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January 29, 2009. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A man has been charged with throwing his 4-year-old daughter to her death from a traffic bridge above a river in Australia's second-largest city, officials said.

The 36-year-old father was scheduled to appear in a Melbourne court later Thursday charged with her murder, police Sgt. Creina O'Grady said. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.

The girl was rushed to Royal Children's Hospital after being dragged barely alive from the Yarra River. The hospital said she died about four hours after the 190-foot fall.

The father had appeared before a family court on Tuesday and Wednesday to settle custody of the couple's three children with their mother, a court official said.

The girl's two brothers may have been inside an SUV parked nearby when the man allegedly dropped the girl off the West Gate Bridge, Detective Inspector Steve Clark told reporters.

The surviving children were still with their father when he was arrested about an hour later outside the family court, he said.

Police have not named the suspect, the victim or other members of the family. Australian athorities often withhold information that could identify children involved in a crime as suspects or victims, or their families.

The alleged murder happened during rush hour on the bridge, an eight-lane freeway linking downtown Melbourne with the city's western suburbs.

Shocked witnesses called police to report seeing the girl being thrown from the bridge into the river shortly after 9 a.m.

A man "dropped (her) over the bridge" into the water, and police in a boat rescued the child about 10 minutes later, Clark said.

Clark said their mother had been informed but did not give details.

A court official, who declined to be named because she was not authorized to speak to the media, said the custody hearing over the children had ended Wednesday without a ruling because the parents had agreed to share access.

The hearing had been listed to resume Thursday, but neither parent had been expected to attend for a third day in court, she said.

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Israeli Warplanes Hit Gaza Following Rockets Attack on Israel

January 29, 2009

Israeli warplanes have carried out more air strikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip after militants fired two rockets into southern Israel.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli aircraft struck the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis Thursday, wounding six Palestinians, including a man and several school children.

In other air strikes since Wednesday, Israel has attacked what it calls a weapons factory and smuggling tunnels linking Gaza with Egypt.

Gaza militants have fired two rockets into southern Israel since Wednesday - the first such attacks since Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel declared unilateral cease-fires on January 18. The rockets did not cause casualties.

Fighting between Israel and Gaza militants has escalated in recent days as U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell makes his first official visit to the region. He meets Thursday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank but has no plans to talk to Hamas.

After meeting Israeli officials in Jerusalem Wednesday, Mitchell said Washington is committed to Israel’s security and what he called Israel’s right to defend itself against legitimate threats.

Mitchell also said there should be an end to arms smuggling by Gaza militants and a re-opening of Gaza’s border crossings based on a 2005 agreement.
The agreement called for Mr. Abbas’ Palestinian Authority to operate Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt alongside European Union observers tasked with preventing smuggling.

The deal broke down after Hamas took control of Gaza from Mr. Abbas’ forces in 2007, prompting the EU observers to leave. Egypt and Israel have since closed their crossings with Gaza to regular traffic but have made exceptions for humanitarian purposes.

Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told the Associated Press that Hamas wants to be a part of the international community and has no interest to escalate the crisis in Gaza or challenge the world, as he put it.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Mitchell Wednesday that Israel will not permanently re-open its borders with Gaza until Hamas frees an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, captured by Gaza militants in 2006.

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Waking up everyday is truly a blessing I thank you lord for another bless day I pray for all my brothers and sisters for every country in their time of needs o lord look down on us bring us all together as one bring us peace bring us harmony we love you lord it is all we can do love u and serve you.

WHO LUV, S YOU

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Signs of the end of time

A man fatally shot his wife, five young children and himself Tuesday after he faxed a note to a TV station claiming the couple had just been fired from their hospital jobs and together planned the killings as an escape for the whole family. “Why leave our children in someone else’s hands,” Ervin Lupoe wrote in a letter posted late Tuesday on the KABC-TV Web site. The station called police after receiving the fax, and a police dispatch center also received a call from a man who stated, “I just returned home and my whole family’s been shot.” Officers rushed to the home in Wilmington, a small community between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about 8:30 a.m., apparently within minutes of the killings.

Officers could still smell the gunshot residue in the air, reports The Associated Press. Although the fax asserted that Ana Lupoe planned the killings of the whole family, police Lt. John Romero said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect. A revolver was found next to his body. Ana Lupoe’s body was found in an upstairs bedroom with the bodies of the couple’s twin 2-year-old boys. The bodies of an 8-year-old girl and twin 5-year-old girls were found alongside Ervin Lupoe’s in another bedroom. All were shot in the head, coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. Ervin Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Lupoe at that time; she did not ask why the family was moving. Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles released a statement confirming both Lupoe and his wife had worked there; both were medical technicians. “We are deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of the Lupoe family,” it said in a statement. In his letter, Ervin Lupoe claimed he and his wife both had been fired and that she suggested they kill themselves and their children, too. The letter indicated that Lupoe and his wife had been under investigation for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency in order to obtain childcare.