than half of parents said they monitor their child’s social networking generally by looking their profile, reading messages posted on their wall, and trawling through photographs. A further five per cent said they would make such checks if they knew how and more than a tenth said they set up a Facebook account with the sole purpose of checking up on their son or daughter.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

Morgan Trujillo was heading out on her black horse to round up some cows last week when disaster struck.

The Colorado teen was thrown from the animal and sustained serious head injuries — and to make matters worse, the young ranch hand was alone in the pasture.

Unable to walk or speak coherently, all she could do was scream for help. That’s when an unlikely hero heard the 17-year-old girl’s cries and came running: Her boss and the ranch’s owner, Keith Day, who is blind.

He immediately sprung into action, trying to follow her voice, but was soon stymied by some inclement weather.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A speeding driver has been jailed after admitting he was high on cannabis when he ran over and killed a teenage girl.

Landscape gardener John Page, 35, was driving a borrowed car at up to 43mph in a 30mph area in New Addington, Croydon, on June 26 last year.

Lillian Groves, 14, who was playing in her front garden with her little brother, had stepped into the road to retrieve a ball when Page knocked her over.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

One in five 15-year-olds and many adults in Europe are unable to read properly, shocking new figures revealed today.

The European Commission study also showed the UK is failing to meet EU literacy targets, with boys, children from disadvantaged households and migrants the most at risk of falling behind.

It follows research by the Education Endowment Foundation which concluded the majority of
11-year-olds are unable to read, write and add up properly when they start secondary school.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

More than 100 people – including 30 children – are believed to be dead after an old, overcrowded Russian pleasure boat sank in stormy weather.

Rescuers were scouring the Volga river near Kazan today but officials said there was almost no hope of finding any more survivors. Some 80 people have been rescued.

Divers who went down to the vessel, named Bulgaria, estimated there were about 110 bodies inside, Interfax news agency reported. Survivors said about 30 children had gathered in a room near the stern to play just minutes before the ship sank yesterday.

Today, emergency situations minister Sergei Shoigu said the boat had been overloaded, with 208 people on board. It had a capacity of 120 and was 55 years old. President Dmitri Medvedev said the accident would not have happened if safety procedures had been observed properly. A day of mourning will be held tomorrow, he added.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

Working parents face holiday childcare bills of up to £121 a week following a squeeze on cheap council-run “play schemes” because of government cuts.

Mothers and fathers will be forced to pay as much as £726 for each child over the six week summer break, it was disclosed.

The Daycare Trust, which conducted the research, said the cost of looking after children had soared by as much as 50 per cent this year, landing parents with a “hefty bill”.

More than half local authorities in England admitted there were not enough childcare places this summer – forcing many parents to turn to more expensive private providers.

Anand Shukla, acting chief executive of Daycare Trust said: “We are extremely concerned that play services and holiday play schemes are falling victim to local government spending cuts.

“If families are able to access childcare, then they can expect a hefty bill. Once again, we have seen an increase in the cost of holiday childcare this year. In some regions, costs have risen dramatically since last year, putting a huge strain on families’ summer finances.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

Girl, 14, dies at a sleepover and three friends fall ill after ‘drinking vodka and soda’

Authorities believe a 14-year-old northern California girl may have died after drinking vodka mixed with soda during a weekend sleepover.

Police said paramedics found Takeimi Rao dead on her bedroom floor at around 9am on Sunday.

She had hosted a sleepover on Saturday night at the family’s exclusive gated Santa Rosa home for three of her friends.

All four of them had become ill and vomited several times during the night, but had blamed the sickness on the hamburgers they ate for dinner.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Steve Brown said Takeimi’s mother Aleae Pennette woke up during the night and saw the girls throwing up.

She had cleaned them up and put them back to bed.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Former model and TV presenter Annabel Giles has been forced to sell her home to raise money for her autistic son’s school fees.

Miss Giles – the one-time face of Max Factor and former wife of pop star Midge Ure – revealed that her fortunes were so diminished she was selling her house to send her son Ted to a specialist school.

She has set her sights on the £31,000-a-year Stanbridge Earls School in Romsey, Hampshire – a boarding school that specialises in educating children with learning difficulties.

In a lengthy blog post, Miss Giles said they had been turned down for financial assistance and so she would sell her £500,000 home in Brighton to raise the funds.

She wrote: “I’ve got quite a lot of collateral in it, certainly enough to fund the next two years’ fees. The school has said that once he’s established there, he stands more of a chance of a bigger bursary as other funded children leave.

“I won’t get another mortgage, because I’ve had no earnings to speak of over the last three years. So I’ll come off the property ladder and rent instead.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

She tells her children to do as she says and not as she does.

But the words of mother of 14 Joanne Watson – who receives more than £2,000 a month in state handouts – have fallen on deaf ears.

Her 15-year-old daughter Mariah is pregnant, the father has ‘left the scene’, and the youngster is about to start living off benefits.

Mrs Watson, 40, is raising her giant brood alone after parting from her husband John, 46, three years ago, and breaking up with subsequent partner Craig le Sauvage, 35, last year.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Vicki and Octavia, our mother and daughter agony aunts, answer your questions

My 17-year-old daughter doesn’t make an effort with anything. I know teens are like this to a certain extent, but she has few interests apart from friends and her only aspiration is to ‘marry rich’. We argue about her poor school results and she’s said the only incentive for university would be to get away from me. I’m at my wits’ end – help!
VICKI Clasp these truths to your bosom: (1) the person in despair in your house is not her but you; (2) the person at her wits’ end is not her but you. Congratulations. You successfully raised a daughter to the tricksy age of 17 who is neither suicidally depressed nor anorexic, nor (as the old police courts used to put it) ‘in moral danger’. True, she’s an idle scholar, which is hard to turn around at 17 (try bribery). She’s also a skilled tease who winds you up at will – try love-bombing her in an unengaged, absent-minded way, like Muv in Nancy Mitford’s novels.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

A dyslexic boy hanged himself and said in a note that it was because he had been bullied by primary school teachers eight years earlier.

Laurence Manning’s father, David, accused Chelmsford Cathedral School of a ‘complete cover up with buckets of pious whitewash’ after he alleged a teacher had poked him in the chest.

He said that his sone had been left so upset by the situation that he threatened to self-harm and could not bear to be in the same room, leading his parents to pull him out of the school.

His mother, Marie, 54, told an inquest into his death that Laurence had been suffering from post-traumatic stress and his behaviour changed following the incident.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Teenage girls’ junk food diet leaves them starved of vitamins

A typical teenager probably thinks nothing of a diet packed with pizza, sweets and sugary drinks.

But by that age what they eat is already taking a severe toll on their health, research shows.

Millions of teenagers are dangerously low in key vitamins and minerals, experts have warned – with girls faring worst.

An appetite for junk food is feeding a ‘ticking timebomb’ of disease and ill health, researchers have concluded.

They found teenagers of both sexes were among the biggest guzzlers of salt, alcohol and sugar-laden soft drinks.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

They will be reunited with families

Young couple disappeared for almost two weeks amid fears for their safety
Police praise public for help in tracking down Charlotte, 15, and Luke, 16. Two teenagers missing from their homes for almost two weeks have been found safe and well.

A member of the public recognised Charlotte Ford, 15, and her 16-year-old boyfriend, Luke Jarvis, and called in the police.

Officers in Rhyl, north Wales, acting on the information tracked down the young couple at around 2pm earlier today.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

The mother of a young man stabbed to death after being chased by a gang told today how she wanted to “cuddle” his killers because “they are in pain too”.

Andrew Jaipaul, 21, was hunted down by a pack of up to 25 youths – some believed to be as young as 13 – as he walked near his home in Holloway.

His devastated family revealed that at the time of his murder he had a job interview lined up for the following week and a romantic date for the next weekend.

His mother Joanna, 52, a nurse at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, begged his friends not to take revenge.

Speaking for the first time about his death on June 26, she said: “Although I’m full of pain for my terrible loss, at the same time I feel the need to hold and cuddle my son’s killers because I imagine they are in pain too.

Source: London Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

A teenager has been banned from driving after he drunkenly got behind the wheel of his father’s £1,700 lawn-mower.

Joel Maunder, 18, boarded the 15mph vehicle with the intention of visiting some friends, but saw his journey cut short by police.

The A-level student had driven about a mile from his family’s £500,000 home in the affluent village of Dinas Powys, in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. His blood-alcohol level was found to be more than twice the legal limit when he was stopped on a Saturday night last month.

The sixth-form pupil originally faced prosecution for being in charge of a mechanically-propelled vehicle while unfit – the equivalent of drunkenly riding an electric bicycle.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

They are pictures that don’t so much tell the story as shout it loud and clear.

While Carla Bruni is still yet to confirm her pregnancy, the clingy summer dresses she was seen in yesterday were unequivocal.

The French First Lady showed off an unmistakable baby bump as she strolled with husband Nicolas Sarkozy on a break at the Fort de Bregancon, a presidential retreat on the Mediterranean coast. Alongside his 43-year-old model wife, Mr Sarkozy, 56, adopted a youthfully casual style, sockless and with his unbuttoned shirt flapping in the breeze.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Brave teenager, 15, revives pet Staffie by giving it the kiss of life

Dog nearly drowned when he jumped into river
‘Bronk is one of the family so I had to save him. He is not as bouncy as he normally is but he is on the mend’
A schoolboy who leaped into a river to save his dog from drowning brought his pet back to life by giving him the kiss of life.

Dean Allen, 15, risked his own life to haul his lifeless Staffordshire Bull Terrier Bronk from the water on to the river bank.

But when his pet showed no signs of life, Dean began pumping his chest and breathing into his nose after remembering lessons he learned from attending first aid classes.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A 14-year-old boy who was photographed lying on one of Britain’s busiest railway lines in a ‘planking’ prank was told by magistrates today he could have caused ‘untold grief’ to his family and a train driver.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was featured on the Facebook profile of the York Planking Association lying on the East Coast Main Line with his head on one rail and his ankles on the other.

Planking is a craze for taking photos of people lying down in unusual places and posting them on the internet. It has already been linked to the death of a man who fell from a balcony in Australia.

Today, as the schoolboy admitted a charge of trespassing on the railway, York Youth Court was told that a train came thundering past on an adjacent line as he was lying on the track.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A 14-year-old schoolboy ‘white supremacist gunned down’ a gay classmate because he ‘disagreed with his sexuality’.

Brandon McInerney is accused of shooting Lawrence King in front of stunned students at an Oxnard, California middle school in 2008.

Three years later – and six months shy of legally becoming an adult – McInerney is going on trial on first-degree murder and hate crime charges in the killing of 15-year-old Larry King.

If convicted, McInerney faces 53 years to life in prison.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A massive search for a missing boy was called off – after he was found hiding in a tiny crawl space under his own house.

Josh Miller, 12, had been missing for nine days as more than 100 volunteers scoured the countryside surrounding his home in Pike County, Indiana.

Police said Josh sneaked back into his house to get food and a change of clothing while his parents were out, and even took snacks from neighbours’ homes.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Youngsters, who say they were detained for more than six hours, launch legal challenge in high court

Metropolitan police officers illegally detained children as young as 11 for more than six hours during a “kettling” operation against tuition fee protesters, the high court has been told.

Three of those held last year are challenging the decision by senior officers to contain youngsters – some of whom were wearing school uniforms – among masses of demonstrators on Whitehall.

The case focuses attention on police use of the tactic to prevent groups of people moving through the streets. It has been criticised for its indiscriminate punishment of everyone present.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

A teenager was electrocuted on a railway line after he ran on to the track to retrieve a ball.

Dale Fleckner, 16, died on the tracks between Rock Ferry and Green Lane stations in Wirral, Merseyside, at 6.20pm on Sunday.

British Transport Police said he was was electrocuted by the third rail which runs between the tracks.

He was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital where he died.

It is understood he had been playing football with friends, in cages next to the railway line.

Police are now working to establish the circumstances of the incident, which is currently being treated as non-suspicious.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Campaigners warn figures show a society where abortion is ‘on demand’

More than a thousand girls a year aged under 15 have an abortion, figures revealed.

Terminations are being carried out on youngsters aged just 12 or 13 who have only just started secondary school.

And every year nearly 4,000 procedures are undertaken on girls who have not yet reached their 16th birthday, the legal age of consent.

Campaigners warned that the alarming figures, revealed by the Department of Health, were representative of a society where abortion was ‘on demand’ – even for very young girls who legally should not be having sex.

The official statistics show that since 2002 more than 35,262 abortions were carried out on girls under the age of 16.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Becoming a teenager as a resident of the White House cannot be easy. But as she turns 13, Malia Obama looks to be taking it in her stride.

As the President and his wife hosted an Independence Day barbecue at the White House, the elder of the First Daughters was nowhere to be seen, no doubt celebrating her birthday like any normal teenager with her friends.

But Malia is no rebel. While most young girls might feel a temptation to dye their hair, or experiment with risque clothing, she has never put a foot out of place. In fact, she appears to be increasingly taking fashion advice from her stylish mother.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Police have released the name of a teenage boy who died after apparently jumping into a reservoir.

The body of Patrick Phillips, 15, from Faifley, West Dunbartonshire, was found in Cochno Loch, near Clydebank, at about 1825 BST on Sunday.

Emergency services were called to the scene two hours earlier after he got into difficulties while apparently diving into the water.

Strathclyde Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

Boy murdered by teenagers on a British street had fled Zimbabwe brutality for a better life

A boy of 16 whose family fled Zimbabwe for a better life in Britain was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a ‘tit for tat’ row between schools, it emerged last night.

Yemurai Lovemore Kanyangarara was knifed in the neck as he stepped off a bus with a friend in what some detectives have described as one of the most brutal murders they have investigated in 25 years.

Minutes before the attack, his assailant had been seen showing off a knife on a bus to a friend who said: ‘I cannot wait to see this.’

Police believe the ‘gentle’ and ‘polite’ teenage victim, who had only taken his GCSEs two weeks earlier, was targeted by a group of yobs in a revenge attack.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Teenager Joshua Stewart used to get bullied about his hunchback.

Now just 12 months after a major operation the 17-year-old is preparing to leave his tormentors in the dust by saddling up for a gruelling 400 mile leg of the Tour de France.

The youngster, from Alderholt, has signed up for the Etape du Tour, a stage of the bike race which is open to the public.
Joshua was devastated when he was diagnosed with the debilitating spine condition scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, a year ago and faced a future of pain.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

An 11-year-old boy has been charged with murder after his six-year-old brother was shot in the head.

Andrew Frye died from a single gunshot wound after he was left alone with his older brother at their Indiana home.

Officials said the alleged killer is the youngest person to be charged with murder in the state of Indiana for 90 years. The two boys were home alone last Thursday when the older boy called emergency services to report the shooting.

When police arrived at their home in Martinsville they found Andrew in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. A .22 rifle was found in the home.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A 13-year-old boy charged with raping a five-year-old boy has been released on bail.

The south Belfast teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, did not appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday.

He is charged with raping his alleged victim on two occasions this year.

He was granted bail on the condition that he has no contact with other children, will not leave home without a parent or be left home alone.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

Celebrities like Lady Gaga and Rhianna wear them and some shops are merrily selling them for just $20.

But a 14-year-old girl found out the dangers of non-prescription coloured contact lenses after developing an eye infection just a day after wearing them.

Now Erica Barnes, from Queens, New York, may have to undergo a cornea transplant after the cheap contacts scratched the surface of her right eye, causing an infection. The teen admits that she fell asleep with the lenses in, causing a breeding ground for bacteria.

‘Once that protective barrier is defeated, bacteria can just flow in,’ Dr Roy Chuck, professor and chair of ophthalmology at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, told Good Morning America.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A 16-year-old girl who had experimented with “almost every” drug probably stabbed her father to death before turning the knife on herself, an inquest heard yesterday.

Margaret Pierides was thought to have attacked her father, Costas, 48, with a kitchen knife at their £600,000 home. The inquest at Chelmsford Crown Court heard that she had “gone off the rails” in the weeks before the violence at their detached home in the village of Sible Hedingham, Essex, on Sept 11 last year.
Det Ch Insp Godfrey O’Toole told the inquest that he suspected Margaret had suffered a “catastrophic breakdown”.
The inquest heard that Margaret’s mother, Bernadette Bass, heard Mr Pierides telling his daughter to “stop it, I love you, I love you,” as she walked into the kitchen. Miss Bass “wrestled” a knife out of her daughter’s hands before rushing off to get help. When she returned to the kitchen she found her daughter with a knife sticking out of her stomach.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

Navy chief’s son, 12, dies in hanging accident at home

A twelve-year-old boy has been found hanged in an apparent accident, it was revealed yesterday.

Grammar school boy William Lippell Stanesby died at the family home shortly after returning from school. Police refused to reveal further details of how William died but said they were not treating the case as suspicious.

Parents David Stanesby, 62, a prep school bursar and ex-Royal Navy commander, and Sabrina Lippell, 55, a Royal Navy reservist commander, said their son had dreamed of joining the Army or the Royal Marines, adding: ‘He had so many things planned and mapped out to live life and make other people happy.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A 16-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in south-east London, Scotland Yard has said.

Police were called at 1700 BST to reports of a stabbing in Upper Wickham Lane, Welling.

The boy was taken to a south London hospital where he later died. Police believe they know his identity but his next of kin are yet to be informed.

A man has been arrested and remains in custody at a south London police station.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Officers attended and a 16-year-old boy was taken to a south London hospital where he died at 1810 BST.”

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

A five-year-old boy has shot and badly injured his four-year-old friend at an apartment complex playground in Maryland.

Neighbours carried the wounded boy into the building, while the five-year-old ran off with the weapon and hid in his family’s apartment.

Hillcrest Heights police are now investigating how the little boy managed to get hold of the gun, believed to be a 0.22-calibre pistol.

The two boys, who both live in the complex, had been playing happily in the playground when neighbours heard a loud boom.

Ebony Webb rushed downstairs to discover the five-year-old had shot his four-year-old playmate through the chest.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Teenage mugger foiled by woman, 63, as he tries to snatch her bag

Sadly for him, she’s an ex-bouncer
‘I’m a pussy cat really and I’m not very strong but I won’t have a man grab my bag.

When a teenage mugger spotted pensioner Elizabeth Bonson he must have thought snatching her handbag would be easy pickings.

However, what he didn’t bank on was his chosen victim being a ex-nightclub bouncer who not only refused to let go of her bag but launched an attack on the yob.

The 63-year-old, who has been praised for her bravery, was grabbed from behind as she walked in Kendal town centre in Cumbria on Saturday morning.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment