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Family

Commonwealth heads agree to update 300-year-old royal succession rules

Bruce Cheadle
The Canadian Press
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:31 UTC
Prince William, Kate Middleton
© Allie Merriam
It's taken 300 years, but the old boys club of royal primogeniture has finally been shelved.

Sixteen Commonwealth "realms" that still maintain the Queen as their head of state agreed Friday to change the rules of succession that have favoured boys over girls since the 17th century.

The rules of primogeniture - which determine the constitutional figurehead of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, among others - were belatedly dragged into the 21st century by dint of the massive popularity of Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

"In future, the order of succession should be determined simply by the order of birth," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in announcing the agreement at a Commonwealth leaders' summit. "And we've agreed to introduce this for all descendents from (Charles) the Prince of Wales."

"Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen."
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Yoda

Gaddafi on democracy, dictators and world peace

NIall Bradley
Sott.net
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:56 UTC
Muammar Gaddafi was supposedly killed by a baying mob last week, having survived successive bombing raids on his residences in Libya by NATO, whose rationale was that Gaddafi was "threatening to kill his own people."

But what do we really know about the man who defied Western criticism and propaganda for over 40 years and transformed Libya from the poorest nation on Earth into Africa's richest?

This interview he gave to Al Jazeera in 2009 during his visit to the UN in New York suggests that far from being an evil, rambling madman, Gaddafi is (or was) one of the few world leaders who actually knows what he's talking about.

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Ambulance

Hurt protester Scott Olsen was provoking no one

Justin Berton & Will Kane
San Francisco Chronicle
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:36 UTC
Image
© Jay Finneburgh/APIraq War veteran Scott Olsen lays on the ground bleeding from a head wound after being struck by a by a projectile during an Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland,Calif.
Oakland - Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, stood calmly in front of a police line as tear gas canisters that officers shot into the Occupy Oakland protest Tuesday night whizzed past his head.

"He was standing perfectly still, provoking no one," said Raleigh Latham, an Oakland filmmaker shooting footage of the confrontation between police and hundreds of protesters at 14th Street and Broadway. "If something didn't hit him directly in the face, then it went off close to his head and knocked him down."

The something was a projectile that apparently came from police lines, fractured Olsen's skull and put him in Highland General Hospital. Doctors upgraded his condition Thursday from critical to fair, and said they expect him to make a full recovery.

His parents flew in from Wisconsin and spent Thursday at his bedside. When they arrived, Olsen "just blossomed," said Highland's chief of surgery, Dr. Alden Harken.

Olsen's injury added to the national attention focused on Occupy Oakland in the aftermath of the repeated police tear-gassing of protesters Tuesday. In Las Vegas, protesters projected a photo of the Marine in uniform onto the corrugated-metal side of a building at their camp, the Associated Press reported. Vigils for Olsen were planned at Occupy sites in other cities.
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Handcuffs

US: Northern California Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty; Horse Rescue Foundation In Need Of Help


CBS News, Sacramento
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:24 UTC
A Northern California animal rescue group may need some rescuing of its own after helping save dozens of horses in what some are describing as the worst cases of animal cruelty they've witnessed.


Volunteers from The Grace Foundation in El Dorado Hills were not prepared for the conditions it found on a Northern California ranch in April, where the carcasses of 25 horses littered the property, many just the skeletal remains.

"It was just a graveyard for horses," said Beth DeCaprio of The Grace Foundation. "It was the worst case I had ever seen."
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Light Sabers

French warships hit Somalia coastline


Press TV
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:51 UTC
French warships
File photo shows French warships
French warships have shelled parts of coastline of the Horn of African state of Somalia with more than 20 heavy missiles, Press TV reports.

The missiles are reported to have struck the town of Kuda and the port of Kismayo, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday.

Witnesses said that four cruise missiles hit near Kismayo while another six missiles struck Kuda.

There has been no immediate report on the number of casualties.

Kenyan officials confirmed the French navy's role in Somalia. However, Paris denied having deployed any warships in the area.
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Heart - Black

Palestine: Settlers Kill Sheep, Set Fire to Beit Furik Home, Army Raids Balata Camp and Arrest 4 in Hebron


Palestine News Network
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:34 UTC
sheep
© Brendan Work, PNNSheep graze outside of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank
On Wednesday and Thursday, two separate settler attacks throughout the West Bank led to property damage and panic. On Wednesday, west of Hebron, settlers killed 10 sheep belonging to villagers of al-Litwani and al-Jawaya villages, while in the North, settlers threw a Molotov cocktail into a house in Beit Furik, east of Nablus.

In Beit Furik, a group of settlers emptied a container of gasoline in a room in the home of Shahir Issa Hanani, then set a fire that destroyed the room. Hanani's car engine was also burned, causing an explosion that woke the village. Municipality chairman Atef Hanani blamed settlers from Itamar and Alon Moreh.

In Nablus, Israeli forces raided Balata refugee camp, searched houses and shot rubber bullets and flashbang grenades. The houses raided belong to Marshod Yousef Terawi, the brothers Mouhamad and Eyad Ma'zoz Terawi, the brothers Mahmoud and Basil Shtewi Abu Hamdan, Ashraf Qatawi Abo al-Al, and the brothers Na'el and Tawfiq Qetawi.
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X

Canadian forces spying on indigenous: Report

Katrina Jones
The News Tribe
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:29 UTC
canadian army
The Canadian Forces' National Counter-Intelligence Unit has been collecting intelligence on the country's indigenous groups, recently released documents revealed.

The documents, which have been released under the Access to Information Act, show that the unit has released at least eight reports on the activities and future protests of indigenous organizations between January, 2010, and July, 2011.

The so-called Counter-Intelligence Information Reports alert the Canadian army to events organized by groups such as the Assembly of First Nations, the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council and Red Power United.

President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Phillip described the reports as "unsettling," Global Research reported.

"The fact that they are directing their intelligence activities at native communities and native organizations is deeply disturbing," Phillip said.
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Heart - Black

US, Philadelphia: Two Abortion Clinic Employees Plead Guilty to Murder

Dave Warner
Reuters
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:57 UTC
Image
© The Associated PressThe "house of horrors"... The Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia, where Dr Kermit Gosnell allegedly made millions from abortions.
Story contains graphic descriptions in paragraphs five through eight.

Two employees of a Philadelphia abortion clinic where live, viable babies were allegedly killed and a patient died after being given on overdose of painkillers pleaded guilty on Thursday to murder.

Guilty pleas to third-degree murder were entered by Adrienne Moton, 34, and Sherry West, 52, who both worked for Dr. Kermit Gosnell at what prosecutors have described as a decrepit and unsanitary clinic known as Women's Medical Society in West Philadelphia.

Due to a court-issued gag order, attorneys declined to comment on reports that no plea agreement was reached in the case.

Sentencing was set for December 2 by Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner. The maximum penalty for third-degree murder is 40 years in prison.
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Attention

Peace or War? Merkel Wants 'permanent' Supervision of Greece

Valentina Pop
euobserver.com
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:31 UTC
Image
© Valentina Pop'Nobody should take peace for granted,' says Merkel
Peace should not be taken for granted if the euro fails, German chancellor Merkel told MPs Wednesday (26 October) ahead of the eurozone summit where an increase of the bail-out fund firepower may lead to Germany's own state assets being taken as collateral.

In a dark blue jacket reflecting the mood in and about the eurozone, Merkel abandoned her usual cautious rhetoric warned outright of a war.

"Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe. They are not for granted. That's why I say: If the euro fails, Europe fails," Merkel said, followed by a long applause from all political groups.

"We have a historical obligation: To protect by all means Europe's unification process begun by our forefathers after centuries of hatred and blood spill. None of us can foresee what the consequences would be if we were to fail."
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Arrow Up

Former British MP Baroness Jenny Tonge: 'Israel must return Palestinians' land'


Press TV
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:52 UTC
Jenny Tonge
Former British Member of Parliament Baroness Jenny Tonge
Former British Member of Parliament (MP) Baroness Jenny Tonge has said that the Israelis must give back Palestinian people's land in order to solve the Palestinian issue, Press TV reports.

"They (the Israelis) really must solve this huge problem that they have made for themselves, entirely their fault, they have made this problem and they have got to solve it by giving the Palestinians their land back and creating a secure and prosperous day to Palestine," Tonge said on Press TV's program Remember Palestine.

Baroness Tonge said people are furious about the plight of the Palestinians and it is a problem that we have to solve for the future of our children and grandchildren.
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