Katy Perry's Mission

Katy Perry's Mission

Source: http://www.timeforkids.com

The pop singer is using her global popularity for good as UNICEF's newest ambassador

Katy Perry is a world-renowned pop superstar, fashion icon, and Grammy Award nominee for her hit song “Roar." Now, she adds a new title to her list of achievements: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Perry was appointed to the title on December 3 at UNICEF Headquarters, in New York City. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake announced that her special focus is to engage young people to help with UNICEFʼs work. “Katy Perry is already a champion for children, and we look forward to hearing her ʻroarʼ on behalf of UNICEF,” Lake said. TFK Kid Reporter Grace Clark was on the scene to report on the announcement and talk to the chart-topping singer about her new role

 

Katy Perry talks to twin girls during a visit to a nutritional center in the village of Androrangavola, Madagascar. Perry visited the country for a UNICEF trip in April.

Being a UNICEF Ambassador, Perry told TFK, "means that I have a responsibility to use my spotlight for good, to highlight areas where I can help children who are disadvantaged, or in a tough situation. I hope I can help them out of that tough situation."

Mission for Good

UNICEF is an acronym for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. The charity works in more than 190 countries and territories to help children who do not have access to safe food, clean drinking water, and health care. They also actively work to stop violence against children.

UNICEF appoints celebrity ambassadors like Perry to heighten awareness through their popularity and talent. Other ambassadors include actress Sarah Jessica Parker, chef Marcus Samuelsson, and actress-singer Selena Gomez.

Before becoming an official ambassador, Perry took her first trip with UNICEF in April to Madagascar, an island country in Africa. She spent three days visiting kids and learning about UNICEF programs there. Perry says the trip was a “life changing experience” and the inspiration for her new song, “Unconditionally.”

Katy Perry jumps rope with girls during a visit to a primary school that was rebuilt by UNICEF after it was destroyed by a cyclone, in Ampihaonana, Madagascar.

“Childhood is getting interrupted by unfortunate events, whether it's violence or devastation,” Perry told TFK. “Until you become an adult and take responsibility for yourself, I think we [adults] should look after you, make sure you are well nourished, educated, and clothed.”

Perry plans to go on more trips with UNICEF to inspire and help children in need.  "Every year, I want to go on a trip and have the experience to bring home,” Perry says. “Maybe when people hear my songs and hear about my wonderful trips with UNICEF, they will want to go as well,

Alabama man raped, videotaped his son with other man in interstate child porn ring: prosecutors 

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com

Carl Philip Herold subjected his 9-year-old son to the abuse while Charles Dunnavant participated, cops say. The disturbing allegations could be part of a larger, interstate child porn ring, prosecutors fear.

 

Charles Dunnavant was charged with sodomy, sexual torture, aggravated child abuse and exposing person to an STD for his connection to the Huntsville child sexual abuse and pornography case.

Two Alabama men kept a 9-year-old boy captive for months as they sexually tortured him and filmed it as part of a larger child porn ring, prosecutors in Huntsville say in a disturbing case.

So disturbing were the more than 100 photographs police found that officers could not even positively identify the boy because they could not bear to look, cops said in court on Monday,

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/alabama-man-raped-videotaped-sonin-interstate-child-porn-ring-prosecutors-article-1.1549914#ixzz2nomlF7Nm

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Charles Dunnavant is charged with sexual torture, sodomy, aggravated child abuse and exposing a person to an STD.

Carl Philip Herold, the boy’s father, is charged with sodomy, sexual abuse, aggravated child abuse, child pornography production, distributing child pornography and with allowing his child to be depicted in pornography.

RELATED: FLA. MAN POSTED CHILD PORN TO INSTAGRAM: SHERIFF

"He has the means of travel, family out of state and some of the allegations are there was much travel in the lives of Dunnavant and Herold," Madison County Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Helix said at a bond hearing Monday. "They held the child captive for eight months and there are no standards, taboos or lines this defendant and his co-defendant hesitated to cross."

 

Carl Philip Herold held his 9-year-old son captive for months, sexually torturing him and filming it as part of a larger child porn ring, prosecutors say.

Herold, originally from Wyoming, had only lived in Huntsville for about eight months. During that time, he allowed Dunnavant to move in, a partnership prosecutors say spawned the child porn ring.
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Evidence shows the men took the child across state lines for “criminal sexual purposes,” AL.com reported.
Herold has a computer programming background and runs a popular YouTube channel where he livestreams programming lessons. Prosecutors say his son was not enrolled in school in Huntsville and that they think he was kept in the home without interaction with the outside world.
RELATED: SENATOR EX-STAFFER SEEKS RELEASE IN CHILD PORN CHARGES
Dunnavant, who grew up near the northern Alabama and southern Tennessee border, was arrested at a family member’s home in Tennessee.
Prosecutors have requested $1 million bond for both men.

Children killed in DR Congo attack, say UN peacekeepers

Source: BBC News

More than 20 people, including women and children, have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say.

Most appeared to have been hacked to death on Friday and Saturday in two villages in North Kivu, including three girls who were raped and then beheaded

It is not clear who carried out the attacks, but the UN mission said the atrocities would "not go unpunished".

At least 10 armed groups operate in eastern DR Congo.

The attacks took place near the town of Beni, which is about 250km (150 miles) north of Goma.

The youngest victim is thought to have been only a few months old," the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco) said.

Three girls appear to have been raped and then beheaded. A child's dismembered body is said to have been found in a tree, in the village of Musuku, the statement said.

Officials and civil society organisations in North Kivu accused the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army Liberation of Uganda (ADF-Nalu) of carrying out the attacks.

The ADF-Nalu is considered to be the only Islamist organisation in the region.

The UN has more than 19,000 troops in DR Congo, with an attack force given the mandate of neutralising armed groups.

Analysts say the killings highlight the challenges faced by UN and Congolese forces in eastern Congo, despite the defeat of the M23 rebels.

The government signed a peace deal last week with the rebel movement, which took up arms in April 2012, accusing the authorities of marginalising the ethnic Tutsi minority and failing to honour previous peace accords.

Eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict since 1994, when Hutu militias fled across the border from Rwanda after carrying out a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Australia incest case: Severely deformed children found in remote farming community after generations of inbreeding

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk

The filthy and severely deformed offspring of a horrifying incest cult whose members bred together for generations have been discovered in a remote farming community in Australia.

Apparently unknown to the 2,000 people with whom they shared their fertile valley township in New South Wales, at least 40 members of the reclusive Colt family raised four generations of inbred children in one of the country’s worst ever cases of child abuse.

According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph - which published details of New South Wales Children’s Court’s judgement on the family - the case only came to light when authorities were informed that children living in a network of huts in the valley did not attend school.

The subsequent New South Wales Police and Community Services investigation found deformed and disabled children living in squalor; unable to take care of themselves and lacking knowledge of basic hygiene, such as how to clean their teeth or use toilet paper.

Many of the children were suffering from severe health problems brought on by inbreeding, with a number diagnosed with homozygosity deformations – mutations caused by inheriting identical genes from both parents.

Hardly any were capable of intelligible speech, many were deaf and/or blind, and those that could understand what investigators were saying were painfully shy due to spending their entire lives without communicating with anyone other their immediate family members.

The name of the valley in which the family lived has been kept secret to avoid identifying the victims of child abuse, and the members have been given pseudonyms for the same reason. The surname Colt is not the real family name.

Despite this, New South Wales Children’s Court is understood to have released details of the case as it felt the world had to hear about one of Australia’s worst ever instances of incest.

The family is believed to trace back to the children’s great-grandparents, who were brother and sister. The incestuous siblings had a number of children, with these children raising another generation children of offspring among themselves. This third generation also chose to inbreed, giving birth to the children recently found living in squalor in the valley.

In total, at least 40 inbred people were believed to have been born in the network of huts – which were not served with any electricity or running water.

Inside the outrageous world of child cage fighting: Tiny boys who are trained to attack each other in America’s baby MMA arenas

• Children's MMA or Pankration is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States with an estimated 3 million kids involved

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

It is the heat of battle between two MMA fighters hemmed inside an industrial metal cage. One kicks, punches and strangles his way to brutal victory. His opponent breaks down and cries tears for his mother.

But this is not an unusual end to another televised brawl between two fully grown brutes, this is kids's MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts, which is rapidly becoming one of the nation's fastest growing sports among children.

It is estimated that three million boys and girls, some as young as five-years-old launch themselves at each other weekly across the nation engaged in Pankration - some wearing no head protection and throwing punches boasting gloves little more than one-inch thick.

Critics call it barbaric and fear for the children's safety and the effect on their behavior.

Supporters compare it's benefits to boxing and traditional martial arts and claim that it encourages self-discipline, fair play and exercise.

A New-York based photographer, Sebastian Montalvo, traveled across the country and compiled a photographic essay in which he attempts to shine a light onto the ferocious sport, giving names and faces to the little children whose parents are encouraging their fighting spirit.

One such child, is Kristopher Arrey. He is seven years old and his success in the MMA ring is so fearsome that he has earned the nickname 'The Arm Collector'.

In one striking and arguably disturbing image from Montalvo, Arrey is on his back, inflicting a painful choke-hold on another boy.

Once this fight ends in victory for Arrey, his defeated opponent, Mason Bramlette, who is also seven, is seen crying - an illuminating image which reminds the viewer exactly how old the fighter's are.

Montalvo told CNN that parental encouragement is key to the growth of MMA.

'Are you OK?' Montalvo heard the referee asking Mason as tears streamed down his face. 'Do you want to stop fighting?'.

His father urged his son to stay in the ring.

Indeed, Montalvo said that the key aspect of kid's MMA was how competitive the parents are.

'They're mega-competitive,' Montalvo said. They 'love their kids 100%' and 'they just want them to win.'

And while critics may reel at the sight of children placed in a ring and asked to fight like adults, supporters say it encourages a culture of losing fair and winning well.

'After every match, the kids are supposed to shake hands,' said Montalvo. 'One father started screaming at his son because he didn't want to shake hands after he lost.'

As MMA classes pop up around the country, some catering for children as young as five, there are concerns about the safety risks of young children taking part in such a violent contact sport.

A quick search of YouTube throws up countless videos showing boys and girls competing in MMA. Some of the videos are more violent than others, boys and girls in cages punching, kicking and choking each other.

Chris Conolley is an MMA teacher, who owns Spartan Fitness in Hoover, Alabama, he is quick to point out that what the kids get taught is very different from the adult version.

Rather than fighting each other, his pupils are taught the techniques to get in shape and have fun.

‘It's an outstanding way for them to get in shape, exercise. Childhood obesity now is a big issue [this can] get them on the right path conducive to fitness,’ Conolley said in an interview with Fox6 earlier this year.

Nevertheless injuries, especially concussions, are a constant risk and doctors recommend that children should always wear headgear even when training.

The kids of MMA are taking their cues from the 'Ultimate Fighting Championship' or 'UFC' where moves like the 'Ground Pound' and the 'Cobra Strangle' have millions tuning in every week.

Prominent critics of MMA for adults including Senator John McCain, who called it 'human cockfighting' and in 2008 wrote a letter to the governors of every state asking them to ban it.

'I think it's dangerous from a physical standpoint,' pediatrician Lisa Thornton told Good Morning America.

'It can lead to significant injuries to the neck and bones and ligaments.'