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Australia shark cull: Government destroys 50 sharks in trial programme - but fails to catch a single great white blamed for fatalities

Adam Withnall
The Independent
Wed, 07 May 2014 00:00 UTC
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Opponents of scheme say it is hurting the wrong shark species and doing nothing to protect beachgoers
More than 170 sharks have been caught and 50 destroyed as part of Australia's controversial culling policy, government figures have revealed.

Officials said the programme was "successfully restoring confidence" among beachgoers in Western Australia, but opponents have been critical after it emerged that the animals caught did not include a single great white - the species most often blamed for fatal attacks.

The trial scheme involved placing drum lines along seven of the state's most popular beaches, and while tiger sharks were the most commonly caught there were also five protected makos, four of which were either killed or found already dead on the line.

The largest shark caught measured was at Floreat Beach, and measured 4.5m (15ft). All the animals destroyed were longer than 3m (10ft).

The government is now seeking permission to extend the programme for the next three years, but opposition politicians described attempts to justify the cull as "utter nonsense".
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Health

Sri Lanka train collision, 70 injured


Delhi Daily News
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 07:53 UTC
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© AP
Sri Lankans stand near mangled coaches after two trains collided at a railroad station in Pothuhera, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, April 30, 2014.
At least 70 passengers got injured in train collision in north western Sri Lanka today morning, the police said.

Local media reported that the intercity train plying from Fort to Vavuniya collided with the Matara-bound Rajarata Rajina train this morning at Pothuhera, Kurunegala.

It is learned that five passengers sustained serious injuries and are in critical condition.
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Key

Ex-cons squatting in soldier's home in Florida move out when outraged bikers, veterans promise a little visit

Dave Urbanski
The Blaze
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 22:00 UTC
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© WFLA-TV
Julio Ortiz
For months the scene at a soldier's Florida home was a wild one: People and cars coming and going constantly, dogs running around unleashed, noise, strange characters - and a big cage of chirping birds to boot.

Thing is, the solider - Army Spc. Michael Sharkey - and his wife haven't lived in their New Port Richey house since Sharkey was deployed to Afghanistan two years ago. Now the couple lives in Hawaii where Sharky is stationed.

So what's been going on at their mainland digs?

Squatters apparently broke in, changed the locks, and refused to leave.

Julio Ortiz and his girlfriend, Fatima Cardoso, told WFLA-TV in Tampa that they had a verbal "contract" with a friend of Sharkey's - who agreed to look after the house - to do work on the property in exchange for staying there. Lisa Pettus, Sharkey's friend, denied Ortiz's claim, saying she hired him to do work, never agreed to let him live there, and never left them alone in the house.

Comment: For more info, see: Soldier in battle to rid home of squatters, Florida sheriff's office says it can't do anything

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Handcuffs

Dad arrested for speaking up about pornographic content in required reading for 9th graders

Lily Dane
Daily Sheeple
Tue, 06 May 2014 14:12 UTC
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A reading assignment has some parents in New Hampshire confused and upset.

The controversial book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult is required reading for some 9th grade students at Gilford High School. The book is a fictional story about a school shooting and has been part of the curriculum since 2007.

School officials say that the book contains important themes, but parents say that message is overshadowed by what some call pornographic content on one page.

The book was assigned to students last Monday, but the school failed to give parents of freshmen students notice of the sexually explicit content in the novel. One page of the book contains a graphic description of rough sex between two teenagers.

Some parents are outraged, and attended a school board meeting to make their feelings known.

William Baer, whose 14-year old daughter is a student at the school, was one of the parents who spoke out at the meeting. He was promptly arrested for doing so:


Comment:



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Hardhat

Explosion and fire at chemical plant leaves dozens injured in Qazvin, northern Iran


RT
Tue, 06 May 2014 18:42 UTC
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Google map
An explosion and subsequent fire has torn through Qazvin, north Iran, according to local news agencies. Authorities expect high numbers of casualties.

Unconfirmed local reports stated that as many as 50 could have been injured in the city, which is considered a commercial hub. While two emergency servicemen have suffered complications resulting from smoke inhalation, no deaths have yet been reported. The explosion was thought to have taken place in a chipboard and oil storage facility.

The blaze engulfed the city in a cloud of smoke. Roads leading to the site of the fire within a 2km radius have been closed off and people evacuated, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Comment: From AP:
Earlier, the semiofficial Fars news agency said an explosion had gone off in a wood and oil storage facility in Qazvin, leaving nearly 50 people injured - many in serious condition. Many cargo depots are located in the city, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of the capital, Tehran.


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Arrow Down

Michigan residents lose 'right to farm' in backyards


Police State USA
Tue, 06 May 2014 13:44 UTC
Backyard chickens
© MLive.com
Backyard chickens.

Property rights took a hit this week when the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development voted to to take away protections for backyard farmers statewide - which will result in many small farms being shut down.

Backyard and urban farms were previously protected by Michigan's Right to Farm Act. The Act stated that local ordinances could not trump the state's Generally Accepted Agriculture Management Practices (GAAMP). After the rule change, however, these protections no longer apply to many homeowners who keep small numbers of livestock.

Lands that are located within 1/8 mile proximity to 13 neighboring homes, or that are 250-feet away from just one neighboring home, will no longer receive protection of the Right to Farm Act. The regulatory mess is going to shut down many small farms completely, and leave many others with large sections of property that is prohibited for farm use.

Backyard farmers who raise their own chickens, goats, pigs, and honey may have to give up their operations and go back to shopping for mass produced meats at the supermarket.
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Clock

French Metro sex attack - no one helped


The Connexion
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:54 UTC
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© Subways.net
A woman endured a 30-minute sex assault in Lille Metro, while fellow passengers and passers-by did nothing.

The 29-year-old mother-of-four's ordeal began at 10.30pm on Tuesday, when she was approached by a visibly drunk teenager on the platform of the subway, a court in Lille heard.

The man threatened her, before kissing her and touching her inappropriately, Voix du Nord reports.

The victim told the court in Lille: "I screamed for help. I begged for help."

But other passengers, who were also waiting on the subway, did nothing, she said.
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Handcuffs

School handcuffs seven-year-old boy for misbehaving


CBS St. Louis
Thu, 01 May 2014 09:32 UTC
A second-grader said a school security guard put him
Image
© Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
in handcuffs because he was misbehaving.

"Some of the kids were messing with me," Kalyb Primm Wiley told KSHB-TV.

Kalyb told the station that kids were teasing and taunting him but nothing got physical. A teacher was unable to calm him down and he was taken to the principal's office by a school security guard.

"We were halfway down the hall, he put handcuffs on and twisted my wrists a little," Kalyb added.

"I don't think any 7-year-old should be put in handcuffs unless he was armed with a weapon, or violent," Kalyb's mother, Tomesha Primm, told KSHB.

Kalyb's parents were called when he was misbehaving. Kalyb's father said his son was in handcuffs when he showed up.

Comment: Talk about hysteria! This is yet another case of schools treating our children like criminals and terrorists. How can kids learn while under the thumb of these bullies and authoritarians?

If you take into consideration the fact that schools are in place to indoctrinate, not educate, then everything is unfolding exactly in perfect order and appropriateness...

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Health

Mortality drop seen to follow '06 Romneycare health law in Massachusetts

Sabrina Tavernise
The New York Times
Tue, 06 May 2014 09:41 UTC
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© Dominic Chavez/The New York Times
Dr. Stelios Maheras, of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, said much had changed under the state’s 2006 health law.
Boston - The death rate in Massachusetts dropped significantly after it adopted mandatory health care coverage in 2006, a study released Monday found, offering evidence that the country's first experiment with universal coverage - and the model for crucial parts of President Obama's health care law - has saved lives, health economists say.

The study tallied deaths in Massachusetts from 2001 to 2010 and found that the mortality rate - the number of deaths per 100,000 people - fell by about 3 percent in the four years after the law went into effect. The decline was steepest in counties with the highest proportions of poor and previously uninsured people. In contrast, the mortality rate in a control group of counties similar to Massachusetts in other states was largely unchanged.

A national 3 percent decline in mortality among adults under 65 would mean about 17,000 fewer deaths a year.

"It's big," said Samuel Preston, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania and an authority on life expectancy. Professor Preston, who was not involved in the study, called the study "careful and thoughtful," and said it added to a growing body of evidence that people with health insurance could reap the ultimate benefit - longer life.
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MIB

Afghanistan heroin users skyrocket 1000% despite US investment of $7.5 billion to 'eradicate' opium production

Samuel Eaton
Benswann.com
Sat, 03 May 2014 08:51 UTC
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The SIGAR, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, issued a report on April 30th stating that opium poppy cultivation has increased by over a third. The report also stated that there are now 1.3 million heroin users in the country. This is up 10 fold since 2005 when there were roughly 130,000 heroin users.

International forces occupying Afghanistan have had little success slowing down the poppy cultivation and heroin production. In 2013, only 41,000 kilograms of opium out of 5.5 million kilograms produced were seized.

The drug trade has boomed in spite of the US spending $7.5 billion since 2002 on eradication efforts.

John Sopko told a Senate panel in January that the increased opiate production has placed "the entire US and donor investment in the reconstruction of Afghanistan at risk."

Comment: So, the US invests $7.5 billion to eradicate opium production, but the exact opposite has happened. What a surprise! Opium production resumed in Afghanistan only when the US destroyed everything else in the country; remember that it was banned under the Taliban. And now that the heroin industry is flourishing where is all that drug money going? Golly, could it be used to fund US black ops!?

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