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Wisconsin: Police Vow No Forcible Removals as Protesters Hold Ground in Capitol

John Byrne
Raw Story
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:12 UTC
Wisconsin protest
© n/a
Updated 7:51PM ET -- Wisconsin state police say they will make no forcible removals of protesters from the state Capitol on Sunday evening.

"A decision has been made to do what they've been doing all week long and that is to do everything to keep things peaceful and keep people safe," Peg Schmidt, spokeswoman for the police command in the Capitol, told the Wisconsin State Journal Sunday evening. "There's not going to be any forcible removal."

Officials say they hope to clear the building through voluntary compliance, though the possibility of protesters leaving of their own volition seems nebulous at best. Protesters continue to sing and chant "We Shall Overcome" and engage in ad hoc drumming (choppy video of the singing taken using a mobile phone follows this article).

Around 5pm ET, Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs told the Wisconsin State Journal that law enforcement "would monitor the gathering for at least the next hour."

"We're still working with organizers and looking for voluntary compliance," Tubbs said. "No arrests have been made at this point. At this point, we haven't made any decision on whether to arrest people."
      Read More...
Che Guevara

China Uses Whistles, Water, Police on Protests

Elaine Kurtenbach
Associated Press
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:42 UTC
China police
© n/a
Large numbers of police - and new tactics like shrill whistles and street cleaning trucks - squelched overt protests in China for a second Sunday in a row after more calls for peaceful gatherings modeled on recent democratic movements in the Middle East.

Near Shanghai's People's Square, uniformed police blew whistles nonstop and shouted at people to keep moving, though about 200 people - a combination of onlookers and quiet sympathizers who formed a larger crowd than a week ago - braved the shrill noise. In Beijing, trucks normally used to water the streets drove repeatedly up the busy commercial shopping district spraying water and keeping crowds pressed to the edges.

Foreign journalists met with tighter police controls. In Shanghai, authorities called foreign reporters Sunday indirectly warning them to stay away from the protest sites, while police in Beijing followed some reporters and blocked those with cameras from entering the Wangfujing shopping street where protests were called. Plainclothes police struck a Bloomberg News television reporter, who was then taken away for questioning.
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Cell Phone

Hacker in Tabloid Scandal Ordered to Give Evidence

Sylvia Hui
Associated Press
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:34 UTC
Glenn Mulcaire
© The Tribune
A private detective convicted of hacking into royal officials' cell phones for a British tabloid newspaper must give evidence in related cases in the widening scandal, a judge ruled Friday.

High Court Judge Geoffrey Vos ordered Glenn Mulcaire to answer questions about whether his hacking activities were at the instruction of the Rupert-Murdoch-owned News of the World. He must name who asked for the information, who he gave it to, and also explain how he accessed the cell phones.

Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 for six months for illegally eavesdropping on the voicemails of officials working for Britain's royal family. Clive Goodman, a former News of the World royal reporter, was also jailed at the time.

Vos gave the orders Friday in a separate case, in which actor Steve Coogan and football commentator Andy Gray launched a lawsuit after being told by police that their phone voicemails may have been intercepted.
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People

In Libya Capital, Long Bread Lines and Barricades

David D. Kirkpatrick
New York Times
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 19:35 UTC
The funeral for Anwar Elgadi
© Moises Saman/New York Times
The funeral for Anwar Elgadi, 44, in Tripoli on Saturday. He was shot in the head on Friday during clashes with security forces.
A bold play by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to prove that he was firmly in control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday, as foreign journalists he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open defiance of his authority.

Witnesses described snipers and antiaircraft guns firing at unarmed civilians. Many said security forces had been removing the dead and wounded from streets and hospitals, apparently in an effort to hide the mounting toll.

But when government-picked drivers escorted journalists on tours of the city on Saturday morning, the extent of the unrest was unmistakable. Workers were still hastily painting over graffiti calling Colonel Qaddafi a "bloodsucker" and demanding his ouster.

Just off the tour route were long bread lines where residents said they were afraid to be seen talking to journalists.
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Stop

French Foreign Minister Alliot-Marie quits over Tunisia


BBC News Europe
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:33 UTC
Image
© AFP
Ms Alliot-Marie said she had committed no wrongdoing
Embattled French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has announced her resignation after weeks of criticism over her contacts with the former Tunisian regime.

But she said she had done no wrong, and launched a strong attack on the media.

A veteran conservative politician and cabinet minister, she had been in her new job for just three months.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced she will be replaced by Defence Minister Alain Juppe.

Ms Alliot-Marie was heavily criticised for initially offering French help to quell the uprising in Tunisia.

Subsequent revelations about her and her family's links to the regime of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, and the fact that she had taken a Christmas holiday in Tunisia during the uprising made her position increasingly untenable.

"While I do not feel that I have committed any wrongdoing, I have... decided to leave my job as foreign minister," Ms Alliot-Marie wrote in her resignation letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy, a copy of which was seen by the AFP news agency.
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Arrow Down

UK: Shop to Make Breast Milk Ice Cream


Reuters
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:56 UTC
Image
© Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty Images
A notice informing customers that 'Baby Gaga breast milk ice cream' has sold out is pictured in the window of the Icecreamists cafe in central London, on February 25, 2011. Ice cream made with breast milk has proved a big hit in a London restaurant, with the first batch sold out within days of it going on sale, its makers said Friday. The ice cream, called Baby Gaga, is made with milk expressed by 15 women who replied to an advertisement posted on an online mothers' forum.
A specialist ice cream parlor plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat.

The breast milk concoction, called the "Baby Gaga," will be available from Friday at the Icecreamists restaurant in London's Covent Garden.

Icecreamists founder Matt O'Connor was confident his take on the "miracle of motherhood" and priced at a hefty 14 pounds ($23) a serving will go down a treat with the paying public.

The breast milk was provided by mothers who answered an advertisement on online mothers' forum Mumsnet.

Victoria Hiley, 35, from London was one of 15 women who donated milk to the restaurant after seeing the advert.

Hiley works with women who have problems breast-feeding their babies. She said she believes that if adults realized how tasty breast milk actually is, then new mothers would be more willing to breast-feed their own newborns.

"What could be more natural than fresh, free-range mother's milk in an ice cream? And for me it's a recession beater too -- what's the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash," Hiley said in a statement.

"I tried the product for the first time today -- it's very nice, it really melts in the mouth."
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Stormtrooper

Canada Police Brutality: Video Shows Ottawa Officer Throwing Punch


CBC News
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:29 UTC
WARNING: Video contains coarse language.


Ottawa police have launched an internal investigation after a video was posted online showing an officer throwing several punches during an arrest.

The video shows a Jan. 29 altercation near Dalhousie and George streets in Ottawa's Byward Market.

In the video, police are seen arresting one person, who is pinned on the ground. Someone from the nearby crowd then gets involved and is quickly tackled by two officers. The video clearly shows one officer trying to punch the person at least twice.

The Ottawa Police Service's professional standards division found out about the video last week, police said, and launched an internal investigation.

Staff Sgt. Michel Marin, who is heading the investigation, told CBC News the division is trying to determine if any offences were committed.

"Like any other investigation, we go with open book, open mind and see what has occurred and see if any actions there would result in us having to address any issues with the officers or to see if any offences have been committed," Marin said in an interview over the phone.

On YouTube, the person who claims to have shot the video goes by the name Mazin and describes himself as a 21-year-old Algonquin College student.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

US: Park Slope Bakery Worker's Sexual Assault on Job Sparks Fears Among Residents

Sarah Armaghan and Tina Moore
New York Daily News
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 07:33 UTC
A 22-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at the Park Slope bakery where she works on Friday - and the sick culprit was still on the lose Saturday, cops said.


Cops said an armed man wearing a black ski mask entered the bakery at about 9 a.m. He forced her into a back office and demanded money, cops said. When he learned there wasn't any money, he pushed her to the floor and sexually assaulted her.

The fiend was caught on video fleeing the shop. The woman was treated at Kings County Hospital and later released.

Chrissi Wagner, a manager at Ladybird bakery on Eighth Ave. in Park Slope, said the attack made her nervous.

"You think you're safe here in Park Slope, but I guess nowhere is safe," Wagner, 30, said. "It makes me feel better that we always have more than one person here working at all times."

Lashelle Wilkes, a server at The Chocolate Room on Fifth Ave. near Prospect Place, was surprised to hear about the crime. "That's really scary," said Wilkes, who lives in Harlem. "It's crazy that it happened at 9 a.m. in broad daylight."
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Arrow Up

Domestic Violence Rages in New Zealand Quake Aftermath

Amy Coopes
Agence France-Presse
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:06 UTC
Image
© AFP/Torsten Blackwood
A home is exposed in cross-section following the total collapse of a side wall after a 6.3 earthquake devastated Christchurch and surrounding towns. Police said domestic violence surged by 50 percent after a major tremor rocked New Zealand's second city last September, the prelude to Tuesday's quake that left at least 123 dead and destroyed parts of the city centre.
With nerves frayed by months of tremors that peaked in a horrifying earthquake this week, Christchurch residents are lashing out against those they need the most.

Police said domestic violence surged by 50 percent after a major tremor rocked New Zealand's second city last September, the prelude to Tuesday's quake that left at least 123 dead and destroyed parts of the city centre.

Just a day into the latest disaster, police commander Dave Cliff said authorities had seen another surge in family assaults, with many homeless or without power and water, and as some turned to alcohol to cope.

"The stress and trauma of Tuesday's earthquake is understandably taking its toll, and the continual aftershocks are exacerbating the tiredness and emotional fatigue," said Cliff.

"However family violence is not okay under any circumstances and it is important that situations are not allowed to escalate."

Many in Christchurch have been on edge since the September 4 quake which caused massive damage but no loss of life, with more than 5,000 aftershocks ravaging the city of 390,000 -- New Zealand's second largest.
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Light Sabers

Ireland's new government on a collision course with EU

Bruno Waterfield
Telegraph.co.UK
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:30 UTC
Ireland's new government is headed for confrontation with Brussels after the country's ruling party was wiped out on Saturday by voters in a huge popular backlash against a European-IMF austerity program.

Exit polls and early tallies from Ireland's general election heralded political annihilation for Fianna Fail (FF), the party which has ruled Ireland for more than 60 years of the Irish Republic's eight decades of independence.

The unprecedented and historic defeat, Fianna Fail's worst result in 85 years, makes the Irish government the first eurozone administration to be punished by voters in the aftermath of the EU's debt crisis. Voter turn-out was exceptionally high at more than 70 per cent, indicating public anger at the government and the EU.

Late last year, Ireland was forced to accept a £72 billion EU-IMF bailout to cover huge public debts that were ran up to save failed Irish banks.

The bail-out was designed to prevent financial contagion that threatened the existence of the euro, but according to economic forecasts, the cost of servicing Irish bank debt and the EU-IMF bank loans will consume 85 per cent of Ireland's income tax revenue by 2012, a burden that a majority of voters find intolerable.

Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister and Fianna Fail leader, who stood down last month rather than face furious voters, was also pressured into implementing a savage £13billion austerity programme of tax rises and spending cuts drawn up by the EU.

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