Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Russian police arrest 23 in organised crime raid

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© Photograph: AlamySt Basil's cathedral in Red Square, Moscow. Police have raided a restaurant and arrested 23 people believed to be involved in organised crime.
Officers say suspects met at Moscow restaurant to plan strategy after murder of criminal godfather known as Grandpa Hassan.

Police have raided a restaurant near Moscow and arrested four suspected crime bosses and 19 others as they met to plan strategy after the killing of a criminal godfather known as Grandpa Hassan, according to the interior ministry.

Officers swooped on the Family Elite-Club restaurant in the town of Nikolina Gora after learning that suspects from Russia and Belarus would meet there to discuss issues of a criminal nature, the ministry said.

"During the secret meeting, held under the cover of a celebration of the birthday of a suspected senior criminal authority, the plan was to discuss next steps after the recent assassination of the head of the Aslan Usoyan clan," it added.

Star of David

Israeli football fans mutiny against Muslims in squad

Beitar Jerusalem fans
© AFP Photo/Menahem KahanaBeitar Jerusalem fans
A group of the Jerusalem-based Beitar fans have lashed out at the club's boss's decision to bring two Muslims from the Russian Chechen republic into the squad.

At the latest Israeli domestic championship's game on Saturday, a group of Beitar Jerusalem supporters, reportedly known as La Familia, held a banner reading "Beitar will always remain pure". The more moderate central stands howled down the move.

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon lined up with the latter group.

"I was shocked by the racism displayed in the Beitar Jerusalem stands yesterday against having Muslim or Arab players on the team. We cannot ignore these displays of racism which not long ago were directed - and are still being directed - towards the Jewish people," Euronews website quotes his tweet.

Eye 1

Police brutality! Connecticut cops kicked and stomped on man downed by stun gun: video

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The police chief in Bridgeport, Conn., the state's largest city, moved three officers to desk duty after a video appeared on YouTube in which they stomped on and repeatedly kicked a man after a stun gun had already rendered him inert, reported the Associated Press.

Health

Experts warn obesity will soon reach pandemic proportions

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Obesity has become a global pandemic that could leave more than half of all adults worldwide overweight within two decades, experts said, calling for urgent action beyond just blaming people for lacking willpower.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, health, nutrition and fitness experts said the world's increasingly deadly obesity crisis needs to be tackled with the same determination policy-makers once took to fighting smoking.

With our food more and more unhealthy and our lives increasingly sedentary, answers are needed to address a crisis that is driving up diabetes, boosting heart disease and already killing 2.8 million adults per year, they said.

The current figure of 1.4 billion adults already overweight globally is set to soar, Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, told a panel on obesity at the annual gathering of the global elite.

Smoking

Turkey bans hookah in public places

Hookah Ban
© AFP
After banning smoking in public places, the Turkish government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition - the hookah, or water pipe.

As of Sunday it is no longer permitted to smoke the "hubbly-bubbly" in cafes, bars or restaurants as the conservative Islamic government cracks down on use of tobacco.

In 2009 the government made it illegal to smoke in public places, but only barred use of the hookah by minors, and cafes continued to offer fruity tobacco mixes in water pipes, drawing the wrath of health authorities.

The hookah, or narghile, was very popular under the Ottoman Empire but was eclipsed by the new-fangled cigarettes under the Turkish Republic from 1923.

In recent years it has regained its popularity in big cities.

Health experts warn that its fruity flavours make users forget that they are in fact inhaling tobacco, and say that since the smoke lasts longer than a cigarette it is even more dangerous.

Black Cat 2

Rome becoming Italy's mafia crime capital

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© GETTY IMAGES
A senior judge has warned that Rome is fast becoming the country's crime capital
Giorgio Santacroce, the president of Rome's Appeals Court, said he was alarmed by the spread of the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta, once confined to the country's south, and their infiltration of restaurants, bars and other businesses in the Eternal City.

In a report to mark the inauguration of the judicial year, Mr Santacroce said that various clans were systematically using cafés and restaurants to launder money and also investing heavily in real estate, construction and finance.

"Mafia organisations are acquiring properties, companies and commercial businesses, that are often not on the market, in which they invest money gained from criminal sources, giving the earnings the appearance of legality," the judge said.

The court report noted half a dozen of the most powerful 'Ndrangheta clans from the southern region of Calabria, including the Gallico di Palmi, Alvaro, and Pelle, had effectively divided the city into their own separate territories where they exercised control.

Luigi Ciampoli, chief prosecutor of the Appeals Court, said: "The capital, seat of political and economic power, offers the prospect of solid establishments and lavish earnings."

Attention

Wild rabbits wreck havoc on car wiring at Denver Airport

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© CBSCBS4′s Suzanne McCarroll talks to Ken Blum about the damage rabbits did to his car.
Travelers have a warning for drivers who park their cars near Denver International Airport (DIA). Rabbits are chewing the wires under many cars costing owners a lot of money. The rabbits get in and chew the brake lines, the clutch lines and other wiring. Local car repair shops estimates they can do thousands of dollars in damage.

"When I had the trouble with the oil light coming on, the dealer told me the wires that controlled the air conditioning were chewed," said Ken Blum, one car owner who knows all about the not so funny bunny business at DIA.

Blum has had to have repairs done on his car twice due to rabbit damage and he estimates the cost at approximately $700.

Evil Rays

Five shot dead in separate incidents of Chicago gun violence

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One victim is woman's fourth child lost to shootings since 1995: 'They took my only child. I have nobody right now'.

At least five people were gunned down on Saturday in Chicago, including a 34-year-old man whose mother had already lost her three other children to shootings.

Ronnie Chambers, who was his mother Shirley's youngest child, was shot in the head Saturday while sitting in a parked car on the city's west side. A 21-year-old man who was also in the car was wounded, police said.

Shirley Chambers, whose two other sons and daughter were shot in separate attacks more than a decade ago, was left grieving again on Saturday, WLS-TV reported.

Magnify

Horsemeat in burgers traced to Polish suppliers

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© Photograph: Niall Carson/PABurgers were withdrawn from UK supermarkets including Tesco after horse DNA was found during tests.
Irish government says raw material imported from Poland had up to 20% horse DNA.

Polish suppliers were responsible for the horsemeat in beefburgers scandal which hit supermarkets including Tesco, the Irish government has revealed.

Tests in recent days showed raw material imported by an Irish processing plant from Poland had up to 20% equine DNA. Products made for Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland were implicated in the initial scare this month caused by food standards checks late last year.

Other UK chains withdrew products made at Silvercrest, County Monaghan, and Dalepak Hambleton in north Yorkshire, both owned by the Irish-based ABP Food Group. Burger King also stopped using burgers made at Silvercrest, which suspended production more than a week ago and is now being deep cleaned.

Sheriff

Dead robber 'used fake gun' in Plymouth betting shop raid

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© Photograph: Emma Hallett/PAPolice at the Devon Ladbrokes where a masked armed robber died after being disarmed and pinned down by customers.
Police say masked man apparently carrying imitation pistol when he was disarmed and pinned down by Ladbrokes customers.

A gunman collapsed and died after being disarmed and pinned down by customers as he tried to rob a bookmakers.

Alan Levers, 50, was believed to be wearing a gas mask and holding a gun when he entered Ladbrokes in Plymouth on Friday night. Customers tackled him to the floor while others contacted the police. Officers found Levers unconscious and attempted to help him but he was later declared dead.

Plymouth police commander Andy Bickley said the gun appeared to have been an imitation pistol. He added that four men were in the betting shop at the time of the incident and had been questioned by police but not arrested.