Society's Child

Canada's Largest Public Sector Union Wages Campaign Against Harper government

Andy Radia
Political Points
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:46 UTC

Get ready for some more labour unrest in Canada.

Canada's largest public sector union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, is vowing to initiate a major offensive against any plans to radically reduce its membership.

President John Gordon says his union, which represents about 172,000 federal employees, won't start a general strike but will be actively be campaigning against the Tories and any potential job cuts.

Stephen Harper's government has made it "very clear" its plan to find $4 billion in annual savings to balance the federal budget will mean some programs will be eliminated or scaled back, Gordon told Bloomberg News.

US, Massachusetts: Stun Gun Discovery on Jet Blue Plane Raises Questions

NECN
Mon, 11 Jul 2011 05:45 UTC

A Jet Blue flight took off from Boston Friday night and then landed in Newark, New Jersey, where the plane's cleaning crew found a stun gun.

The Striker 1800 was found in a seat back pocket and was turned over to authorities. Now the investigation is turning to how a stun gun made its way onto a plane and who brought it on, something investigators may never know.

Jet Blue passengers are uneasy with the stunning discovery, and rightfully so. Fred Hevalt, an airline security expert who produced the documentary "Please Remove Your Shoes," however, says that it's possible to get all sorts of things through airport security and people shouldn't be all that surprised now.

US, Michigan: Bizarre Sex Cult Blamed in 2001 Killing, Mutilation of Madison Heights Man

Detroit Free Press
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC

Troy Moross of Madison Heights was already dead of a blow to the head when someone removed his genitalia in a "precise surgical fashion," a medical examiner testified Monday in the first-degree murder trial of Robert Nowak.

Nowak, 51, is accused of killing 26-year-old Moross in February 2001 and leaving his body in a parking lot in Madison Heights.

Investigators linked Nowak to Moross in 2010, after Nowak was arrested in California on a theft charge and his DNA matched that taken from Moross' body.

But Nowak's defense attorney, Lawrence Kaluzny, said Moross likely was a victim of a bizarre sexual cult operating in a home in Rochester, where men were mutilated and tortured in the basement of the home in the 400 block of 6th Street.

Federal agents with Immigration and Custom Enforcement have been investigating the cult, and have seized thousands of photos of mutilations and torture. On Monday, agent David Dominique, who is expected to be called as a defense witness, declined to answer questions from reporters.

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

Alison Bowen
Metro News
Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:47 UTC

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.

US, Illinois: Mysterious Peacock Found in Chicago Neighborhood

Monika Rued
Today's THV
Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:04 UTC

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

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

David C. Walter
The Miami Herald
Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC

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.

India, Bangalore: Woman Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

The Indian Express
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:36 UTC

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.

Iraq's First New Church Opens Under US Occupation

Joseph DeCaro
Worthy News
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:55 UTC

© unknown
The 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.

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

Ian Traynor
The Guardian
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 01:38 UTC

© Orestis Panagiotou/EPA
Greece 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?

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

Victoria O'Hara
Belfast Telegraph
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 01:23 UTC

© Jonathan Porter/ PressEye.com
Belfast - 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.