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Sherlock

US, New York: New Twist in Long Island Murder Mystery

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© file photoGilbert’s sister, left, with a 48 Hours reporter.
A Long Island doctor reversed his story about what happened the night Shannan Gilbert vanished, according to a one-hour 48 Hours Mystery special about the Gilgo Beach killings, which will air tonight at 10.

Peter Hackett, long reported as one of the last people to see the missing Gilbert, had denied that he reached out to her family, as her mother alleged.

But tonight, the show reveals that he acknowledged making two calls to Gilbert's family last May, saying he only offered to help search.

Info

US, Illinois: Mysterious Peacock Found in Chicago Neighborhood


A Westside Chicago neighborhood has gone to the birds! A peacock was roaming free Sunday afternoon on West 19th Street.

An animal control officer spotted the bird Sunday morning but wasn't able to catch it. She did finally corner it Sunday afternoon.

It's unclear where the peacock came from. A city spokesperson says if no one claims it, the bird will go to a sanctuary.

Source: CNN

Document

US, Florida: Strange Odor, Mysterious Notes Lead to N. Miami Apartment Evacuation

Police and firemen evacuated a block of apartments in North Miami on Monday night when they discovered an apartment filled with a mysterious smell and cryptic, possibly threatening notes.

When a hazmat team entered the fourth-floor apartment at 1475 NE 125th Terrace, they encountered a strong odor similar to gasoline fumes. The smell, which was noticeable from outside the apartment, appeared to come from containers filled with an unknown chemical.

Responders also discovered a bedroom door covered with notes in English, Spanish, and Creole. The notes warned that "whoever entered the apartment was going to meet Jesus," a Miami-Dade police spokesman said.

Heart - Black

India, Bangalore: Woman Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

A 32 year old woman died under mysterious circumstances in J P Nagar police station limits on Monday afternoon.The deceased has been identified as Padma, a resident of Jaraganahalli near G K Mallaiah College. Police said that her body was found in a sitting posture and a rope was tied around her neck and it looks like she committed suicide by hanging.However, it is mysterious as one cannot commit suicide while sitting on the floor, police said. She has two children Tejas Gowda and Kiran Gowda. She was alone at home as her husband J C Gowda went to his mobile SIM card shop. Tejas, who came from the school at 3 PM found the front doors opened and room locked from inside. He called the neighbours and opened the doors found his mother dead. At the sametime, his brother Kiran and father J C Gowda returned home. According to the police, Gowda used to go to home generally at 3 pm as the children used to return home at that time.SuspicionTejas told police that there are some external injuries on the body and her gold ear rings and chain were missing. Family members suspect that some known person might have committed murder for stealing gold, but created a scene like she committed suicide.J P Nagar police now have registered a unnatural death case, but are waiting for the autopsy from Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). The police have registered a case and are investigating. They are questioning J C Gowda, her husband for more information.

Crusader

Iraq's First New Church Opens Under US Occupation

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© unknownThe Mar Bulos (Saint Paul's) church stands in Kirkuk. Mar Bulos, which opened on Friday in a poor Christian neighbourhood of the northern city, is Iraq's first new church since the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraq's first new church under the US occupation opened its doors in the northern city of Kirkuk, the region's Chaldean archbishop told AFP.

The opening of Saint Paul's Church comes despite a deep decline in the number of Christians in Iraq; last All Hallows Eve, Al-Qaeda assaulted a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad, killing 44 worshippers, two priests and seven Iraqi security officers. As a result, many Christians have fled the capital.

Before the 2003 US assault that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the number of Iraqi Christians went from an estimated one million to less than half that number; the remaining Christians now live in Kirkuk, Mosul and Iraq's Kurdistan region.

During St. Paul's opening ceremony, Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of the northern province of Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk, said Christians and Muslims still need one another.

Bell

Greece set to default on massive debt burden, European leaders concede

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© Orestis Panagiotou/EPAGreece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, European leaders have conceded. Greek indignados participate in the people's general assemply in central Syntagma square in Athens.
Bailout fund may be used to buy back Greek debt, markets in turmoil amid escalating anxiety

European leaders bowed to the inevitable and conceded that Greece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, which would be a first among the 17 countries using the euro.

They also abruptly shifted tack in the eurozone debt crisis by raising the possibility of using the eurozone's bailout fund to buy back Greek debt on the markets, meaning sizeable losses for Greece's private investors and reduced debt levels for Athens.

Following 12 hours of fraught negotiations in Brussels haunted by the risks of contagion in the eurozone spreading to Italy, now being targeted by the financial markets for the first time in the 18-month crisis, the 17 governments of the eurozone pointedly failed to rule out a sovereign debt default by Greece.

Comment: At last the Eurocrats are beginning to get towards the root of the fiscal crisis. It is entirely manufactured and it is designed to maintain the US dollar's pre-eminence as the world's reserve currency for as long as such tactics can hold out.

Greece has debts measured in the billions, the US has debt measured in the TRILLIONS... which economy, if it were to default, do we really think would cause systemic rupture?


Bizarro Earth

Northern Ireland: Night of violence casts a shadow over the Twelfth

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© Jonathan Porter/ PressEye.comBelfast - Northern Ireland - 10th July 2011 - Overnight trouble in Ballyclare between loyalist rioters and the PSNI. The trouble started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning with a number of vehicles being highjacked and burnt out. Burnt out cars pictured in the Grange Estate off the Doagh Road where most of the trouble occurred.
Six police officers injured and cars burnt out after a bust-up over flags explodes into riots and thuggery

A dark shadow hangs over the beginning of the Twelfth period today after serious violence engulfed a number of towns across Northern Ireland.

Fears of further rioting were high after simmering tensions erupted into ugly scenes in Ballyclare, Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey in a row sparked by flags.

Crisis talks were held between politicians, police and loyalist representatives yesterday in a bid to quell fears of more trouble in Co Antrim.

The severe disruption started in Ballyclare on Saturday night before spreading to other towns, leaving six police officers injured and several vehicles hijacked and burnt out.

Violence broke out in the Doagh Road and Grange Estate areas of the town at 11.30pm on Saturday, when it is understood between 70 and 100 loyalists protested after officers removed flags.

During the worst of the disturbances, officers came under fire with petrol bombs and missiles in the early hours of yesterday.

Bell

General Accounting Office: Pentagon Center for Brain Injuries Failing Vets

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© onepennysheet.com
The investigative arm of Congress has released a report saying that the Pentagon center for research about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other traumatic brain injuries is so dysfunctional that it hasn't carried out its mission.

A recent Government Accountability Office report on the Defense Centers for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCOE) said that the center has been unable to define and justify its mission before Congress, making it hard to allocate funding for the center. Data showing the DCOE's findings and progress aren't readily available to Congress, making it that much harder for members to understand the center.

"[DCOE was] not able to explain to us in any clarity what they're about, what they intend to do in the future, how much it's going to cost and what value will come out of that spending," Denise Fantone, a GAO director who helped supervise the investigation, told NPR.

Comment: To learn more about the many cases of undiagnosed and untreated PTSD in veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how the military is ultimately failing wounded vets read the following articles:

More Than 60,000 Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Diagnosed With PTSD
Epidemic: Over 400,000 Traumatic Brain Injuries for Vets Coming from Iraq and Afghanistan
Traumatic Brain Injuries Linked to Long-Term Health Issues for Iraq Vets
Soldiers' Traumatic Brain Injuries Cause Dementia, Aggression, Depression and Relationship Problems


Heart - Black

US: Woman 'sacked for having grey hair'

 Sandra Rawline
© Houston Chronicle/APSandra Rawline with her lawyer Robert Dowdy.

Employee sues for discrimination claiming she was fired over her refusal to dye her silver locks

Sandra Rawline's hair turned grey when she was in her early 20s. She stuck with it, proudly displaying her shoulder-length locks with their natural silver streaks. "This is who I am," she said.

But it seems that who she was, when it comes to grey hair in the workplace, was not satisfactory to her Texan employer. In August 2009 her boss approached her and told her to confect a more "upscale image" to go with her real estate firm's move from the Houston outskirts into a central commercial area.

Propaganda

Propaganda! UK Terror threat is down but attack could occur at any moment says Home Secretary

threat level
© flickr/billypalooza
Britain has lowered the threat level from international terrorism less than a year after the last attempted attack.

The level has been reduced from "severe," meaning an attack in highly likely, to "substantial" meaning an attack is a strong possibility, but the Home Secretary stressed that a terrorist attack might occur without further warning.

The threat, which is at the third level of a five point scale, is now at the same level as the threat from Irish terrorism on mainland Britain.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said: "This means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility and might well occur without further warning.

"The change in the threat level to substantial does not mean the overall threat has gone away - there remains a real and serious threat against the United Kingdom and I would ask the public to remain vigilant."

The decision to change the threat level is taken by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, part of MI5, independently of ministers and is based on the latest intelligence.