Islam is the real positive change that you need to change for being a better person or a perfect human being, you can change yourself if you read QURAN, IF YOU DO THAT !! you will change this UMMAH, say I am not A Sunni or Shia, BUT I am just a MUSLIM. Be a walking QURAN among human-being AND GUIDE THEM TO THE RIGHT PATH.
Points that will be covered in this show:
1. What is EId 2.Why do we celebrate Eid 3.What are the practices of Eid 4.What do we do during the day of Eid 5.Innocent Children dying in Gaza and other parts of the world 6.Keeping the momentum going all year round 7.Join us and share don't forget to support the Dawah
"Do not let these dark events to stop you from celebrating Eid. It is
our Islamic holiday and it is a day to be happy. Even people in Gaza are
preparing for Eid. We will not let anyone or anything destroy our
special God given day.
May the next Eid be celebrated in free Palestine and Syria. May the next Eid be a celebration free from oppression, violence and persecution for Muslims all over the world. Ameen." Dr.BP
22% left to go to reach the goal don't forget to support! http://www.ummaland.com/fundraising/91/support-the-deen-show/
Eid Mubarak everyone! Here are some tips to make your Eid beneficial:
On this joyous occasion of the coming of Eid, lets not forget that as
we celebrate, we worship. Eid is a day of prayer, remembrance, and
establishing the ties of kinship/friendship. Its also a day of
reflection. So here are a few tips to make your Eid a spiritually
enriching experience:
1. Make it a point to get to the prayer on time
2. Make it a point to listen to the khutbah (especially if you're coming to the salah in Garland so you don't distract me
3. Remember Allah on the way to the Eid prayer with the takbeerat of
Eid. Try to encourage your family to do the same. It is simply awesome
to have a car rumbling with takbeerat on the way to Eid and the kids
will love having a halal excuse to scream.
4. Go home using a
different route as per the sunnah. This is a reflection of you coming in
to Ramadan and leaving as a new person.
5. Take some sweets to
your neighbors and explain to them why you’re celebrating. This is a
crucial dawah opportunity as well as a means of fulfilling their
essential rights upon us as neighbors which is a form of worship.
6. Don’t spoil your Ramadan by celebrating Eid in impermissible ways.
Consider deeply the things that you wear, the parties you go to, etc. It
would be a travesty to incur the anger of Allah upon us right after the
month of forgiveness.
7. Give a gift to someone you love for
Allah. We already know the importance of giving gifts to family but Eid
also provides an opportunity to build a stronger bond with someone who
makes you a better Muslim.
8. Sit with you're family and remind
one another of the plight of your brothers and sisters worldwide. Thats
not to bring the mood down, but rather to be grateful for your Eid in
comfort and to serve as a reminder that prayer for our brothers and
sisters shouldnt stop. May Allah allow them to see better days in this
world and in the hereafter
With that being said, taqabalAllahu minna wa minkum (may Allah accept from us all)!!! By Sh.Omar Suleiman
ذكرت بعض الوسائل المحلية في جنوب فتنام
أن أطباء من نفس المنطقة أن شابة تبلغ من العمر 26 سنة بين عشية وضحاها
تجعد جلدها بشكل واضح و ظهرت عليها علامات الشيخوخة وبدأت تبدو أكبر من
سنها بثلاثين عاما
و لقد وجهت 3 مستشفيات من مدينة ( هو تشي
مينه ) الفيتنامية بعض النصائح للشابة التي تحولت إلى عجوز و المسماة (
لنجوين تاي فونج ) بعدما نشرت بعض الصور لها بعد ان تجعد وجهها لكن لازالت
تحتفظ ببعض قوائم الشباب , لكن حالتها حيرت أطباء المدينة و هذا حسب ما جاء
في أحد الصحف ( تيوي ترى )
و ذكرت أحد التقارير أن مشكل السيدة لنجوين بدأ سنة 2008 بعدما أكلة وجبة تتكون من مأكولات بحرية وظهرت بقعة على وجهها.
و قد وصف لها الأطباء دواء للأكزيما , لكن
وجهها تضخم بعدما تناولت هذا الدواء لمدة أسبوع .. و بدأت علامات الشيخوخة
تظهر على جلدها بالكامل
وقال زوج السيدة الذي يبلغ من العمر 34
سنة " عندما تزوجنا كانت فتاة جميلة " و أضاف " بصراحة من الصعب أن أتحدث
على أمور زوجية " و لكن يجب أن تعرفوا أنني ما زلت أحب زوجتي.
آخر تحديث
:Saturday 26 July 2014 11:16 مكة المكرمة
نقلت
وكالة الأنباء الفرنسية عن بيان لجيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي أن اثنين من
جنوده قتلا في معارك دارت في غزة الجمعة، لترتفع حصيلة الخسائر البشرية
التي أعلنتها إسرائيل منذ بدء عدوانها ، إلى سبعة وثلاثين قتيلا بين
جنودها. وأضاف جيش الاحتلال أن اربعة عشر جنديا آخرين أصيبوا خلال معارك في
غزة أمس.. وتعد هذه أكبر حصيلة للقتلى في صفوف جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي ، منذ عدوانه على لبنان عام الفين وستة.
يأتي
هذا بينما أعلنت كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام الذراع العسكري لحركة
المقاومة الإسلامية " حماس " أنها استهدفت اليوم طائرة حربية تابعة لجيش
الاحتلال في أجواء مدينة غزة وأصابتها إصابة مباشرة. وقالت الكتائب
في بيان لها إن إحدى وحدات سلاح الدفاع الجوي التابعة لها تمكنت من استهداف
طائرة حربية إسرائيلية من نوع " إف15" وذلك أثناء إغارتها على مدينة غزة. وأكد البيان إصابة الطائرة الحربية إصابة مباشرة، ما أدى إلى اشتعال النيران فيها. وهذه
هي المرة الثانية خلال العدوان التي تعلن فيها الكتائب استهداف طائرة
حربية وإصابتها، حيث كانت المرة الأولى قبل أيام في أجواء مدينة دير البلح
وسط قطاع غزة. وفي سياق متصل، قصفت كتائب القسام، مدينة تل أبيب مساء
اليوم، بثلاثة صواريخ. وأكدت في بيان أنها تمكنت مساء اليوم من قصف مدينة
تل أبيب بثلاثة صواريخ من نوع " ام 75 " . من جانبها، أعلنت سرايا القدس الذراع العسكري لحركة الجهاد الإسلامي أنها قصفت مساء اليوم مدينتي تل أبيب واسدود. وقالت
السرايا في بيان إنها قصفت مساء اليوم ولأول مرة المفاعل النووي " تسوراك
" الواقع جنوب مدينة تل أبيب بصاروخ من نوع" براق 70 " .. مضيفة أنها قصفت
كذلك ميناء اسدود الاستراتيجي بصاروخ من نوع جراد. وعلى صعيد العدوان
الإسرائيلي المتواصل على قطاع غزة، أعلن مساء اليوم عن استشهاد 3 فلسينيين،
في قصف إسرائيلي طال محافظتي خانيونس ورفح، جنوب قطاع غزة. وذكرت
مصادر طبية أن مواطنين استشهدا في قصف المنطقة الحدودية القريبة من معبر
رفح البري، عرف منهما: محمود حسونة، وجرى نقله إلى مستشفى أبو يوسف النجار
في مدينة رفح. كما استشهد المواطن ياسين مصطفى الأسطل في قصف إسرائيلي لمنطقة السطر الغربي في محافظة خانيونس جنوب قطاع غزة.
Healthcare reform
is President Obama's signature piece of domestic legislation, and also
his most controversial, with strong political opposition and continuing
legal challenges. But millions have signed up for "Obamacare" in its
first year, gaining access to medical care they previously could not
afford.
Liberty Sizemore leans back in her chair and beams. The
26-year-old filling station cashier has just been told her enrolment in
Obamacare is complete.
Now she can have her first routine doctor's appointment for seven years.
"I am so happy," says Sizemore as she waits at the Grace
Community Health Centre in Clay County, Kentucky, "I've not had
insurance since I turned 19."
But Sizemore is also nervous. She is seriously overweight and
was warned in her teens that she was likely to develop diabetes.
Without health insurance she has not been able to afford tests or
check-ups to see if she has indeed got the disease.
"I'll go to the hospital only in an emergency," says
Sizemore, who is still paying off the $10,000 bill for removing her
appendix two years ago.
“Start Quote
The president is not all that popular in the state - so we don't talk about Obamacare”
"That's what's on my credit card right now," she sighs, "hospital bills."
Sizemore is one of 421,000 people in Kentucky who've signed
up since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, widely known as
Obamacare, came into force last October.
Like many, she now qualifies for Medicaid, the government
programme that pays for health care for the poorest Americans. Under the
new law, the federal government offers states money to expand Medicaid
so that many more people on very low wages, like Liberty Sizemore, are
covered.
There are also federal funds for new state insurance
exchanges where Americans can shop for private plans. Some plans are
heavily subsidised by the government, depending on the applicant's
income level.
Kentucky is one of a minority of states - and the only one in
the South - to have taken Washington's money and embraced all the
reforms.
But it has done it without embracing the man after whom they are named.
"The president is not all that popular in the state," says
Democratic Governor Steven Beshear, pointing to Mr Obama's 34% approval
rating in Kentucky (eight points below the latest national figure
reported by Gallup). "So we don't talk about Obamacare," he explains.
Instead, officials talk enthusiastically about Kentucky's own insurance exchange, Kynect.
The governor believes the strategy has paid off. "They came
in droves to sign up on the first day and it's been that way ever
since."
And yet, misgivings about the biggest health reform in the US
in 50 years persist - even among some of those who have benefitted
most.
Hairdresser Sadie Smith has enrolled but, she hopes, only as a
temporary measure. Her family's insurance disappeared when her husband
lost his job. (Most Americans with health insurance get it through their
job, with the employer and the worker sharing the cost.)
As she puts the finishing touches to a customer's hair at her
small salon in Manchester, Kentucky, Smith says she is grateful for
Obamacare. But she is uneasy. "It scares me. The government wants to
control everybody - their finances, their insurance, it all comes back
to control."
Similar sentiments about government control are behind
objections to another Obamacare rule: everyone must have some form of
health insurance or risk being fined.
“Start Quote
They've caused more people to lose their insurance than they helped gain”
Others are angry that private
insurance plans they were happy with are being withdrawn because they do
not meet Obamacare standards. New rules say insurance plans must cover a
broader range of care, including many preventative tests.
"They've caused more people to lose their insurance than they
helped gain," says Robert Stivers, the Republican President of
Kentucky's state Senate. Senator Stivers believes insurance premiums are
going to go up dramatically "because of these mandated coverages".
He also worries about the long-term cost to the state. The
federal government is picking up the bill for the subsidised parts of
Obamacare at the moment. But Kentucky will have to start contributing up
to 10%, starting in 2017.
Unlike many of his Republican colleagues in Kentucky and
Washington DC, Senator Stivers is not calling for outright repeal of
Obamacare. "What we are looking for is a reasonable alternative," he
says. That includes rolling back the expanded Medicaid coverage and
subsidies, and eliminating all the mandates.
But governor Steven Beshear thinks that's unlikely. "We now
have 421,000 Kentuckians who are also voters signed up for the law and
liking what they are getting," he says.
And the Governor suggests opponents of Obamacare face a
predicament. "They want to be critical of the president and his
administration, but at the same time they want those 421,000 votes," he
says, "so they're not going to take away that coverage from those
folks."
Benita Adams may be one of the people the Governor has in
mind. The 62-year-old grandmother lives on the edge of the rolling
Appalachian Mountains in eastern Kentucky. She owns her home but works
two jobs as a dental assistant to make ends meet. She did not vote for
President Obama.
Adams has had no health insurance since her divorce 30 years
ago. A recent heart operation left her with a $67,000 bill. Although the
hospital waived around half of that, she still pays $50 a month to
clear the rest.
"I used to say, if I get hurt just let me be killed because I can't afford to pay any more hospital bills," she says.
But Adams no longer has to worry. Under Obamacare, she
qualifies for a private insurance plan with a hefty government subsidy
that covers the monthly payments in full.
"Everyone was mad over Obamacare but it's just wonderful,
it's really helping people," Adams says as she lists the medical
appointments she has been to since getting insured.
Of course, Mr Obama cannot run for the presidency again. But
if he could, would Adams vote for him? "I'd sure think about it" she
says, "It's the best thing he's done."
Liberty Sizemore, waiting for her blood test results at the
Grace Community Health Centre, feels the same. As the nurse practitioner
delivers the good news, she lets out a long sigh.
Sizemore is close to being diabetic but does not yet have the
disease. Her voice trembles as she says quietly, "That's a lot of
relief." Then as the nurse gives advice on turning her health around,
Sizemore starts to cry.
"I was so worried," she says. "But now I can get better
because I have a doctor. I have a doctor and that's a relief off my
shoulders, more than you can know."
In
Inner Mongolia a new city stands largely empty. This city, Ordos,
suggests that the great Chinese building boom, which did so much to fuel
the country's astonishing economic growth, is over. Is a bubble about
to burst?
A huge statue of the mighty warrior Genghis Khan presides
over Genghis Khan Plaza in Ordos New Town. The square is vast, fading
into the snowy mist on a recent Sunday morning.
Genghis Khan Plaza is flanked by huge and imposing buildings.
Two giant horses from the steppes rise on their hind legs in
the centre of the Plaza, statues which dwarf the great Khan himself.
Only one element is missing from this vast ensemble - people.
There are only two or three of us in this immense townscape.
Because this is Ordos, a place that has been called the largest ghost
town in China.
Most of the new town buildings are empty or unfinished. The rampant apartment blocks are full of unsold flats.
It is a spectacular example of a new Chinese phenomenon, in many cities - unsold flats, unlet shops, empty office blocks”
If you want to find a place where China's huge housing bubble has already burst, then Ordos is the place to come.
The story started about 20 years ago, with the beginning of a great Mongolian coal rush.
Private mining companies poured into the green Inner
Mongolian steppe lands, pock-marking the landscape with enormous
opencast holes in the ground, or tunnelling underground.
Local farmers sold their land to the miners, and became
instantly rich. Jobs burgeoned. Ceaseless coal truck convoys tore up the
roads.
And the old city of Ordos flourished as the money flowed in.
The municipality decided to think big, too.
It laid out plans for a huge new town for hundreds of thousands of residents, with Genghis Khan Plaza at the centre of it.
Ten years later Ordos new town is an empty new city.
And it is merely the most spectacular example of a new
Chinese phenomenon, in many cities - unsold flats, unlet shops, empty
office blocks.
It looks to outsiders as though the great Chinese building boom is over, the real estate extravaganza that shook the world.
Western financial experts who fear a bursting of the Chinese
real estate bubble point out that the Chinese economy is more dependent
on house building than the United States economy was, before the
sub-prime lending bubble burst in 2007.
Many Chinese local authorities seem to have become dependent on the proceeds of big land sales to developers.
In the eyes of the critics, China's housing boom is becoming a disaster.
Well, the authorities in Beijing have taken notice of the
direst warnings. They have been taking official action to rein in the
speculative buying of multiple apartments over the past two years.
Chinese economic commentators seem much less concerned than
the Western doom-mongers. They are still confident that the technocrats
in Beijing who have guided China's 30 years of spectacular economic
growth will soon be able to balance supply and demand in the housing
market.
Many ordinary people who invested in property, have lost money
The same relaxed attitude was apparent in a couple I met in a spacious apartment in Ordos, in the middle of a building site.
They were buying the place as an investment, even though the delivery date keeps on slipping.
It is, of course, only some 25 years since Chinese people were permitted to buy and sell homes at all.
Decades of pent-up demand are still being satisfied as the
great wheel of Chinese urbanisation continues to bring millions of
people in from the countryside to work in the cities.
Right now there are other worries in the Chinese system,
typified by Mr Li, a man I met in Ordos, who had prospered when the
local council bought up the land on which his family's shop had been
located.
He invested the compensation with local private financiers.
It is common practice in China where there is a big grey
market in private loans to private businesses who cannot get money from
the big, official, state-owned banks.
Mr Li's private financier naturally invested the money in
property, and paid him interest every three months at the rate of about
40% a year.
Mr Li had put the equivalent of over $1m (just over £600,000) into such schemes.
For two years they paid out, but last year the interest payments began to dry up.
Then one of the financiers disappeared.
This has become a very familiar story in China now, one that
is making big headlines as some famously rich private finance people
come up for trial on charge of huge financial irregularity. China's 68th
richest woman, Wu Ying, is facing the death penalty for schemes she ran
in her 20s.
At least half of Mr Li's money now seems to have disappeared.
As a Mongolian, he told me he was very angry when it happened
last year. But now his mood has changed to a curious, fatalistic
resignation, quite unlike Genghis Khan.
"Once we were rich, and now we're poor again," said Mr Li, with something like a wry grin.
Vince Acors was in Dubai on holiday when he met Michelle Palmer
A British man and woman have been sentenced to three months in jail in Dubai after being found guilty of having sex on a beach.
Michelle Palmer, 36, of Oakham, Rutland, and Vince Acors, 34, of Bromley, south-east London, were arrested on 5 July.
They were fined 1,000 dirhams (£160; $350) and will be deported after serving their sentences.
Their lawyer says the pair will appeal against the verdict.
A spokesman for the judge said Acors and Palmer would be jailed and then
deported for the offences of unmarried sex and public indecency.
He added that they had been fined for being drunk in a public place.
"The sentence of three months is usual in these cases. We get many cases of this kind," he said.
Acors and Palmer were not at Dubai's Court of First Instance to hear the ruling but had been ordered not to leave the emirate.
'Not happy'
Their defence lawyer Hassan Matter said the pair were upset but not surprised by the verdict.
"They are not guilty but they were prepared for this," he said.
I'm not happy... It's normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offence such as this
He said he was hopeful the conviction would be overturned.
"I think I have a chance in the appeal court. I have 15 days to appeal. I
have to find the reason why the judge gave three months."
Acors and Palmer will remain on bail until their appeal is heard at the court.
Senior prosecutor Faisal Abdelmalek Ahli said he was disappointed at the length of sentence.
"I'm not happy," he said, speaking outside court. "It's very light. It's
normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offence such as
this."
Mr Ahli said he expected Acors and Palmer to serve their full three-month term in a Dubai prison.
"Sometimes people serve half their sentence, but this is so short I expect they will serve it all," he said.
'Kissing and hugging'
The pair were arrested on Jumeirah Beach hours after meeting at a champagne brunch at Dubai's five-star Le Meridien hotel.
A police officer told the court he had warned the pair about their
inappropriate behaviour, but returned later to find them having sex on a
sun lounger.
Palmer, who was sacked from her job in Dubai as a publishing executive
after her arrest, said in a statement she and Acors had been "just
kissing and hugging".
Mr Matter said witness statements, including one from the police
officer, were "wrong" and medical examinations had proved Palmer had not
had sex on the beach.
Friends of Palmer say she has been admitted to hospital in recent weeks suffering from anxiety and depression.
The case has turned the spotlight on the lifestyle of the 120,000 British residents of the United Arab Emirates.
The BBC's Christian Fraser, in Dubai, says there have been concerns
lately that tourists are ignoring the emirate's strict Islamic laws and
that the outcome of this case will be a warning that such drunken
behaviour will not be tolerated in public.
Pauline Crowe, chief executive of UK charity Prisoners Abroad, said the
case served as a timely reminder to people to be aware of local customs
and laws because ignorance would not be accepted as a defence in court.
She said: "As this case illustrates, what may seem like an innocent act
or misdemeanour in the UK can often land people in serious trouble when
abroad."
Zone 9's website has carried pieces critical of the government
Nine
Ethiopian journalists and bloggers held in detention since April have
been charged with terrorism by a court in the capital, Addis Ababa.
They deny receiving financial aid and instructions from terrorists groups to destabilise the country.
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said
the government was trying to stifle opposition and media freedom in the
country.
They all belonged to the social media activist group Zone 9.
Correspondents say Ethiopia has increasingly faced criticism
from donors and human rights groups for jailing its critics - many of
whom have sought asylum abroad in fear of being arrested and tortured in
jail. 'Explosives training'
The three journalists and six bloggers have become known as the Zone 9 bloggers.
They are accused of working in collusion with the banned US-based opposition group Ginbot 7.
"They took training in how to make explosives and planned to
train others," the AFP news agency quotes Judge Tareke Alemayehu saying.
The CPJ called on the authorities for the group's immediate release, saying they had been doing their jobs.
"Expressing critical views is not a terrorist act. Once
again, the Ethiopian government is misusing anti-terrorism legislation
to suppress political dissent and intimidate journalists," Tom Rhodes,
CPJ's East Africa representative, said in a statement.
An award-winning author today reveals that he was abused at a children’s home thought to be linked to a paedophile ring involving an MP in Tony Blair’s government.
In
a moving account, Alex Wheatle, 51, writes of how he was sexually
assaulted by a doctor at Shirley Oaks in Surrey, run by Lambeth council,
South London.
The father-of-three, awarded an MBE in 2008, broke
his silence after an investigation by the Daily Mirror claimed
systematic abuse in the borough was covered up after the Labour MP was named as a suspect.
It
is thought Alex was targeted by a network of abusers who operated in
the same care homes that the rising Labour star is suspected of visiting
in the early 80s.
We revealed how a Lambeth social services boss told police in 1998 that the Blair minister would make lone evening visits to a children’s home run by a convicted paedophile, Michael John Carroll.
The
witness said Carroll later admitted that the politician was a friend
and that he also took boys out of South Vale children’s home in West
Norwood during the 80s.
This is a unit which is believed to have been infiltrated by paedophiles from outside the care system.
In his powerful account, Alex speaks of the sickening abuse suffered by youngsters at Shirley Oaks children’s home village.
Alex,
who arrived at Shirley Oaks aged three, reveals how “strange nameless
men” had access to the home and believes abusers were allowed access
with the full knowledge of staff and council chiefs.
He
writes: “I’m convinced there was a paedophile ring operating in both
South Vale and Shirley Oaks and that the authorities knew about it at
the time but did nothing.”
Alex, born in South London, goes on to call for justice for the victims who have been ignored for decades.
He also implores Home Secretary Theresa May that child abuse inquiries recently announced are “thorough”.
Geraint Lewis
Award winner: Alex Wheatle MBE
Read Alex's chilling first-hand account of his abuse HERE
Sitting
on the well-heeled Kent- Surrey border, Shirley Oaks children’s home
village – administered by Lambeth council – was surrounded by lush,
swerving hills, rushing streams and towering oaks.
At first glance it was the perfect place to raise children, but in 1995, it was shut down.
Fixed
into the encircling wall which still stands near the front gate and
lodge building is a plaque that reminds passers-by of the thousands of
children who once resided there.
Just two minutes’ walk from this
symbolic memorial, one of my good friends took her own life – she had
left Shirley Oaks but she could never leave behind the tormenting
memories and trauma.
Another close friend of mine hanged himself
from a toilet chain in one of the cottages. I know he suffered, but I
don’t know how.
I arrived in Shirley Oaks in 1966. My first
memories were filling in coal buckets and getting beaten up with wooden
hair brushes, belts and hard-soled shoes. Suffering violence was as part
of my day as eating toast.
As I grew a little older I heard tales
of appalling abuses from friends who had been processed at the South
Vale assessment centre in West Norwood before arriving at Shirley Oaks
for so-called long-term care.
Phrases like “bummed” filled their vocabulary.
Sometimes
we would see strange nameless men within the Shirley Oaks grounds. One
of them manipulated himself into our cottage, sleeping overnight in the
sofa bed within the office. We were told to call him Mark and he said he
was a swimming instructor.
He targeted the boys in our cottage
but also facilitated swimming lessons for other lads in the pool within
the grounds as well as private clients. At these sessions he was the
only adult present. There were no CRB checks in those days.
It was
only decades later that he was jailed for his disgusting crimes
following the Operation Middleton investigation. I’m still unsure if all
of his victims came forward.
While all this happened, I did my
best to survive. Before I left the primary school that was situated
within the complex, I was labelled “maladjusted”. I didn’t even know
what the word meant.
I was referred to a doctor. The first thing
he told me to do was to strip naked. I stood there traumatised, unable
to utter a sound as he sexually assaulted me. I wanted to ask my friends
if they had suffered something similar but couldn’t bring myself to do
it.
As I began my secondary education there were still odd,
nameless men walking the grounds at night. Sometimes you would see them
during the day. One drove through the village in an orange mini with
blacked-out windows. He claimed he was a football coach but the only
skill he possessed was managing to fit inside his tight shorts.
PA
Honour: Alex Wheatle is made an MBE by The Queen
He would arrive at a game and take younger boys away to a
secluded part of Shirley Oaks where it was assumed he was giving them
extra training. Nobody that I knew wanted to discuss these issues with
any social worker for fear of being moved away to somewhere even worse.
Indeed,
one of my house-mates was taken away for objecting to what was taking
place within our household. She came back months later traumatised. She
wouldn’t talk of it. Also, we all heard that a member of Shirley Oaks
staff had raped a defenceless girl. Fear was a constant companion. At
least in Shirley Oaks we had our friends – if that was taken away, we
would have nothing.
If you were fortunate enough to have a family
member come and see you, social workers or officers in charge would
sometimes apply for a Section 2, which would deny even close relatives
from visiting you. It meant the children’s home gained complete control
over your life and who you saw. Many of my friends were completely
isolated and vulnerable.
Years later, Operation Middleton secured
three convicted jail terms. Lambeth council and the police declared the
investigation a success. I and many others deem it as a failure.
Nineteen paedophiles were never charged or even identified. If any of
them are alive they are still walking, smiling and wearing their medals
amongst us.
Who were they? How did they gain such willful access
to South Vale and Shirley Oaks? At any time during Shirley Oaks’
existence there were hundreds of children in residence and social
workers visited their charges every day.
They must have been aware
of at least the “swimming instructor” and the “football coach” because
they were so visible. They and others somehow gained unchallenged access
inside cottages and ultimately to defenceless children. Acclaimed: Brixton Rock by Alex Wheatle
In my case, this Mark character even sat in on my case
meetings. I’m convinced there was a paedophile ring operating in both
South Vale and Shirley Oaks and that the authorities knew about it at
the time but did nothing.
I urge Theresa May that the inquiries
she has initiated include the thorough investigation of social services
practices, safeguards for children and protection policies and how such
men were allowed to get so close to vulnerable children.
Also, I
ask her that these investigations should examine all aspects of child
abuse including violent, neglect and emotional abuse. Victims have their
lives ruined by sexual assault. Some even take their own lives because
of it.
Following the closure of Shirley Oaks, someone set fire to
the old primary school. I wonder if it was a victim, exacting some form
of his or her justice, who for years went ignored and unheard. I really
hope my testimony here will prompt others who have suffered to come
forward and bear witness to the horrific crimes inflicted against them.
Those nameless men must be unveiled and brought to justice, alive or dead.
If
you are an adult who suffered child abuse and want professional help,
call NAPAC on 0808 801 0331. If you have any information that you think
might help our investigation, please telephone the Mirror on 0800 282
591 or you can email mirrornews@mirror.co.uk.
Alex Wheatle MBE is acclaimed author of novels including Brixton Rock, Brenton Brown, Island Songs & East Of Acre
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Afghanistan's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs chief of protocol Ambassador Hamid Siddiq (L) as Kerry
arrives at Kabul International airport in Kabul, July 11, 2014.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Afghanistan to
help mediate an end to the political crisis between the two presidential
candidates who are squabbling over the results of last month's runoff
election.
Kerry said Friday shortly after arriving in Kabul overnight that Afghanistan is at a "very critical moment."
The top U.S. diplomat said the future potential of the transition "hangs in the balance, so we have a lot of work to do."
A State Department spokesman said Kerry will convey President Barack
Obama's message that the U.S. expects a thorough review of all
reasonable allegations of fraud and will not accept any
extra-constitutional measures.
Kerry already has warned one of the candidates, Abdullah Abdullah,
against using extra-legal means to grab power after his running mate
talked about setting up a parallel government.
Abdullah and his rival Ashraf Ghani both claim victory in the June 14
runoff to replace outgoing President Hamid Karzai. Preliminary results
show Abdullah trailing Ghani by about 1 million votes.
The United States says it does not take sides in the election, but does support a credible transparent process.
Some of the missiles have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other
cities in Israel and the Government claims its response is needed to
protect civilians.
Medical officials in Gaza said four people were
killed in pre-dawn attacks on Friday, including a man described as a
doctor and pharmacist in a house hit by an air strike in Gaza City.
Medics and residents said an Israeli aircraft bombed a three-storey house in the southern town of Rafah.
Reports
of casualties varied, with some saying three people were killed, while
others claimed there were five fatalities, including a woman and
seven-year-old child, and 15 other people were wounded. Smoke billows from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
While Israeli tanks reportedly fired shells east of Rafah, naval forces
sent bombs into a security compound in Gaza City and aircraft bombed
positions near the borders with Egypt and Israel.
The Israeli military confirmed fresh naval and air strikes were launched early but gave no further details.
According
to medical officials, at least 60 civilians, including a four-year-old
girl and a boy of five killed on Thursday, are among the 79 Palestinians
who have died since Operation Protective Edge began on Tuesday.
Other victims include a Palestinian family of eight and football fans watching the World Cup at a beach café.
No
fatalities have been reported in Israel, where the Iron Dome missile
defence system intercepts incoming rockets and destroys them before they
reach the ground.
Some have got through, including a rocket that
hit a petrol station in the city of Ashdod on Friday, seriously wounding
at least three people.
Rockets were also fired into northern Israel on Friday from Lebanon, but
the country’s security officials said they did not know who was behind
the attack, which Israel responded to with artillery fire.
Israeli leaders have hinted at a possible invasion by ground forces and some 20,000 army reservists have been mobilised.
The
last time ground troops crossed into the Strip, one of the world’s most
densely populated territories, was in 2009, and the last major exchange
of rockets and missiles in October 2012.
Friday is the fourth day
of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which officials said was in response to
escalating rocket attacks by Hamas and came after three kidnapped
Israeli teenagers were found murdered.
A 16-year-old Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, was burned alive in a suspected revenge attack by Jewish youths and protests and riots spread across East Jerusalem and Arab villages.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, vowed there would be no ceasefire, despite the mounting death toll.
“I am not speaking with anyone about a ceasefire. That is not under consideration,” he said.
On
Thursday, he called the escalating conflict a “battle progressing as
planned” and said air strikes had “hit Hamas and the terror
organisations hard”.
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza
Barack Obama had called Mr Netanyahu with an offer to help
broker a ceasefire and the French President, Francois Hollande, also
called for a truce while voicing concern at civilian deaths.
Ban
Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, told an emergency
meeting of the UN Security Council Gaza “cannot afford another
full-blown war” and the conflict could have a “combustible” effect in
the West Bank.
Condemning Hamas and Islamic Jihad for firing more
than 550 rockets and mortars into Israel, he also seemed to criticise
Israel, saying that “the excessive use of force and endangering of
civilian lives are also intolerable”.
A truce was brokered by
Egypt in the 2012 conflict but the current military government is
hostile towards Hamas, making mediation difficult.
A spokesman for
the militant organisation, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: “Our backs are to the
wall and we have nothing to lose. We are ready to battle until the end.”
Israeli
authorities say more than 860 targets have been struck in Gaza,
including militant commanders' homes, but residents said some of the
destroyed houses did not belong to fighters.
Some people in
targeted buildings received warning phone calls to get out and
“knick-on-the-door” missiles, which do not carry explosive warheads,
were fired initially as a signal to evacuate. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelpalestine-crisis-gaza-death-toll-rises-as-israeli-forces-continue-air-and-sea-assault-9599270.html
Magazine
I'm not happy... It's normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offence such as this
Zone 9's website has carried pieces critical of the government
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Afghanistan's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs chief of protocol Ambassador Hamid Siddiq (L) as Kerry
arrives at Kabul International airport in Kabul, July 11, 2014.
Smoke billows from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
While Israeli tanks reportedly fired shells east of Rafah, naval forces
sent bombs into a security compound in Gaza City and aircraft bombed
positions near the borders with Egypt and Israel.
Rockets were also fired into northern Israel on Friday from Lebanon, but
the country’s security officials said they did not know who was behind
the attack, which Israel responded to with artillery fire.
