(CNN) — Investigators were working early Tuesday to figure out what caused a fire in a home in Marion County, Florida, that killed five children.

Firefighters got a call about the blaze at about 10:40 p.m. and arrived eight minutes after the emergency call, said Peveeta Persaud, a spokesperson for Marion County Fire Rescue.

“When they arrived the structure was fully engulfed,” said Persaud. “It was a wooden structure.”

Two girls, ages 6 and 12, were killed in the blaze, along with three boys, ages 8, 13 and 15.

At least three other people in the home were able to escape and were taken to nearby hospitals, the spokeswoman said.

The fire marshal and other officials were working to determine what caused the blaze, Persaud said.

A neighbor told CNN affiliate WKMG that she was able to break a window and help get one woman out of the home but the smoke and fire was so treacherous that she could not help any of the others.

“The whole house was engulfed in flames. And I heard the mom yell, ‘My babies, my babies are inside,’” said the sobbing neighbor, who was not identified. “It is very, very sad because I wanted to get all the babies out. My kids play with their kids.”

Marion County is located about 90 miles northwest of Orlando, Florida.

Source (article): CNN

Source (picture): OBIT-MAG.COM

BEIJING - An attacker with a cleaver hacked to death seven children and two adults at a kindergarten in northwest China on Wednesday, the latest in a string of savage assaults on the country’s schools. Eleven other children were wounded.

The killer, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, returned home after the attack on the outskirts of the city of Hanzhong and committed suicide, the local government reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wu owned the property used by the school and had argued with the school’s manager, who was among the victims.

It was the fifth major assault on young students in China since late March and occurred despite increased security at schools countrywide, with gates and security cameras installed at some schools and additional police and guards posted at entrances. It was not clear if security had been beefed up at the school attacked Wednesday.

The latest deaths were sure to fuel speculation about why assailants — usually lone males — are targeting schools.

Sociologists say the recent attacks that have killed 17 and wounded more than five dozen reflect the tragic consequences of ignoring mental illness and rising stress resulting from huge social inequalities in China’s fast-changing society.

“The perpetrators have contracted a ’social psychological infectious disease’ that shows itself in a desire to take revenge on society,” said Zhou Xiaozheng of Beijing’s Renmin University.

“They pick children as targets because they are the weakest and most vulnerable,” Zhou said.

The recent attacks are classic “copycat crimes,” the effects of which may be amplified by media coverage, Zhou said.

Limited media coverage
After past attacks, authorities have banned or limited media coverage, and early reports on Wednesday’s attack were removed from Chinese websites or moved to less prominent pages. There was no mention of it on state television’s national evening news report.

The apparent attempts to play down the assault may indicate fears that coverage inspires other assailants, but authorities may also have wanted to avoid the embarrassing news, especially during the World Expo in Shanghai, a pet government project.

The attack began at about 8:20 a.m., as children were arriving at the private Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in Hanzhong’s Nanzheng county, a Hanzhong government statement said. The area is on the city’s rural outskirts in a relatively poor part of the country, and images posted on the Internet showed the school, which had only about 20 students, housed in a tumbledown two-story farmhouse.

Wu killed the school’s manager, 50-year-old Wu Hongying, and a student on the spot, then hacked at 18 others, the statement and Xinhua said. Six students and Wu Hongying’s 80-year-old mother later died in the hospital, the reports said. None of the 11 others hospitalized was in immediate danger, it said.

Wu is a common Chinese surname and it wasn’t clear if the assailant and administrator were related.

Citing the police, Xinhua said Wu had rented his house to Wu Hongying for the kindergarten without government approval. He then demanded the property back, but Wu Hongying had asked to hold onto it until the children went on summer vacation.

The ages of the seven children killed were not disclosed, but kindergarten students would typically be 5 years old or younger. Xinhua said they were five boys and two girls.

Problem under control?
State media have steered clear of examining what might be motivating school attackers, preferring to focus on increases in security.

The government has sought to show it has the problem under control, mindful especially of worries among middle-class families who, limited in most cases to one child due to population control policies, invest huge amounts of money and effort to raise their offspring.

Recent scandals in which children have been the main victims have sparked public anger and occasional protests, such as when at least 3,000 children around the country were found to have lead poisoning from polluting factories built too close to villages, and when more than 300,000 infants were sickened by tainted baby milk powder.

The statement from the Hanzhong city government after Wednesday’s attack vowed to “leave no stone unturned, learn from the mistakes, and strictly ensure nothing happens like this again.”

The city government earlier reported that about 2,000 police officers and security guards had been detailed to patrol public schools, kindergartens and surrounding areas beginning last week. The city in Shaanxi province has a population of nearly 4 million.

Parents and grandparents waiting to pick up children at schools in Beijing and Shanghai said they were reassured by the increased security.

“When we hear about those attacks on children, all parents worry. We don’t let the child walk home alone,” said Guo Xiumei, 52, waiting to pick up her 7-year-old grandson at Beijing’s Yonganli Elementary School. Two police officers and a pair of security guards flanked the downtown school’s tall metal gate.

In Shanghai, a father waiting in his car outside the Aiguo Elementary School, where a single uniformed policeman stood watch at the gate, said he would adjust his work schedule to drop off and pick up his daughter.

“Who knows how those people think? They shouldn’t take out their dissatisfaction with society on innocent children. It’s not fair,” said the man, who gave only his surname, Su.

The string of school assaults began with an attack on a primary school in March in the city of Nanping in Fujian province where eight children were slashed to death by a former community clinic doctor with a history of mental health problems. Since then, dozens have been wounded in similar attacks.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): CHINADIGITALTIMES, THEEPOCHTIMES

BELFAST, Maine - A Maine man has been sentenced to two years in prison for forcing his 4-year-old son and 6-year-old son to fight each other while he watched.

Twenty-six-year-old Pedro Delgado-Bristol pleaded guilty Tuesday in Waldo County Superior Court to assault and other charges.

The Bangor Daily News says the boys told detectives they were forced to punch, kick and knee each other on Jan. 9 at Delgado-Bristol’s Rockport home. The boys also told investigators Delgado-Bristol hit the younger boy with a sandal when the boy refused to fight any more.

The boys’ mother saw the injuries and reported the father to authorities.

A judge called Delgado-Bristol’s actions “depraved” and barred him from having unsupervised contact with either boy.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): 360pi.WORDPRESS

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Tiger Woods is back at home after a week of family counseling in Arizona and is trying to get into a routine that includes golf and fitness, a person with knowledge of his schedule said Tuesday.

Woods returned to his home near Orlando on Saturday and has been hitting balls on the range at Isleworth, not far from where he ran his SUV into a tree in a middle-of-the-night accident on Nov. 27 that set off revelations of his extramarital affairs.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Woods is authorized to release information about his schedule, said there is still no timetable for golf’s No. 1 player to return to competition.

Woods was photographed hitting golf balls at Isleworth on Feb. 18, the day before he ended nearly three months of silence by speaking to a small group of associates in a 13 1/2-minute statement that was televised around the world. Those photos of Woods were arranged to counter the paparazzi trying to follow his every move since Thanksgiving.

Woods has not practiced in earnest since winning the Australian Masters in Melbourne on Nov. 15 for his 82nd victory worldwide.

News of him getting back into a routine is sure to begin speculation when he might return to the PGA Tour. Woods announced on Dec. 4 that he was taking an “indefinite break” to try to salvage his marriage.

“I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be,” Woods said Feb. 19 in his statement at Sawgrass. “I don’t rule out that it will be this year.”

Woods said he was leaving the next day for more therapy, without saying what kind. The person who spoke to The Associated Press said he went to Arizona for a week of family and marriage counseling with his wife, Elin.

Woods said at Sawgrass of his infidelity, “As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time. We have a lot to discuss; however, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us.”

Woods is not likely to play next week in the World Golf Championship at Doral, where he has won three times.

His next possibility on the PGA Tour is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he is the defending champion and a six-time winner. The Masters, which Woods has played every year since 1995, would follow. Augusta National officials have not indicated whether they expect Woods to compete.

“When he does come back, I hope it’s in the Masters, and I hope he’s in great form,” Masters champion Angel Cabrera said Tuesday on a conference call.

The fallout from Woods’ sex scandal has been immense. He already has had three sponsors drop him - Accenture, AT&T and, most recently, Gatorade - while other companies like Gillette have suspended promotions of Woods while he takes his break from golf.

When he does return, he will have a different logo on his golf bag, replacing AT&T, if he can find a deal.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): KVOA

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine, is taking care of the singer’s three children and the family will go to court Monday in part to protect her rights to custody, the family’s spokesman said.

Londell McMillan, the Jacksons’ attorney, said the family hasn’t heard from Deborah Rowe, the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, about custody.

“I don’t think there will be anybody who thinks that there is someone better” than Katherine Jackson to have custody, McMillan said on the TODAY show. “She is a very loving host of other grandchildren.”

Jackson left behind three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7. The youngest son was born to a surrogate mother.

Given the secrecy surrounding Michael Jackson’s children throughout his life, it’s no surprise that there are lingering questions about who will care for them after his death. What is almost certain is this: Their fate will be decided in a courtroom.

Experts say the person who has the strongest legal claim to Jackson’s two oldest children is Rowe. As for the youngest child, Jackson’s wishes will be more influential. It remains unclear who Jackson designated as potential guardians for his children. Those details — likely contained in the 50-year-old singer’s will — have not been released.

Rowe’s attorney, Marta Almli, wrote in a statement Saturday that “Ms. Rowe’s only thoughts at this time have been regarding the devastating loss Michael’s family has suffered. Ms. Rowe requests that Michael’s family, and particularly the children, be spared such harmful, sensationalist speculation and that they be able to say goodbye to their loved one in peace.”

Jackson’s manager, Frank DiLeo, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he was the one who told the children their father had died.

“They knew when I came into the room,” he said. “I’m sure they just saw it on my face. They said, ‘say it’s not true,’ and I just said, ‘I’m sorry.”’

Jackson never told his family who he had in place to handle his business affairs, a person close to the family told The Associated Press on Friday. The person, who requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation, said they were told by the singer’s phalanx of advisers that he likely had a will, but it may be many years old.

Prince Michael II’s mother has never been identified, and while she may surface, it is likely that she signed away her rights, said Stacy Phillips, a Los Angeles divorce attorney who has represented numerous high-profile clients.

Jackson was by several accounts an attentive and loving father.

“He was a great father,” said Raymone Bain, Jackson’s former publicist and general manager. “Those kids knew three and four languages. Even the little one. They were well mannered and sweet. I can’t imagine these children without him.”

He was extremely protective of his children, who weren’t often seen in public, and were photographed wearing veils, masks or other items covering their faces when they were.

Rowe, a former nurse for Jackson’s dermatologist, married Jackson in 1996 but filed for divorce in 1999. She later gave up her custody rights to the children, but petitioned to have those rights restored in 2003 after Jackson was arrested on child molestation charges, and an appeals court sided with her.

Jackson and Rowe apparently agreed in 2006 regarding her rights, but the terms have never been disclosed. The couple’s divorce case that was heard in Los Angeles Superior Court remains closed.

Phillips said if her parental rights remain intact, she’s presumed to be first in line to receive custody of her two children. “That could still be contested,” she added.

Rowe would have to undergo an evaluation by the court to determine if she’s the best person to care for Jackson’s children. So, too, would anyone else who applies to become the children’s guardian — some of whom may have Jackson’s blessing.

“If he did indicate a preference, that will be given great weight, but that will not be determinative,” said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred. “Children are not property, they cannot be willed to another person.”

Allred agreed that Rowe has better legal standing than others who apply for custody of Jackson’s eldest children. “She’s definitely going to have an advantage.”

But judges in California often take into account who is left in the children’s lives with a strong bond, said Charlotte Goldberg, a family law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“It’s really a balance between continuity and stability and a biological relationship,” Goldberg said.

A judge deciding the matter may even seek input in chambers from Jackson’s children about who they feel comfortable with, she said.

But a court will also take into account with whom the children have a relationship bond, and that may not work in Rowe’s favor. She wrote in a 2001 petition to sever her parental rights that she thought Jackson was doing a good parenting job.

“Michael has been a wonderful father to the children, and I do not wish to share any parenting responsibilities with Michael because he is doing so well without me,” Rowe wrote. She also indicated in court filings during the 2006 custody struggle that she had not seen the children since 2005, shortly after his trial ended in acquittal on all charges and Jackson moved the children overseas.

It is unclear how often Rowe has seen the children since Jackson returned to the Los Angeles area in recent months to prepare for a 50-show concert engagement in London. It is also unclear what role the children’s godfather, British child actor Mark Lester, may play in the proceedings.

Whoever wins custody of Jackson’s children won’t automatically gain control of their inheritance, Phillips said.

“For many people, the person or persons who are taking care of their kids are not necessarily taking care of their money,” Phillips said. “There’s a benefit to that — a sort of a check-and-balance.”

Rowe, or whoever is designated the children’s guardian, will receive payments based on Jackson’s estate, Phillips said.

More clarity about the fate of Jackson’s children will likely come once court proceedings start.

Phillips said the custody issue will now be handled by a probate court. If it is filed at Los Angeles’ main downtown courthouse, Phillips said it will be handled by judges with significant family law experience.

Phillips said the looming custody fight could be unlike any other.

“In all the cases I’ve read all over the country,” she said, “I’ve never seen a fact pattern like this.”

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): EXAMINER, BABBLE