Society's Child

Ex-Cop Charged over Politkovskaya Murder

RIA Novosti
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

Moscow - The Russian Investigative Committee pressed formal charges on Monday against a former Moscow policeman accused of organizing - but not contracting - the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov pleaded guilty to having given out Politkovskaya's address to killers, whom he also provided with weapons used in the murder, the committee said on its website.

Pavlyuchenkov also made his subordinates track Politkovskaya, without informing them that he was preparing a contract hit, not carrying out police work, the report said.

Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta reporter known for her scathing criticism of both the Kremlin and the North Caucasus authorities over rights abuses, was shot dead in the lobby of her apartment building in downtown Moscow in 2006.

The investigators' report did not name the hit's contractor, but said it had a suspect who wanted her dead in revenge for her expose publications.

Bomb threat shuts crossing between Detroit and Canada - again

Isolde Raftery
NBC News
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:00 UTC

Authorities shut down one of the busiest bridge crossings between Canada and the United States on Monday evening after receiving a bomb threat, according to Dan Stamper, president of the Detroit International Bridge Company.

"We take any threat very seriously, and set in motion the security measures the bridge has had in place since 9/11, staying in constant contact with first responders," Stamper said in a statement. "We cannot confirm, but suspect, that this has something to do with Canada's disinvestment at the border by cutting back on customs' agents."

The bridge closing comes four days after a man called from a street pay phone, making a similar threat to a nearby commuter tunnel that also connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, in Canada, The Associated Press reported. No explosives were found and the call was determined to be a hoax, according to the Detroit Free-Press.

Monday night's bomb threat was called in around 7:20 p.m. Authorities immediately stopped traffic on the bridge.

Comment: Article reference from several days ago: Detroit-Windsor Tunnel reopens after bomb threat

Police Bust Drug Network Selling Mexican Meth in Oklahoma

Steve Olafson
Reuters
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 06:13 UTC

Police arrested 17 people on Monday and were looking for 21 more in a crackdown on what they described as a major operation smuggling Mexican-made methamphetamine across the border for sale in central Oklahoma.

Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said the drug ring distributed 10 to 12 pounds of methamphetamine valued at up to $200,000 each week in central Oklahoma. The meth was brought across the border by car, he said.

Police arrested 17 people and have arrest warrants for 21 more suspects, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Undercover officers made a series of drug purchases, including one transaction in which a pound of methamphetamine was bought for $16,000, before state and federal officers with Homeland Security began making arrests, he said.

Comment: Read about the Matamoros cult and the CIA (Part IV) to understand the ongoing horrors along the US-Mexico border:

Latin American High Weirdness: 'Hand of Death' Satanic CIA Cult Network

Jackson Woman Tended Dead Friend's Corpse, Watched NASCAR

CBS News - Detroit
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 09:22 UTC

US, Michigan - A woman admits she kept the dead body of her friend in the Jackson home they shared but says it was for months, not more than a year as police believe.

Charles Zigler's mummified body was discovered last week covered in a chair.

Linda Chase told the Jackson Citizen Patriot she regets her actions and feel horrible about it, but she just didn't want to be alone. "He was the only guy who was ever nice to me," she added.

Chase said she and Zigler were close friends, but not romantically involved, and had lived together for 10 years. She kept the body clean and dressed and talked to it while watching NASCAR on television.

Protests Multiply Against Cuts in Spain

Roland Lloyd Parry
Agence France-Presse
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

© Agence France-Presse/Dominique Faget
Government employees in Madrid hold signs reading ''This is a hold-up'' during a demonstration against the Spanish government's latest austerity measures.

Hundreds of Spanish firemen, police officers and nurses marched yelling through the streets Monday, denouncing as "robbery" the pay cuts enforced under Spain's latest fiscal emergency plan.

"Hands up, this is a robbery," cried protestors as they blocked a major thoroughfare in central Madrid in a demonstration organised through messages on social networking sites such as Twitter.

The latest protests erupted after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last week announced new pay cuts and tax increases, aiming to save 65 billion euros ($80 billion) in order to lower the public deficit.

Spain is suffering its second recession in four years, with an unemployment rate of more than 24 percent.

Cuts to public budgets are already affecting services such as schools and hospitals and critics say Rajoy's new austerity measures will worsen economic conditions for ordinary people.

Among the latest steps is a cut in the Christmas bonus paid to civil servants, equivalent to a seven-percent reduction in annual pay.

Horror: Naked, Blood-Soaked Man Breaks Into 2 Homes, Kills Elderly Woman

CBS News - Sacramento
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 08:39 UTC

US, California - An elderly Fair Oaks woman murdered in her own home Sunday evening has been identified.

The Sacramento County Coroner's webpage identified her as 79-year-old Carole Jane Sturgis.

The suspect in her death, 32-year-old Moses Trotter, was naked and bloody when he was taken into custody outside Sturgis' Olympic Way home Sunday evening.

Deputies were first called to the area by a resident reporting a man in his house in the 4900 Block of Durland Way, according to Dep. Jason Ramos.

Japan's Largest Anti-Nuclear Rally in Tokyo Draws Over 170,000

RT.com
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:12 UTC

Tens of thousands of people overran a park in Tokyo urging Japan to abandon nuclear power as the country prepares to restart another reactor, which was shut down among 50 others following last year's meltdown at Fukushima.

Temperatures sweltering, the Yoyogi Park failed to accommodate all the rally participants from all over Japan, who were waving banners "Goodbye Nuclear Plants" and "The Nuclear Era is Over" while chanting "No Nuclear."

"If we don't do anything and stay silent, it means we agree in restarting the nuclear plants," said the protesters, led by Nobel-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe.

Organizers put the number of attendees at 170,000-200,000; this makes the demonstration the largest in 50 years. Over 7.4 million signatures have been collected for a petition demanding a phase-out for nuclear power.

Three New Victims Come Forward in Case Against Jerry Sandusky

Kristian Dyer
Dr. Saturday
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

There's more bad news for former Penn State assistant coach and convicted child abuser Jerry Sandusky.

Monday, three men accused Sandusky of abuse dating back to the early 1970s. It is the earliest known reports of Sandusky abuse to date.

Sandusky, convicted last month on 45 charges of sexually abusing young boys, is currently in prison awaiting sentencing. According to reports, the three men came forward to the police and are claiming abuse that would have happened when Sandusky was in his late 20s and early 30s and employed by Penn State.

According to the Patriot-News: "Two sources with knowledge of the investigation say police are aware these men have come forward." However, it is unknown whether they were among the more than 430 interviews conducted by investigator Louis Freeh, whose report on the misdeeds at Penn State have sent shockwaves through the country.

Penn State declined comment when reached by Yahoo! Sports.

Northern Strike 2012 - training exercise emphasizing air-to-ground operations

Patricia Luna
Air Force Print News Today
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:34 UTC

Nineteen Air National Guard units from seven different states will gather July 9-20, 2012 to participate in Northern Strike 2012. Northern Strike 2012 is an Air National Guard sponsored training exercise emphasizing air-to-ground operations that will prepare ANG, ARNG, and Active Component fighter, bomber, mobility, and rotary aircrew, ANG and Coalition Tactical Air Control Party (TACP), Air Support Operations Center (ASOC), Air and Space Operations Center (AOC), Combat Weather, Medical, and Intelligence personnel to conduct direct combat operations.

Comment: Purpose of US National Guard

The focus of the exercise is to provide requirements based training emphasizing day and night Close Air Support (CAS), Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), Air Refueling, Air Drop, and Medical Evacuation missions utilizing Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Major Combat Operations (MCO), and Counterinsurgency (COIN) scenarios.

The exercise runs for two weeks and more than 300 fighter, bomber, mobility, and rotary sorties are planned in order to meet stated objectives for participating units. In addition, more than 30 Joint Terminal Attack Control (JTAC) team members will receive advanced training during the 12-hour daily flying window.

"I am thoroughly impressed with the way this huge exercise came together," said MG Gregory Vadnais, The Adjutant General of the Michigan Army and Air Guard. "Col Teff and his staff in Alpena have a state-of-the-art, world-class training facility; a perfect location for Northern Strike 2012, the first-ever Air National Guard sponsored exercise hosted in the state of Michigan."

Major Military Training Exercise "Northern Strike" Leads to 'UFO Sightings' in Northern Michigan?

Jonathan Oosting
MichiganLive
Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:04 UTC

UFO sighting websites lit up this week after several residents in northern lower Michigan phoned 9-1-1 to report suspicious, unexplained lights in the night sky.

But the conspiracy theory didn't live long.

A military official confirmed today that the lights likely were decoy flares used in a large-scale training exercise that they promoted via press release the morning of the 9-1-1 calls.

Colonel Bryan Teff, commander of the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, says operation "Northern Strike 2012" is the largest ever air-to-ground training exercise hosted in Michigan.

Ninteen Air National Guard units from seven different states are gathered in northern Michigan for the exercise, which began Monday and will continue through July 20.

"The primary things that we're doing over the two weeks are focused on close air support and training to provide support for ground forces, whether that be in Afghanistan or somewhere else," Teff said.