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European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso called on Sunday for a return to talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, warning the peace process must not become “an orphan of the Arab Spring.” AFP quoted Barroso as having made the remarks during a trip to Ramallah, where he met PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. “The momentous change that we are witnessing throughout the Arab world should constitute an incitement and not a deterrent to the resumption of negotiations,” Barroso said after meeting Fayyad, according to an advance copy of his remarks. “The Middle East peace...

An orphan among orphans Updated: 2011-09-02 07:57 By Guo Yali (China Daily) BEIJING - Being an orphan who lost both legs hasn't stopped Xu Yuehua from having a room full of her own children. The 55-year-old, who gets around by walking on a pair of stools, is "mother" to more than 100 children from an orphanage in Xiangtan, Hunan province. "She's got a way with kids after all these years nursing and caring for the children, many of whom are disabled or mentally challenged," said Li Yilong, deputy director of Xiangtan City Social Welfare Home. The home has around 80...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- A mama dog in eastern Missouri adopted an orphaned baby raccoon as her own after losing a puppy in labor. "We saved her life, and she saved the raccoon's life," said Sharon Maag of the St. Peters rescue group, SNUGGLE, Special Needs Under Gentle Guided Love Everyday. "I think what goes around comes around. It's the circle of life. I think that's the way it goes. She's just returning the favor." Sasha the dog was likely headed for euthanization after being surrendered to a shelter with what appeared to be a large lump. The group SNUGGLE rescued...

Sarah Obama Said Barack Obama Jr. Was An Orphan in Kenya [Note: Go to http://jeffersonsrebels.blogspot.com/2011/04/sarah-obama-said-barack-obama-was.html to view screen shot images of cited articles, and to follow text links.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarah Obama said that Barack Obama passed through her hands as an orphan. How could that possibly happen? Below you will find a fairly recent but undated article about Sarah Obama's humanitarian work with orphans and other vulnerable children over the course of her life. In the Catholic Relief Services article, Mama Sarah, as she's affectionately called, opened her simple home to dozens of children "over the last 40 years." In...

FYI Sarah Obama Refers to Barack Obama as an Orphan Who Passed Through Her Hands! http://jeffersonsrebels.blogspot.com/2010/05/sarah-obama-refers-to-barack-obama-as.html

DEVELOPING: A Haitian attorney says 10 Americans detained in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after the Jan. 12 earthquake have been charged with child kidnapping. Edwin Coq says the Americans also are charged with criminal association. The 10 appeared in court Thursday and were whisked away to a jail in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince.

A group of 10 American Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital Sunday after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti. The church group, most of them from Idaho, allegedly lacked the proper documents when they were arrested Friday night in a bus along with children from 2 months to 12 years old who had survived the catastrophic earthquake. ... Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, that they were converting into an orphanage, Silsby told the AP. ......

As of Wednesday morning, Compassion International reports that they have not yet made contact with their Haiti office, which is near the epicenter of Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The quake has produced many aftershocks, including two of significant intensity - over 5.0 in magnitude. Communication to Haiti is virtually impossible with widespread damage to cell towers and communication lines. Compassion shared on Twitter that their reach in Haiti involves 230 churches helping 65,000+ children/families, 2,200 Child Survival Program moms and babies and almost 100 leadership students. “Based on the epicenter, media reports and our center locations, we expect centers have been...

Bobby and Sherry Burnette, the founders and directors of Love A Child Orphanage, are reporting widespread destruction in Haiti in the aftermath of Tuesday’s massive earthquake.

Just a warning.....do not waste your money on The Orphan. It started out very well, we couldn't wait to see what evil this "orphan" actually was. Total disappointment! I don't go to the movies often (once a year is a lot) but I do love horror/suspense and action movies. I was so excited to see this movie and it was a total let down! The only good thing is the movie theater we went to must have had a "2 fer Tuesday" night because we only paid 8 bucks for 2 tickets. Oh, and the popcorn with the fake butter...

Oprah Winfrey has pulled from a recommended reading list on her web site The Education of Little Tree, a book about the real-life story of an orphaned boy raised by his Cherokee grandparents. The book became a sentimental favorite, selling millions of copies, and won the 1991 American Booksellers Association's first ABBY award. Winfrey pulled the book after she learned its author, Forrest Carter, whose real name is Asa Earl Carter, was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan and a former speechwriter for Alabama's segregationist governor George Wallace, reports The Associated Press. Carter died in 1979. Suspicions about...

The freedom they have long struggled for may soon be realized by thousands of persecuted Christian Karen and Karenni refugees from Burma who have been living in camps along the Thailand/Burma border. Many of these courageous, mostly Christian refugees are scheduled for resettlement in the United States, or other free nations. Christian Freedom International welcomes this news. For years CFI has been urging the U.S. government, Thailand, and the U.N. to allow the resettlement of these refugees from Burma. CFI has launched petition drives, sponsored U.S. Congressional staff delegations to the region, had conferences with U.S. Department of State officials...

A kitten needed help and got it from an unusual source that came to the rescue. Meet Jade -- a three-year-old Rottweiler with a soft-spot for cats. The kitten was just a few days old when its mother died. So, Jade stepped in. She never had any pups of her own. But, surprisingly, she was able to start nursing the kitten. Veterinarians say that's rare, but it can happen.

Belarus pressing for orphan's return from Italy RIA Novosti (MCT) ROME - Belarus will press for the immediate and unconditional return of a Belarusian orphan from Italy after her host family for the summer refused to send her home over safety concerns, a lawyer said Wednesday. Alessandro Giusto and Maria Chiara Bornacin, a married couple from Genoa, took on 10-year-old Vika Moroz this summer as part of a humanitarian program for children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But they refused to allow Vika to return to Belarus, claiming she had been repeatedly abused at her orphanage. After an Italian...

MOLEPOLOLE, Botswana, April 28, 2006 – "Joy in our hearts," sang the small group of Bana Ba Keletso preschool children during the dedication ceremonies for the expansion of the Bana Ba Keletso Orphan Care Center here April 22. U.S. European Command, through the Office of Defense Cooperation's humanitarian assistance program, provided more than $188,000 for the construction expansion of an administration building and multipurpose hall complete with a food-preparation facility. Through the partnering efforts of the Rotary Club of Gaborone and the Department of Defense, more than 400 at-risk orphan children from the surrounding Molepolole area are nurtured by the...

Actress Angelina Jolie is adopting a newborn Ethiopian girl orphaned by AIDS, People magazine reported on Tuesday. Jolie, who has toured the world as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' High Commissioner on Refugees, said the baby would be named Zahara Marley Jolie but would not reveal the child's age, height or weight, People said. The magazine had no further information on the baby's health but said she had been left an orphan by AIDS. Jolie, 30, told People that she and her son Maddox, 3, who she adopted from a Cambodian orphanage, were "very happy to have a new...

NEW DELHI, Tuesday (AFP) - The Indian parliament will adopt children orphaned by last December's tsunami disaster, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said. Shekhawat, who is also chairman of the upper house of parliament, said the MPs would take the responsibility of education and maintenance of the children, whose numbers are still being tabulated but could easily be in the hundreds, a Press Trust of India report said. All MPs would also contribute 1,100,000 rupees (23,404 dollars) each to set up a fund to provide livelihood to those handicapped by the disaster, he said.

TACOMA, Wash. (Oct. 28) - A seriously wounded 8-year-old boy calmly described his father's deadly knife rampage during a call for help to 911. "My daddy killed me with a knife and I'm gone," the boy told a dispatcher. "Can you please send the Army men or the ambulance?" The soft-spoken child gave a wrong address and then hung up. But a second dispatcher called back, keeping him on the line while a frantic search was under way. On Wednesday, authorities released the remarkable tape of Anthony Sukto's calm courage during the Oct. 22 ordeal, and the frantic efforts to...

BOYS TOWN, Neb. - An Iraqi orphan credited with helping American troops capture insurgents in Baghdad started a new life Tuesday at Girls and Boys Town, the storied home for troubled youngsters. Wearing a Boys Town windbreaker and holding a plastic American flag on a stick, 16-year-old "Johnny" — the nickname U.S. soldiers gave him — said he was happy to be in the United States. "Everything's OK," he said. "Real cool." Soldiers in Baghdad encountered the boy living on the streets and discovered that he knew a lot about the people behind insurgent attacks in the city, said Lt....

When was the last time you reached out to someone less fortunate? Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. asks for nothing more than a little compassion, a little love, and a lifetime’s worth of hugs. Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. was raised by the Children’s Home Association, a Florida orphanage, and then was passed on to the Institute for Young Men, Florida. He and his fellow orphans stifled their tears and emotions to survive the abuse they suffered daily in these institutions. This dramatic true account of physical, mental, and sexual abuse inflicted by childcare professionals will forever change the way people view...