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CLEVELAND (AP) — The three women held captive for a decade at a run-down Cleveland house were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, a city councilman briefed on the case said Wednesday.

Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. Police said they were apparently bound with ropes and chains.

The horrific allegations came out as police built a case against the three brothers under arrest: Ariel Castro, a 52-year-old former school bus driver and owner of the house, Onil Castro, 50, andPedro Castro, 54. Charges against them were expected to by late Wednesday afternoon.

"We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome."

Two of the young women, meanwhile, were welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors with balloons and banners Wednesday. The families of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berryprotectively took them inside, past hundreds of reporters and onlookers. Neither woman spoke, and their families pleaded for patience and time alone.

"Give us time and privacy to heal," said Sandra Ruiz, DeJesus' aunt. Ruiz thanked police for rescuing the women and urged the public not to retaliate against the suspects or their families.

The third captive, Michelle Knight, 32, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the women were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearance.

In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, 27, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 dispatcher: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Law enforcement officials left many questions unanswered, including how the women were taken captive and who fathered Berry's 6-year-old daughter.

Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where her comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother.

On NBC's "Today" show, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances.

"We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard.

DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight.

Her father pumped his fist after arriving home with his daughter, and he urged people across the country to watch over the children in their neighborhoods — including other people's kids.

"Too many kids these days come up missing, and we always ask this question: How come I didn't see what happened to that kid? Why? Because we chose not to," he said

Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back.

A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.

The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.

In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge.

Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI.

"We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back.

The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Jesse Washington and Mike Householder and freelance reporter John Coyne in Cleveland; Mitch Stacy in Columbus; Dan Sewell in Cincinnati; John Seewer in Toledo; and news researchers Rhonda Shafner and Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/9/2013 12:47:51 AM
	250,000 People Didn't Have to Die of Famine in Somalia by Kristina Chew May 7, 2013 From 2010-2012, 260,000 people — half of them children under the age of five — died in thefamine in Somalia, a “significantly higher” figure than perished in the 1992 famine when 252,000 people died over twelve months. Severe drought caused a crisis which was made all the worse due to political conflict arising from rival groups in a power struggle, says a new report (pdf) from the United Nations and the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net). The report reveals the “true enormity of this human tragedy” of the famine for the first time and identifies the slow response of international groups as a factor. Speaking from a video news conference in Mogadishu last week, Philippe Lazzarini, the chief U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, made the point that the “famine was almost a silent drama of tragedy” in part because “it was not on the news.” Both agencies and media did not have access to affected areas, in part because of the weak central government and lack of security on the roads. Chronology of the Famine In 2011, an extreme drought affected in the Horn of Africa, resulting in tens of thousands of people abandoning their homes in a desperate search for food. The famine was first declared in July 2011 in Somalia’s Southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions. These were under the control of the militant Islamist group al-Shabab, which is aligned to al-Qaeda. Al-Shabab denied the existence of the famine and prevented more than a dozen Western aid agencies from operating there. The drought caused livestock deaths and reduced harvests, resulting in a lowered demand for labor and declining household incomes. At the same, the poor harvests were driving food prices to “extreme levels.” Regions under the control of al-Shabab were ultimately some of the worst affected in the crisis. In Lower Shabelle, 18 percent of children under five died and in Mogadishu, 17 percent. The famine spread from there to Middle Shabelle, Afgoye and camps for displaced people in the government-controlled capital, Mogadishu. An estimated 4.6 percent of Somalia’s total population of and 10 percent of children under five died in southern and central Somalia. Why Did the World Drag Its Feet to Help Somalia? The U.N. declared the famine over in February of 2012. But as Ben Foot of Save the Children emphasizes, Somalia still has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition and infant mortality in the world. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has emphasized that the international response was too slow and was also a factor in so many dying in the famine. The FAO’s Ruth Van Aaken calls on the humanitarian community to take far earlier action, as she says to theBBC: “Responding only when the famine is declared is very very ineffective. Actually about half of the casualties were there before the famine was already declared.” What needs to be done is to foster development, by “creating jobs, supporting farmers and pastoralists and ensuring trained, accountable security forces,” and to seek international support to do so. Senait Gebregziabher, country director of Oxfam Somalia, asserts that such a “shocking death toll must never be allowed to happen again.” As she says in the Guardian, “Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political failures. The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought, exacerbated by conflict, in Somalia, and people paid with their lives.” To prevent another tragedy in Somalia, we cannot wait until an international organization announces that there is a famine. We have to start now, says Gegregziabher, by involving ”women and men from across Somalia….in a bottom-up process to determine the country’s future” rather than implementing “top down” solutions in which the residents of a country are given aid during the crisis, but not educated and directed to create a sustainable future for themselves. The recent famine in Somalia was, says Fews Net official Chris Hillbruner, “one of the worst famines in the last 25 years.” It doesn’t have to happen again — and we can support efforts like those of Oxfam and Save the Children to work toward this. Related Care2 Coverage Somali Comedian Shot Dead After Making Islamist Jokes Somalia Famine: A History That Cannot Be Allowed to Repeat Itself Why Did Canadians Give Less to Somalia than Haiti and South Asia Disasters Read more: africa, drought, famine, Horn of Africa, Somalia Photo via DFID - UK Department for International Development/Flickr Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/260000-didnt-have-to-die-of-famine-in-somalia.html#ixzz2SkeFPUjH
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/9/2013 9:29:33 AM
	Houston braces for giant snail invasion By Claudine Zap \| The Sideshow – 17 hrs ago It's unclear how the creatures crawled into Texas, but experts warn they can pose life-threatening risks. Video: Houston braces for invasion of giant snails Houston, we have a problem. A giant African land snail has been spotted in a Houston garden, and residents are being warned to stay away from it—and to watch out for others. Texas station KPRC reports that the slow-moving menaces are sometimes carriers of a life-threatening meningitis. It "can cause a lot of harm to humans and sometimes even death," Autumn Smith-Herron, director of the Institute for the Study of Invasive Species at Sam Houston State University, told the NBC affiliate. The monstrous mollusk is the first of its kind known to slime its way into Texas, and no one is sure how it got there. A woman in the Briar Forest neighborhood of Houston found the snail and “notified workers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center who deal with invasive plants,” according to the station. The disease-carrying, freakishly big hermaphroditic snails—they can grow up to almost 8 inches in length and up to 4 inches in diameter—can each lay some 100 eggs per month. In other words, where there’s one, there are likely to be more. These invasive creatures have already been found by the thousands in Florida. The USDA warns that, in addition to carrying diseases, they're the “most damaging snails in the world because they consume at least 500 different types of plants [and] can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco."
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+0

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/9/2013 9:51:39 AM
	Councilman: Cleveland victims were sexually abused By MEGHAN BARR and THOMAS J. SHEERAN \| Associated Press – 12 hrs ago RELATED CONTENT Play Video Raw: Gina DeJesus Arrives at Cleveland Home Play Video Berry's Sister Thanks Supporters, Seeks Privacy CLEVELAND (AP) — The three women held captive for a decade at a run-down Cleveland house were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, a city councilman briefed on the case said Wednesday. Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. Police said they were apparently bound with ropes and chains. The horrific allegations came out as police built a case against the three brothers under arrest: Ariel Castro, a 52-year-old former school bus driver and owner of the house, Onil Castro, 50, andPedro Castro, 54. Charges against them were expected to by late Wednesday afternoon. "We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome." Two of the young women, meanwhile, were welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors with balloons and banners Wednesday. The families of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berryprotectively took them inside, past hundreds of reporters and onlookers. Neither woman spoke, and their families pleaded for patience and time alone. "Give us time and privacy to heal," said Sandra Ruiz, DeJesus' aunt. Ruiz thanked police for rescuing the women and urged the public not to retaliate against the suspects or their families. The third captive, Michelle Knight, 32, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital. The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the women were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearance. In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, 27, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 dispatcher: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now." Law enforcement officials left many questions unanswered, including how the women were taken captive and who fathered Berry's 6-year-old daughter. Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where her comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother. On NBC's "Today" show, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances. "We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard. DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight. Her father pumped his fist after arriving home with his daughter, and he urged people across the country to watch over the children in their neighborhoods — including other people's kids. "Too many kids these days come up missing, and we always ask this question: How come I didn't see what happened to that kid? Why? Because we chose not to," he said Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back. A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year. The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her. In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge. Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI. "We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back. The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women. ___ Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Jesse Washington and Mike Householder and freelance reporter John Coyne in Cleveland; Mitch Stacy in Columbus; Dan Sewell in Cincinnati; John Seewer in Toledo; and news researchers Rhonda Shafner and Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+0

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