Society's Child

The rise of the cashless city

Adam Forrest
The Guardian
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:39 UTC

© Jack Taylor/Getty Images
A two-tier city: as many go increasingly cash-free, others are left behind.

Cities from Sweden to India are pushing for a totally cash-free society. But as more shops and transport networks insist on electronic payments, where does this leave the smallest traders and poorest inhabitants?

Scrolling through my online bank statements at Christmas, I was surprised to find I had not removed cash from an ATM for well over four months. Thanks to the ubiquity of electronic payment systems, it has become increasingly easy to glide around London to a chorus of approving bleeps.

As more shops and transport networks adapt to contactless card and touch-and-go mobile technology, many major cities around the world are in the process of relegating cash to second-class status. Some London shops and cafes are now, like the capital's buses, simply refusing to handle notes or coins.

Comment: Moving ever so closer to a cashless society.

Pakistani man threw hand grenade at 2 sisters after family rejected marriage proposals

RT
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 15:28 UTC

Two teenage sisters were seriously injured in Pakistan when a rejected suitor threw a hand grenade at the pair, according to regional media.

The attacker, identified as Sajid, hurled the grenade at Samreen, 19, and Sanam, 17, while the siblings were asleep on the roof of their small house in Koohi Goth on Tuesday, reports Samaa TV.

However, Pakistan Today says the attack took place at a private girls' college in Daska.

The girls were critically injured in the attack and taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment. Doctors have since said they are out of danger, according to The Indian Express.

The man had previously asked the girls to marry him, but was rejected, according to the girls' father, Qadir Buksh.

"Sajid has been interested in getting married with one of my daughters, which we already refused," Buksh said in a statement to police.

This was not the first time Sajid had threatened the life of the family, according to Buksh. Police said the attacker is a "member of a gang" and a "drug addict."

Russian Health Ministry influenced by US propaganda, proposes blanket ban on sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2014

Tom Balmforth
RFE/RL
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:12 UTC

Since 2013, Russia has banned smoking in restaurants and taken serious measures to reduce its huge number of smokers. Now, drastic proposals aired this week could put Russia on course to try and eradicate the habit altogether.

The Russian Health Ministry on January 9 proposed a blanket ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2014 -- even when they reach the current legal smoking age of 18.

The ban would thus take effect in distant 2033, when President Vladimir Putin, at the age of 81, could hypothetically be serving a fifth term in the Kremlin.

The revolutionary proposal was contained in the draft Antitobacco Concept signed by Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and leaked to the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia on January 9. The document. which outlines government efforts to curb smoking from 2017 to 2022, still requires the approval of the government and has been circulated to 18 other government agencies for review.

Other proposals in the document include: banning smoking in cars in the presence of children; allowing employers to make employees work additional time to make up for cigarette breaks; and placing health warnings on individual cigarettes.

Comment: A comprehensive review of the many health benefits of smoking Tobacco

Fake news CBS caught twisting reality to stoke racial tensions

Claire Bernish
Free Thought Project
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 14:27 UTC

Dylann Roof gets Death penalty as sentencing verdict reached

RT
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 22:06 UTC

Dylann Roof will be put to death after a federal jury of his peers deliberated on the sentencing for three hours, according to multiple media reports. Roof was found guilty in the murder of nine people praying at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015.

WCNC reports Roof, who was 18 at the time of the murders, showed no response to the reading of the verdict.

He will be the first person on death row for federal hate crimes.

The formal sentencing hearing will take place Wednesday at 9:30am, according to WLTX's Janae Frazier, who then subsequently reported that the judge would not grant Roof's request for new lawyers for a motion for a new trial. The judge said Roof needed to show how his lawyers did not perform admirably by the time of the sentencing hearing.

Comment: See also: 'Nothing wrong with me': Remorseless Dylann Roof makes no apology in address to jury

Siberian 'werewolf' serial killer confesses to murdering 59 more women

RT
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:01 UTC

A former policeman-turned-serial killer from the East Siberian city of Angarsk, Mikhail Popkov, has confessed to killing at least 59 more women, two years after he was given a life sentence for 22 murders, the city's Investigative Committee said.

Popkov has for now been charged with 47 of the new murders he has confessed to, Angarsk Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti.

The total number of his victims may now go to as high as 81, putting the 52-year-old first on the Russia's serial killers list, ahead of the notorious Andrey Chikatilo, who was executed in 1994 for killing at least 52 people.

According to conflicting reports, Popkov committed the murders in the period from 1994 to the early 2000s or alternatively to 2012, until the very moment he was arrested. Popkov quit the police in 1998, reportedly surprising his colleagues at the time, as he had career prospects. It was later revealed that he even assisted several investigations of his own murders.

Cop arrested for 'bestiality' video of himself raping small dog posting it online using police PC

John Vibes
Free Thought Project
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 21:46 UTC

Harris County Sheriff's deputy Andrew C. Sustaita Jr. is due in court this week to face some truly disturbing charges. The six-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff's Office is accused of raping a small dog, taking the video, and then posting the video online with a police department computer. So far, the only crime that Sustaita is charged with is obscenity, a felony. However, it is possible that he will receive more charges after appearing in court.

Surprisingly, Sustaita was fired immediately after the arrest, so the evidence against him must be substantial. Otherwise, the department would have delayed his termination.

Belarus police detain woman suspected of murdering St. Ksenia Monastery prioress

ITAR-TASS
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 23:45 UTC

The Belarusian police have detained a woman suspected of murdering the prioress of the St. Ksenia Monastery near Minsk, spokeswoman for the Minsk Region branch of the republican Investigative Committee Tatiana Belonog told TASS on Friday.

"As part of a criminal case instituted on charge of 'murder,' the suspect has been detained. A psychological and psychiatric expert has been appointed for her," the spokeswoman said.

Terror fears and economics caused thousands of French Jews to emigrate to Israel in 2016

Sputnik
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 22:40 UTC

Around 5,000 French Jews emigrated to Israel in 2016, continuing an aliyah trend that has seen 40,000 Jewish citizens of France quit the country in a decade.

The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAI) released the figures days after the second anniversary of the attacks on the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket Porte de Vincennes in Paris, where four shoppers were shot dead. Daniel Benhaim, head of Israel-funded Agency's French office, said insecurity in the wake of such attacks had served as a "catalyst" for Jews already thinking of leaving.

Diplomat says Meryl Streep's anti-Trump diatribe can be linked to outgoing administration

TASS
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 22:41 UTC

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman believes that no one should be humiliated whether they share the "right" political views or not

US actress Meryl Streep's on-stage tirade against President-elect Donald Trump could be traced to the outgoing Obama administration, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page.

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Society's Child

The rise of the cashless city

Pakistani man threw hand grenade at 2 sisters after family rejected marriage proposals

Russian Health Ministry influenced by US propaganda, proposes blanket ban on sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2014

Fake news CBS caught twisting reality to stoke racial tensions

Dylann Roof gets Death penalty as sentencing verdict reached

Siberian 'werewolf' serial killer confesses to murdering 59 more women

Cop arrested for 'bestiality' video of himself raping small dog posting it online using police PC

Belarus police detain woman suspected of murdering St. Ksenia Monastery prioress

Terror fears and economics caused thousands of French Jews to emigrate to Israel in 2016

Diplomat says Meryl Streep's anti-Trump diatribe can be linked to outgoing administration

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