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'Don't Burn Women Alive'
February 02, 2007

Immigrants wishing to live in a small Canadian town have been told they must not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them.

This extraodinary set of rules has been released by the local council of Herouxville, Quebec.

The declaration, published on the town's Website, has deepened tensions in the predominantly French-speaking province over how tolerant Quebecers should be toward the customs and traditions of immigrants.

"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the declaration.

It makes clear women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write cheques, dress how they want, work and own property.

"Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

No one on the town council has been available for comment.

Herouxville, has a population of 1,300 and is about 100 miles northeast of Montreal. Skynews

Schoolboy Was Really 29
February 02, 2007

A 29-year-old convicted sex offender spent several months pretending to be a 12-year-old boy at school in the US, it has emerged.

Neil Havens Rodreick II shaved off his body hair, covered his stubble with make-up and enrolled at Imagine School in Phoenix, Arizona, under the name Casey Price.

He took lessons alongside youngsters for four months before being thrown out for poor attendance.

Rodreick, who is 5ft 8ins and weighs eight and a half stone, pretended to be a youth for nearly two years.

He even convinced two men who had been looking for boys on the internet that he was a minor.

Lonnie Stiffler, 61, and Robert Snow, 43, were reportedly conned into taking him into their house and having sex with him in the mistaken belief he was 12 years old. They were said to be shocked and angry when they found out he was really 29.

Neighbours in the suburb where they lived said "Casey" built the occasional skateboard ramp and did wheelies on his bike down the streets.

Rodreick, whose attempt to hide his stubble was apparently not entirely convincing, has been charged with forgery and fraud over the school incidents.

Parents, pupils and teachers at all the schools are being interviewed but so far no youngsters have accused him of molesting them.

He spent seven years in prison after being being convicted in 1996 of lewdly propositioning a six-year-old boy in Oklahoma.
More on This Story: Skynews

Civil War Warning For Bush


February 02, 2007

A US intelligence report has described the violence in Iraq as a civil war and warned the "perilous" situation there could deteriorate.

The National Intelligence Estimate Report, representing 16 spy agencies, says the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the conflict.

Sky News' Keith Graves said such references to civil war will be an awkward development for the president - and Tony Blair - who have so far avoided using that description.

Officials have indicated that the conclusions paint a sober view of the violence and political situation facing the United States in Iraq.

The assessment is said to conclude that success depends on improving poor security as sectarian violence is increasing, hurting the government and slowing reconstruction.

The report says the term 'civil war' does not "adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq".

Nonetheless, it adds, "civil war accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilisation, and population displacements."

Mr Bush, in a policy reversal, announced on January 10 that he was sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

The report is said to conclude: "Unless efforts to reverse these conditions show measurable progress ... we assess that the overall security situation will continue to deteriorate."

According to Graves, the report said that al Qaeda activities remained a problem but cites Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence as the primary source of conflict and the most immediate threat to US goals.

The report addressed security threats in Iraq posed by both Iran and Syria.

The general conclusion was that the biggest security problem is of a sectarian nature but that outside Iranian involvement makes the situation worse.

Similarly, it said that Syria's failure to control its borders had allowed foreigners to enter Iraq.
Skynews

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