Texas Teen Returns Home After Being Mistakenly Deported to Colombia

Fifteen-year-old Jakadrien Turner arrives at DFW Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday Jan. 6.

A Texas teenager who was mistakenly deported to Colombia despite being a U.S. citizen has been reunited with her family. Fifteen-year-old Jakadrien Turner was deported last May after U.S. authorities mistook her to be a Colombian national. Turner’s ordeal began when she gave police a fake name when she was arrested for shoplifting. Turner was deported even though her fingerprints did not match and she spoke no Spanish.

Ray Jackson, attorney for the family: "The family is ecstatic. We’re happy to have their daughter home. We are planning to get some rest, planning to do what we can to make sure that she’s able to get back to living a normal life. Respect those wishes. We’re going to take a few days, and then we plan to make a statement and proceed forward. But we’re so happy, and we’re ready to get her home. We’re happy to have her back."


MSNBC Suspends Pat Buchanan
In media news, MSNBC has suspended the right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan following the publication of his book, "Suicide of a Superpower," and his appearance on a white nationalist radio station. ColorOfChange.org and CREDO Action launched a petition drive last year to have Buchanan fired because of what one petition described as his "xenophobia, bigotry and hate speech." In his new book, Buchanan writes that the "European and Christian core of our country is shrinking," which is damaging the nation "ethnically, culturally, morally, politically." One chapter of the book is titled "The End of White America."


African National Congress Celebrates 100th Anniversary
In South Africa, the African National Congress, or ANC, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding. The once-banned ANC led the struggle that finally ended apartheid white-minority rule in 1994, when elections ushered in a multiracial democracy. Participants in the weekend festivities included the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Rev. Jesse Jackson: "So, the whole world said, 'No to apartheid.' South Africa’s greatest strength, frankly, was not its resources of gold and diamonds, but its moral authority. South Africa convinced the world to end a regime that was inhumane. And now we see South Africa on the growth curve."


Nigeria General Strike Begins over Rising Fuel Costs
More than 10,000 protesters rallied in Lagos, Nigeria, today on day one of a general strike to protest soaring fuel prices and decades of government corruption in the oil-rich country.
The strike has been backed by two major unions, as well as Occupy Nigeria. The strike has shut down schools, banks, shops and businesses in Lagos and other cities. At least one protester has been reportedly shot dead.


Death of Private Danny Chen: Military Admits Chen was Target of Race-Based Hazing on Daily Basis U.S. Army investigators have released explosive new details about the death of Private Danny Chen, who allegedly took his own life just weeks after he was deployed to Afghanistan last October. The family of the 19-year-old Chinese-American soldier says the Army told them Chen had been abused by comrades on an almost daily basis, including racist hazing, with soldiers throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him to do push-ups or hang upside down with his mouth full of water. "This is not a situation where you can expect Danny to make complaints to his higher-ups, when they’re the ones that are causing this hazing," says Liz OuYang of the civil rights group OCA-New York. "It was incumbent upon the officer, the highest leader in this platoon, to take action... Had he reported it to higher-ups, there is a great possibility that Danny may still be alive today." Chen’s family and supporters have called for eight soldiers charged in his death to be tried in the United States instead of overseas.


Panetta Admits Iran is Not Trying to Develop a Nuclear Weapon
On Jan. 8, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared on CBS’s "Face the Nation" to discuss Iran.

Leon Panetta: "I think the pressure of the sanctions, I think the pressure of—diplomatic pressures from everywhere—Europe, the United States, elsewhere—is working to put pressure on them, to make them understand that they cannot continue to do what they’re doing. Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is, do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us."

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