MSNBC
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press
As families gather for Thanksgiving this year, nearly one in three American children is living with a parent who is divorced, separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that wedding bells aren't needed to have a family.
A study by the Pew Research Center highlights rapidly changing notions of the American family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together.
..About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase from 1960, according to the Pew report being released Thursday. About 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent have parents who were never married.Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married. According to the Pew survey, 39 percent of Americans say marriage is becoming obsolete. And that sentiment follows U.S. census data released in September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent for adults 18 and over.
When asked what constitutes a family, the vast majority of Americans agree that a married couple, with or without children, fits that description. But four of five surveyed pointed also to an unmarried, opposite-sex couple with children or a single parent. Three out of five people said a same-sex couple with children is a family. "Marriage is still very important in this country, but it doesn't dominate family life like it used to," said Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University. "Now there are several ways to have a successful family life, and more people accept them."
The changing views of family are being driven largely by young adults 18-29, who are more likely than older generations to have an unmarried or divorced parent or have friends who do. Young adults also tend to have more liberal attitudes when it comes to spousal roles and living together before marriage, the survey found.
But economic factors, too, are playing a role. The Census Bureau recently reported that opposite-sex unmarried couples living together jumped 13 percent this year to 7.5 million. It was a sharp one-year increase that analysts largely attributed to people unwilling to make long-term marriage commitments in the face of persistent unemployment.
Other findings:
•34 percent of Americans called the growing variety of family living arrangements good for society, while 32 percent said it didn't make a difference and 29 percent said it was troubling.
•44 percent of people said they have lived with a partner without being married; for 30-to-49-year-olds, that share rose to 57 percent. In most cases, those couples said they considered cohabitation as a step toward marriage.
•62 percent said that the best marriage is one where the husband and wife both work and both take care of the household and children. That's up from 48 percent who held that view in 1977.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
A push to add gays to school policies on bullying
By DAAREL BURNETTE II, Star Tribune
The Minnesota School Board Association is advising school districts across the state to expand their harassment and violence policy to specify several more groups, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students.
The association also is pushing for boards to put more pressure on school officials to intervene when they witness bullying. "We wanted to make it clear that safety is important for all students no matter sex, race, creed or sexual orientation," said Greg Abbott, School Board Association spokesman. The recommendation will likely be controversial as its 335-member districts decide whether to act on the association's recommendation.
"Our concern with the proposed revision is that it only targets certain types of bullying and not all forms of bullying," said Tom Prichard, the president of Minnesota Family Council. "Singling out sexual orientation often leads to use of curriculum which promote homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage. Such efforts don't address the problem of bullying, which we all agree must be stopped."
The association's updated harassment policy prohibits any form of harassment or violence "on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, familial status, and status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation or disability." The association also is now recommending that districts take "disciplinary action" if school officials don't report bullying.
In September, Anoka-Hennepin School District came under national fire after it updated its bullying policy to include GLBT students with a clause that told teachers to stay neutral on the issue of homosexuality.
"People are itching for a fight on this one because it's so high profile right now," said Jim Roth, who specializes in education law at St. Mary's University and Hamline University.
The School Board Association's Abbott said the proposed wording isn't new, it's from Minnesota's historic human rights legislation passed in 1993. That law made Minnesota the first state to ban employment discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Since then, politicians have worked to expand that language to include other groups through multiple bills that have largely failed in Congress. (Federal and state statutes override school district policies.)
Although there has not been a lawsuit, advocacy groups and politicians have been grappling in recent months with the question of what role, if any, schools play in preventing bullying.
A written policy might clarify issues for teachers who aren't sure what their role is, Roth said.
The Minnesota School Board Association is advising school districts across the state to expand their harassment and violence policy to specify several more groups, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students.
The association also is pushing for boards to put more pressure on school officials to intervene when they witness bullying. "We wanted to make it clear that safety is important for all students no matter sex, race, creed or sexual orientation," said Greg Abbott, School Board Association spokesman. The recommendation will likely be controversial as its 335-member districts decide whether to act on the association's recommendation.
"Our concern with the proposed revision is that it only targets certain types of bullying and not all forms of bullying," said Tom Prichard, the president of Minnesota Family Council. "Singling out sexual orientation often leads to use of curriculum which promote homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage. Such efforts don't address the problem of bullying, which we all agree must be stopped."
The association's updated harassment policy prohibits any form of harassment or violence "on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, familial status, and status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation or disability." The association also is now recommending that districts take "disciplinary action" if school officials don't report bullying.
In September, Anoka-Hennepin School District came under national fire after it updated its bullying policy to include GLBT students with a clause that told teachers to stay neutral on the issue of homosexuality.
"People are itching for a fight on this one because it's so high profile right now," said Jim Roth, who specializes in education law at St. Mary's University and Hamline University.
The School Board Association's Abbott said the proposed wording isn't new, it's from Minnesota's historic human rights legislation passed in 1993. That law made Minnesota the first state to ban employment discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Since then, politicians have worked to expand that language to include other groups through multiple bills that have largely failed in Congress. (Federal and state statutes override school district policies.)
Although there has not been a lawsuit, advocacy groups and politicians have been grappling in recent months with the question of what role, if any, schools play in preventing bullying.
A written policy might clarify issues for teachers who aren't sure what their role is, Roth said.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Lee suing Toyota for what he lost
STAR/TRIBUNE
The attorney for Koua Fong Lee isn't sure how much three years of a man's life are worth, but he's setting his sights high.
Attorney Bob Hilliard wondered: How do you put a price tag on missing the first three years of your children's lives or on depriving your family of your support?
A lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on behalf of Lee and his family against Toyota Motor Corp. didn't specify a dollar figure. And Hilliard, an attorney from Corpus Christi, Texas, wouldn't speculate Tuesday about what he might ask a jury to award. But he noted that a verdict against Ford Motor Co. in 1987 came in at "over $100 million."
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lee; his wife, Panghoua Moua; their four children, and his brother and father, who were injured in a 2006 crash that ultimately killed three people and sent Lee to prison. The suit alleges that Toyota knew about safety problems in its cars but failed to fix them or warn customers.
The suit was not unexpected but was a long time coming. A week ago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan ruled that Lee could intervene in a lawsuit brought against the automaker by Bridgette Trice, whose 7-year-old daughter, Devyn Bolton, died as a result of the accident caused by Lee's 1996 Camry.
Celeste Migliore, national business and field communications manager for Toyota Motor Sales USA, said in a statement: "We sympathize with all of the families affected by this incident, and we did not oppose Mr. Lee's plan to file his complaint against Toyota in this related federal court case. However, Toyota believes that any unintended acceleration allegations are without merit. The 1996 Camry involved in this case has never been subject to an acceleration-related recall and is designed to meet or exceed all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards."
Lee, 33, of St. Paul, was driving his family home from their Minneapolis church on June 10, 2006, a sunny Saturday afternoon, and took the Snelling Avenue exit ramp off Interstate 94. Lee insisted from the start that he frantically pressed the brake pedal, but instead of slowing down, the car sped up. Experts estimated it was going up to 90 miles per hour when it slammed into an Oldsmobile Ciera. The driver, Javis Trice Adams, 33, and his son, Javis Adams Jr., 9, died at the scene. Devyn was left a quadriplegic and died about 18 months later.
Lee was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide and sentenced to eight years in prison. At that time, few people had heard about sudden unintended acceleration, one of a series of problems that caused a massive recall of newer Toyota models starting in the fall of 2009.
That recall prompted Lee's case to be reopened, and after listening to a dozen people testify that they, too, had experienced runaway engines or sudden acceleration in their Toyotas, a Ramsey County judge ruled last summer that he should get a new trial. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors dismissed the charges against him.
The lawsuit said Lee required psychological counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder because of both the accident and his imprisonment and that he now requires sleep medication. It said his wife and four children suffered "severe emotional distress."
It said that "well before the subject accident," Toyota was aware of sudden unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles because "hundreds of other similar incidents ... had been previously reported both to Toyota and to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."
"Despite this knowledge," the lawsuit said, "Toyota never made any significant changes to improve the acceleration and the electrical system." An easily installed brake override system that was available in other cars in the same model year could have fixed those problems, Hilliard said Tuesday.
"I have come to the conclusion that the older-model Toyotas will become more and more susceptible to sudden unintended acceleration as they age," Hilliard said. "Toyota makes their cars to last forever. They create a car that will last long enough for a defect to occur. Then they don't fix the defect.
"Seriously, what is the value of what happened to Koua?" Hilliard asked. "If Mr. Toyoda [Toyota president Akio Toyoda] says OK, I'll come to the United States and I'll submit myself to jail for three years, we'll call it even."
The attorney for Koua Fong Lee isn't sure how much three years of a man's life are worth, but he's setting his sights high.
Attorney Bob Hilliard wondered: How do you put a price tag on missing the first three years of your children's lives or on depriving your family of your support?
A lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on behalf of Lee and his family against Toyota Motor Corp. didn't specify a dollar figure. And Hilliard, an attorney from Corpus Christi, Texas, wouldn't speculate Tuesday about what he might ask a jury to award. But he noted that a verdict against Ford Motor Co. in 1987 came in at "over $100 million."
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lee; his wife, Panghoua Moua; their four children, and his brother and father, who were injured in a 2006 crash that ultimately killed three people and sent Lee to prison. The suit alleges that Toyota knew about safety problems in its cars but failed to fix them or warn customers.
The suit was not unexpected but was a long time coming. A week ago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan ruled that Lee could intervene in a lawsuit brought against the automaker by Bridgette Trice, whose 7-year-old daughter, Devyn Bolton, died as a result of the accident caused by Lee's 1996 Camry.
Celeste Migliore, national business and field communications manager for Toyota Motor Sales USA, said in a statement: "We sympathize with all of the families affected by this incident, and we did not oppose Mr. Lee's plan to file his complaint against Toyota in this related federal court case. However, Toyota believes that any unintended acceleration allegations are without merit. The 1996 Camry involved in this case has never been subject to an acceleration-related recall and is designed to meet or exceed all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards."
Lee, 33, of St. Paul, was driving his family home from their Minneapolis church on June 10, 2006, a sunny Saturday afternoon, and took the Snelling Avenue exit ramp off Interstate 94. Lee insisted from the start that he frantically pressed the brake pedal, but instead of slowing down, the car sped up. Experts estimated it was going up to 90 miles per hour when it slammed into an Oldsmobile Ciera. The driver, Javis Trice Adams, 33, and his son, Javis Adams Jr., 9, died at the scene. Devyn was left a quadriplegic and died about 18 months later.
Lee was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide and sentenced to eight years in prison. At that time, few people had heard about sudden unintended acceleration, one of a series of problems that caused a massive recall of newer Toyota models starting in the fall of 2009.
That recall prompted Lee's case to be reopened, and after listening to a dozen people testify that they, too, had experienced runaway engines or sudden acceleration in their Toyotas, a Ramsey County judge ruled last summer that he should get a new trial. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors dismissed the charges against him.
The lawsuit said Lee required psychological counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder because of both the accident and his imprisonment and that he now requires sleep medication. It said his wife and four children suffered "severe emotional distress."
It said that "well before the subject accident," Toyota was aware of sudden unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles because "hundreds of other similar incidents ... had been previously reported both to Toyota and to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."
"Despite this knowledge," the lawsuit said, "Toyota never made any significant changes to improve the acceleration and the electrical system." An easily installed brake override system that was available in other cars in the same model year could have fixed those problems, Hilliard said Tuesday.
"I have come to the conclusion that the older-model Toyotas will become more and more susceptible to sudden unintended acceleration as they age," Hilliard said. "Toyota makes their cars to last forever. They create a car that will last long enough for a defect to occur. Then they don't fix the defect.
"Seriously, what is the value of what happened to Koua?" Hilliard asked. "If Mr. Toyoda [Toyota president Akio Toyoda] says OK, I'll come to the United States and I'll submit myself to jail for three years, we'll call it even."
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Climate scientists prepare to take the fight to skeptical politicians
STAR/TRIBUNEBy NEELA BANERJEE, Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Faced with increasing political attacks, hundreds of climate scientists are joining a broad campaign to push back against congressional conservatives who have threatened prominent researchers with investigations and have vowed to kill regulations to rein in man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
"We're scared," said John Abraham, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, who is organizing a clearinghouse of experts for the media and others probing climate change. "I think a lot of scientists are scared the window of opportunity is closing. Scientists have not done a good job in communicating the dangers of climate change and the degree of certainty that we're undergoing. And we have an ethical responsibility to communicate effectively."
The efforts reveal a shift among climate scientists, many of whom have traditionally stayed out of politics and avoided the news media. Many now say they are willing to go toe-to-toe with their critics, some of whom gained new power after the Republicans won control of the House Nov. 2.
On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, the country's largest association of climate scientists, plans to announce that 700 climate scientists have agreed to speak out as experts on questions about global warming and the role of man-made air pollution. Some are prepared to go before what they consider potentially hostile audiences on conservative talk-radio and TV shows.
Abraham, who last spring wrote a widely disseminated response to climate-change skeptics, is organizing a "Climate Rapid Response Team," which so far has more than three dozen leading scientists to defend the scientific community's consensus on global warming. Others are also preparing a handbook on the human causes of climate change, which they plan to start sending to U.S. high schools as soon as this fall.
During the recent election campaign, skepticism about climate change became a rallying cry for many Republican candidates. Of the more than 100 new GOP members of Congress, 50 percent are climate-change skeptics, according to an analysis of campaign statements by the Center for American Progress.
Prominent Republican congressmen such as Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Joe Barton, R-Texas, and F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., have pledged to investigate the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Abraham, who said his work on the clearinghouse is his own time, acknowledged that the assertiveness by scientists runs a risk of drawing the issue even further into politics.
"But it already is a politicized issue," he said. "What we really need is good information to make tough decisions. We're not promoting a partisan view ... All we're trying to do is provide good information about global warming so people whose job it is to come up with solutions can come up with good ones."
WASHINGTON - Faced with increasing political attacks, hundreds of climate scientists are joining a broad campaign to push back against congressional conservatives who have threatened prominent researchers with investigations and have vowed to kill regulations to rein in man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
"We're scared," said John Abraham, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, who is organizing a clearinghouse of experts for the media and others probing climate change. "I think a lot of scientists are scared the window of opportunity is closing. Scientists have not done a good job in communicating the dangers of climate change and the degree of certainty that we're undergoing. And we have an ethical responsibility to communicate effectively."
The efforts reveal a shift among climate scientists, many of whom have traditionally stayed out of politics and avoided the news media. Many now say they are willing to go toe-to-toe with their critics, some of whom gained new power after the Republicans won control of the House Nov. 2.
On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, the country's largest association of climate scientists, plans to announce that 700 climate scientists have agreed to speak out as experts on questions about global warming and the role of man-made air pollution. Some are prepared to go before what they consider potentially hostile audiences on conservative talk-radio and TV shows.
Abraham, who last spring wrote a widely disseminated response to climate-change skeptics, is organizing a "Climate Rapid Response Team," which so far has more than three dozen leading scientists to defend the scientific community's consensus on global warming. Others are also preparing a handbook on the human causes of climate change, which they plan to start sending to U.S. high schools as soon as this fall.
During the recent election campaign, skepticism about climate change became a rallying cry for many Republican candidates. Of the more than 100 new GOP members of Congress, 50 percent are climate-change skeptics, according to an analysis of campaign statements by the Center for American Progress.
Prominent Republican congressmen such as Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Joe Barton, R-Texas, and F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., have pledged to investigate the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Abraham, who said his work on the clearinghouse is his own time, acknowledged that the assertiveness by scientists runs a risk of drawing the issue even further into politics.
"But it already is a politicized issue," he said. "What we really need is good information to make tough decisions. We're not promoting a partisan view ... All we're trying to do is provide good information about global warming so people whose job it is to come up with solutions can come up with good ones."
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Republicans gain House control with big wins; Obama calls Boehner, underscoring power shift
STAR/TRIBUNEBy CALVIN WOODWARD , Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Republicans drew on the support of independents and the energy of tea party activists to fashion a resounding victory in the House in midterm elections, increased their strength in the Senate and quickly served notice they intend to challenge President Barack Obama with a conservative approach to the economy.
"We hope President Obama will now respect the will of the people, change course, and to commit to making changes they are demanding," Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the House speaker-in-waiting, told cheering partisans as GOP gains mounted Tuesday night.
Obama called Boehner to offer congratulations, and also telephoned Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and top Democrats in a series of conversations that reflected the shifting balance of power.
The Republican leaders penciled in a late-morning news conference, to be followed a short while later by Obama's own meeting with reporters at the White House.
But with the economy still struggling to shake off the effects of the worse recession in decades, the Federal Reserve was expected to unveil a new program designed to further lower interest rates on mortgages and other loans. The hope is that would eventually prompt companies to step up hiring and create new jobs.
Incomplete returns showed the GOP picked up at least 60 House seats — the biggest party turnover in more than 70 years — and led for four more, far in excess of what was needed for a majority. About two dozen races remained too close to call.
On their night of triumph, Republicans also gained at least six Senate seats, and tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky, Mike Lee in Utah and Marco Rubio in Florida were among their winners.
Not all the tea party insurgents won. Christine O'Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease. And in Nevada, Majority Leader Harry Reid dispatched Sharron Angle in an especially costly and brutal campaign in a year filled with them.
WASHINGTON - Republicans drew on the support of independents and the energy of tea party activists to fashion a resounding victory in the House in midterm elections, increased their strength in the Senate and quickly served notice they intend to challenge President Barack Obama with a conservative approach to the economy.
"We hope President Obama will now respect the will of the people, change course, and to commit to making changes they are demanding," Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the House speaker-in-waiting, told cheering partisans as GOP gains mounted Tuesday night.
Obama called Boehner to offer congratulations, and also telephoned Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and top Democrats in a series of conversations that reflected the shifting balance of power.
The Republican leaders penciled in a late-morning news conference, to be followed a short while later by Obama's own meeting with reporters at the White House.
But with the economy still struggling to shake off the effects of the worse recession in decades, the Federal Reserve was expected to unveil a new program designed to further lower interest rates on mortgages and other loans. The hope is that would eventually prompt companies to step up hiring and create new jobs.
Incomplete returns showed the GOP picked up at least 60 House seats — the biggest party turnover in more than 70 years — and led for four more, far in excess of what was needed for a majority. About two dozen races remained too close to call.
On their night of triumph, Republicans also gained at least six Senate seats, and tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky, Mike Lee in Utah and Marco Rubio in Florida were among their winners.
Not all the tea party insurgents won. Christine O'Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease. And in Nevada, Majority Leader Harry Reid dispatched Sharron Angle in an especially costly and brutal campaign in a year filled with them.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Town watches in horror as Somali Islamist militants execute 2 girls
STAR/TRIBUNEBy MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN , Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The two accused spies died amid a fusillade of bullets from a firing squad organized by a hardline Islamist militia. The condemned pair were only girls, aged 15 and 18, and their grieving relatives say they were uneducated, usually stayed at home and could not have spied for anyone.
Horrified residents of the town of Belet Weyne, in western Somalia, were forced to watch the execution by al-Shabab on Wednesday. One woman fainted as the girls were gunned down by 10 masked executioners.
"Those who watched the event could not bear the painful experience. Two very young girls were shot as they watched and no one could help," said Dahir Casowe, a local elder.
Al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaida and has carried out whippings, amputations and executions to enforce its own strict interpretation of Islam. But this was the first public execution of girls in Belet Weyne, which al-Shabab took over just over a year ago.
Only shortly before the executions, Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim sentenced the girls to death for spying for government soldiers fighting al-Shabab. The only qualifications Ibrahim needed to be appointed a judge by al-Shabab were that he be male and know the Quran.
Abdiwali Aden, a witness, told The Associated Press by phone that al-Shabab militiamen had walked through Belet Weyne's streets, using microphones and handheld speakers to order residents to attend the pending executions.
Later, Ayan Mohamed Jama, 18, and Huriyo Ibrahim, 15, wearing veils and blindfolds, were brought before the hundreds of gathered residents. As they were mowed down with assault rifles, the girls shouted "There is no God but Allah," said a witness who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. A woman fainted, said Da'ud Ahmed, another witness.
Ayan's father, Mohamed Jama, said she had gone missing for two days. Then a week ago relatives informed him that she was in the custody of al-Shabab. Jama said he went to try and see his daughter but was not allowed to.
"Al-Shabab officials there told me that she was captured during fighting between the militants and the government soldiers outside the town and that she would be brought before court. As I waited for good news, she was killed on Wednesday. I am shocked and cannot say more," said Jama.
Osman Ahmed, one of Huriyo's cousins, said the girls came from poor families who could not afford to send them to school so they stayed at home. "There was no way uneducated young girls could spy for anybody," Ahmed said.
Sheik Yusuf Ali Ugas, the governor of the Hiran region who was appointed by al-Shabab, told the crowd over a loudspeaker that the girls were captured during fighting and that they admitted to spying. But Sadia Osman, who witnessed the execution, said one of the girls proclaimed her innocence.
Ugas warned residents against using their mobile phones or cameras to photograph the execution, saying they risked amputation if they did so. He indicated there may be more executions.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The two accused spies died amid a fusillade of bullets from a firing squad organized by a hardline Islamist militia. The condemned pair were only girls, aged 15 and 18, and their grieving relatives say they were uneducated, usually stayed at home and could not have spied for anyone.
Horrified residents of the town of Belet Weyne, in western Somalia, were forced to watch the execution by al-Shabab on Wednesday. One woman fainted as the girls were gunned down by 10 masked executioners.
"Those who watched the event could not bear the painful experience. Two very young girls were shot as they watched and no one could help," said Dahir Casowe, a local elder.
Al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaida and has carried out whippings, amputations and executions to enforce its own strict interpretation of Islam. But this was the first public execution of girls in Belet Weyne, which al-Shabab took over just over a year ago.
Only shortly before the executions, Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim sentenced the girls to death for spying for government soldiers fighting al-Shabab. The only qualifications Ibrahim needed to be appointed a judge by al-Shabab were that he be male and know the Quran.
Abdiwali Aden, a witness, told The Associated Press by phone that al-Shabab militiamen had walked through Belet Weyne's streets, using microphones and handheld speakers to order residents to attend the pending executions.
Later, Ayan Mohamed Jama, 18, and Huriyo Ibrahim, 15, wearing veils and blindfolds, were brought before the hundreds of gathered residents. As they were mowed down with assault rifles, the girls shouted "There is no God but Allah," said a witness who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. A woman fainted, said Da'ud Ahmed, another witness.
Ayan's father, Mohamed Jama, said she had gone missing for two days. Then a week ago relatives informed him that she was in the custody of al-Shabab. Jama said he went to try and see his daughter but was not allowed to.
"Al-Shabab officials there told me that she was captured during fighting between the militants and the government soldiers outside the town and that she would be brought before court. As I waited for good news, she was killed on Wednesday. I am shocked and cannot say more," said Jama.
Osman Ahmed, one of Huriyo's cousins, said the girls came from poor families who could not afford to send them to school so they stayed at home. "There was no way uneducated young girls could spy for anybody," Ahmed said.
Sheik Yusuf Ali Ugas, the governor of the Hiran region who was appointed by al-Shabab, told the crowd over a loudspeaker that the girls were captured during fighting and that they admitted to spying. But Sadia Osman, who witnessed the execution, said one of the girls proclaimed her innocence.
Ugas warned residents against using their mobile phones or cameras to photograph the execution, saying they risked amputation if they did so. He indicated there may be more executions.
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