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People Power: Italy Grinds to a Halt as THREE Million Strike Over €45bn Austerity Cuts

Nick Pisa and Oliver Pickup
Daily Mail
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:26 UTC
Italy protest Turin
© EPAThousands of strikers took to the streets of Turin yesterday to protest against the austerity plans mooted by the Italian government
Italy ground to a halt today as a general strike brought thousands - if not millions - on to the street in protest at a belt-tightening €45billion (£39.5bn) austerity package.

The strike was organised by the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), the country's biggest trade union, and saw disruption to flights, buses, trains as well as hospitals, schools, post offices and other government services.

Demonstrations were held in several cities across the country with extra police being drafted in to stop any potential disorder but there were still sporadic outbursts with eight officers hurt by fireworks.

CIGL officials said that three million people had taken part in the strike - which also affected the Amanda Knox appeal trial in Perugia as jury members using public transport were held up.
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Stormtrooper

BBC Journalist was Killed by Nato Troops in Afghanistan

Jeremy Kelly
The Guardian
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:00 UTC
Afghan National Army patrol
© Tim Wimborne/ReutersAn Afghan National Army (ANA) patrol in Uruzgan province - Omaid Khpalwak was the BBC's stringer for the region.
Commanders say Omaid Khpalwak was 'mistakenly' shot dead as suicide bombers attacked a police station

Nato has admitted accidentally shooting dead a BBC journalist in Afghanistan during a battle against insurgents after mistaking him for a suicide bomber.

Military officials met close relatives of Omaid Khpalwak on Thursday and apologised for their "mistake" during an operation against a squad of insurgents, who had attacked a police command post.

Khpalwak, who was hiding in fear during the attack and spoke good English, was shot 11 times. His brother Jawid, who always maintained that his brother was killed by Nato forces, said his family remained angry at Nato's actions on the day.

"They thought he was a suicide bomber, but how?" Jawid asked. "He spoke English and would have been showing his press card."
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Hourglass

What Was In That Mysterious Dust Of 9/11? The Dangerous Effects A Decade Later

Veronica Roberts
AllVoices
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:52 UTC
As the 10th anniversary of September 11 draws near, a nation re-lives the horror and devastation that unfolded that day.

The catastrophic terror attack on New York City's World Trade Center, which took the lives of 3,000 Americans and reduced two of the tallest, most majestic skyscrapers in the world to mere dust and rubble, is forever imprinted on our minds.

NY has risen from the ashes, resilient and defiant but some are still struggling a decade later. Our heroes, the First Responders, are having a hard time for the mysterious thick dust that coated everything and everyone in the city that fateful day, had deadly consequences.

CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, hosted a riveting program Wednesday night called 'Terror In The Dust," which chronicles the effects of the deadly dust on firefighters, police officers and others who were directly in the path of the collapsing twin towers. Those who selflessly worked prolonged hours rescuing others.

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Mr. Potato

Republican Debate: Rick Perry Physically Grabs Ron Paul, Points at His Face


IBTimes.com
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:11 UTC
At the September 7 Republican debate, Ron Paul clashed with fellow Texan Rick Perry once again.

This time, things got physical.

During a commercial break, Perry walked up to Paul's podium, physically grabbed Paul's wrist, and pointed at Paul's face with his other hand (photo below from Reuters).
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Attention

Indonesia: Starving Dogs Attack And Eat Owner


9 News
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:16 UTC
Dead Owner
© 9 NewsPolice found Mr Lumboga's body ripped to pieces.
An Indonesian man who left his nine dogs to starve while he was away on a two-week holiday was decapitated and eaten by the hungry animals when he returned home.

Police found Andre Lumboga's body ripped to pieces on Monday after a neighbourhood guard noticed a revolting smell coming from his house in the Batam Centre district of the Riau Islands, a province of Indonesia north-east of Singapore in the South China Sea.

The guard had gone to his house to investigate after noticing the 50-year-old's suitcase sitting outside the front door five days after he returned from his trip, The Sun reports.
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Arrow Up

US: Jailed Native American Activist Leonard Peltier Wins Rights Prize


The Raw Story/ Agence France-Presse
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:21 UTC
Image
Leonard Peltier, Mario Benedetti
Leonard Peltier, an indigenous rights activist jailed in the United States for decades, has received the first Mario Benedetti Foundation international human rights prize, the group said Monday.

The group called Peltier, a Native American activist convicted in 1977 for the murder of two US FBI agents, the longest serving political prisoner in the Americas. The case stemmed from a shootout at a reservation in the US state of South Dakota.

"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12, 2011 will turn 67, has spent more than half his life in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to repressive state policies by the United States, where there are people in jail for ethnic, racial, ideological and religious reasons," a foundation statement said.
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Dollar

Iceland Says It Was "Bullied" Over Bank Debt

Omar Valdimarsson
Reuters
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:46 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Ints KalninsIceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson watches ''Song of Freedom'' concert in Tallinn August 20, 2011.
Iceland's president accused European countries on Sunday of having bullied it into agreeing to guarantee repayment of the debts of a failed bank, reviving a dispute with Britain and the Netherlands whose citizens are owed billions.

When Iceland's banking sector collapsed in the 2008 global financial crisis, accounts were frozen at the bank Landsbanki, which had accepted deposits from British and Dutch savers through online funds called Icesave.

Iceland says the estate of the failed bank will be enough to repay about $5 billion of debt to the British and the Dutch. The two countries had wanted the government in Reykjavik to give a state guarantee to the repayment.

In a referendum earlier this year, Icelanders rejected for a second time giving a guarantee.

"People (in the government) bowed to the bullying of the Europeans ...," President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson told RUV public radio. He said the British and Dutch demand that the government guarantee the debt had been "absurd."
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Key

Austria: Free at last! Chimps caged for 30 years and injected with HIV in cruel experiments finally feel the sun on their faces again

Allan Hall
MailOnline
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:13 UTC
Like prisoners emerging from a lifetime behind bars, a group of chimpanzees step blinking into the sunlight with what appears for all the world to be a wave and a smile.

And they have much to be joyful about. For this is the first time they have felt grass under their feet and breathed fresh air for 30 years.

Though a few of the chimps were born in captivity, most were kidnapped from African jungles as babies and flown to Europe, where they were locked in metal laboratory cages to be used in a long series of experiments.
Surreal: Three chimpanzees step out into the daylight for the first time in 30 years
Surreal: Three chimpanzees step out into the daylight for the first time in 30 years
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Pistol

US New York: Man Opens Fire at Brooklyn Parade, Toll Rises to 46 Shot Since Saturday Morning

Jessica Simeone, Larry Celona and Dan Mangan
The New York Post
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:16 UTC
Image
© G.N. MIller/NY PostPolice have a man in custody after he allegedly fired shots into the air at the West Indian Day Parade before fleeing the scene in a cab.
Gunfire erupted today near the massive West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn -- not far from where Mayor Bloomberg was marching -- as the entire city reeled from a epidemic of shootings over the past two days.
By noon today, a total of 46 people had been shot in the city since Saturday morning, authorities said.

At just before noon, a gunman fired into the air several blocks away from the start of the West Indian Day Parade route in Crown Heights before hopping into a cab and fleeing.

COUNCILMAN, PUBLIC ADVOCATE STAFFER BUSTED AT PARADE

Bloomberg, who has decried the recent spate of gun violence, had just started marching.
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Question

US: Arkansas weatherman Brett Cummins found in hot tub with naked dead man wearing 'dog collar'

Michael Sheridan
New York Daily News
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:49 UTC
Brett Cummins
© KARK 4 NewsBrett Cummins, 33, woke up Tuesday to discover that a man he'd been with the night before was dead beside him in a hot tub, naked and wearing a dog collar, police say.


Brett Cummins, 33, woke up Tuesday to discover that a man he'd been with the night before was dead beside him in a hot tub, naked and wearing a dog collar, police say.

An Arkansas weatherman didn't predict he would wake up in a hot tub with a naked dead man, but that's exactly what police say happened.

Now authorities are trying to determine what killed Dexter Williams, whose body was found with a "dog collar" around his neck, according to a police report.

The mystery began Monday night, when KARK 4 News meteorologist Brett Cummins arrived at the home of John Barbour around 11 p.m. in Maumelle, just north of Little Rock, the report stated. The 33-year-old weatherman brought Williams, 24, with him. Barbour said he did not know the doomed man.
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