Society's ChildS


Dollar

US retail apocalypse continues: Estimated 12,000 shops could close by end of 2019

Kelly Tyko
USA Today
Fri, 12 Jul 2019 14:18 UTC
Gymboree store closing
© USA Today
The retail apocalypse isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

Six months into 2019, there have already been 20% more store closings announced than in all of 2018, according to a new report from global marketing research firm Coresight Research.

Based on Coresight Research's figures and retailers' earnings reports, more than 7,000 stores are slated to shutter this year with thousands of locations already gone.

Bankrupt footwear company Payless ShoeSource, which closed its remaining U.S. stores last week, accounts for about 37% of the closings.

The "going-out-of-business" sales and liquidation of other brands is expected to continue. Coresight estimates closures could reach 12,000 by the end of the year, the report said.

Coresight, which has offices in Manhattan, London and Hong Kong, tracked the 5,864 closings in 2018, which included all Toys R Us stores and hundreds of Kmart and Sears locations.
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Dollars

Drivers grab flying cash after armored truck spills over $100K onto Atlanta, GA highway

Char Adams
People
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:50 UTC
Cash on highway
Weather forecast: "Cloudy with a chance of cash."

Drivers near an Atlanta suburb were in for a surprise Tuesday night when an armored car spilled thousands of dollars onto Interstate 285 around 8 p.m. in Dunwoody, Georgia, prompting more than 15 cars to stop and grab the cash, according to the Dunwoody Police Department.

"The armored car crew said the side door came open while they were driving and money spilled out onto 285," police said in a statement posted on Facebook. "Officers and the truck crew gathered a few hundred dollars that was still there when officers arrived, but plenty was taken by passerby's sticky fingers. The exact amount is currently unknown."

Video of the scene showed cars parked along the right shoulder on the westbound section of the highway as drivers picked up the money strewn across the pavement. The vehicle dropped between $100,000 and $175,000 onto the highway and authorities quickly responded to a report of "money flying all over the road," according to WXIA.
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Handcuffs

R&B singer R. Kelly arrested on federal sex trafficking charges

Naaman Zhou and Edward Helmore
Guardian, UK
Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:39 UTC
R Kelly arrested on federal sex trafficking charges
© Amr Alfiky/AP
R Kelly is facing two sets of federal sex abuse charges, one from New York prosecutors and another from prosecutors in his home town of Chicago, after he was arrested on Thursday night while out walking his dog.

The 18-page New York indictment charges Kelly with racketeering and sex-related crimes against women and girls, in an 18-page federal indictment that accuses the singer and members of his entourage of recruiting women and girls to "engage in illegal sexual activity".

Besides racketeering, the indictment includes charges of transporting for prostitution and coercion or enticement of a female and alleges that Kelly had rules for the women, including not allowing them to eat or use the bathroom and not permitting them to look at other men and telling them to keep their heads down.

The 13-count Chicago indictment filed on Friday details efforts by the accused to cover up sexually explicit videos of Kelly with underage girls. Prosecutors say the defendants paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to victims and witnesses to make sure they would not cooperate with law enforcement.

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

7 FSB officers arrested, facing charges of armed robbery, possible 8 more


RT
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:00 UTC
FSB armored vest
© Sputnik/Yevgeiy Biyatov
A new scandal has rocked the Federal Security Service (FSB) after seven of its operatives were detained in Moscow over an alleged robbery. Following the case, FSB veterans have warned about criminals infiltrating the agency.

A total of seven FSB operatives, including members of its elite counterterrorism units, were detained in Moscow last week. The officers are suspected of involvement in a large-scale robbery, having allegedly snatched some 150 million rubles ($2.5 million) of shady origin from a private business.

They have been charged in connection with a single case of armed robbery, a source close to the investigation told TASS on Thursday. So far, no other malicious activity by the group has been uncovered.

Five of the suspects are being held in detention facilities, while the other two have been placed under house arrest pending trial. The case could yet transpire to be even bigger, as Russian media reported that investigators have named eight more suspects, all of whom are also FSB officers.

A string of high-profile cases have rocked Russian law-enforcement agencies recently, and have been described as 'very troubling' by veterans of the Soviet-era KGB - the predecessor of the FSB.
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Oil Well

What sanctions? German-based Siemens officially applies to localize gas turbine production in Russia


RT
Fri, 12 Jul 2019 18:13 UTC
gas turbine siemens
© Global Look Press / Maurizio Gambarini
German conglomerate Siemens has applied for a special investment contract to localize production of its high-capacity gas turbines in Russia. The move follows a 2017 scandal over the supply of Siemens turbines to Crimea.

Under the terms of the contract, the components of the 'hot gas path' and the gas turbine automatic control system will be localized in Russia until the middle of 2023, according to the Siemens press service.

The planned localization level of the SGT-2000E turbine will be at least 90 percent. The process will take place at the Siemens Gas Technology Turbines (STGT) plant, which is a joint venture between Siemens and Russia's Power Machines.
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Eye 1

Cops: Man steals car with kids inside, fatally beaten by mob


ABC News
Fri, 12 Jul 2019 08:13 UTC
Carjacking
Authorities say a man who stole a car with three young children inside was fatally beaten by their father and other men.

Philadelphia police say the car was parked at a pizza restaurant with its engine running when the man drove off around 9:15 p.m. Thursday. The children's mother was inside the restaurant, talking with the father of two of the kids.
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Star of David

West Bank barrier continues to destroy Palestinian lives 15 years after ICJ declared Separation Wall illegal

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Wed, 10 Jul 2019 01:23 UTC
palestinians border wall israel
© Active StillsThe Wall
Tuesday July 9th marked the fifteenth anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision to declare the Israeli separation wall in occupied Palestinian territory as illegal under international law.

Israel began construction of the separation wall, known by many as the Israeli "Apartheid Wall", in 2002 in the middle of the Second Intifada. Israeli officials said the wall was a necessary "security precaution against terrorism" from Palestinian attackers coming from the West Bank.

But with the construction of the wall, came unprecedented demolitions of Palestinians homes along the planned route, massive land confiscations, and the division of dozens of Palestinian communities along the Green Line.

Comment: Israel has rightly intuited that though it may be criticized, no government will take steps to rein it in, while it enjoys the protection of the US. It has therefore set its sights further afield:

Israel begins home demolitions in Golan Heights, plotting illegal annexation of Syrian territory

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Bizarro Earth

Volvo CEO laments Sweden's high crime rate, says company might move its HQ abroad


RT
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 22:23 UTC
Volvo
© Reuters / Bob StrongFILE PHOTO: A sign is seen outside the Volvo Car Corporation Headquarters in Gothenburg May 20, 2010.
The head of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has created quite a stir at home, saying that his company struggles to attract foreign specialists due to the lack of public security and may be considering moving elsewhere.

Speaking to the daily Svenska Dagbladet, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson lamented the fact that the auto manufacturer has been gradually losing its appeal to foreign tech experts and engineers, as well as top managers. The problem, according to him, partly lies in the fact that the specialists are reluctant to move to Sweden's second largest city of Gothenburg, where Volvo's headquarters are located, because of the arguably high crime rate.

"We are building cars, we cannot solve this problem," Samuelsson told SvD. "Yet, one can still point out that this problem does exist." Among the other issues he mentioned were the lack of affordable housing and schools.

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

R. Kelly arrested in Chicago on federal child pornography charges, faces NYC indictment also

Jonathan Dienst
NBC New York
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:14 UTC
rkelly
© NB New York
A 13-count indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois and includes charges of child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice

Singer R. Kelly was arrested on federal sex charges in Chicago Thursday night and he's expected to appear in court Friday before being transported to New York to answer for charges in Brooklyn. Tracie Strahan reports.

The 52-year-old was arrested in Chicago by Homeland Security Investigations agents and NYPD Public Safety Task Force, officials told News 4. R. Kelly had stepped out for a smoke and to walk his dog when he was taken into custody around 7 p.m. local time, a law enforcement source familiar with the case said.

Comment: See also:

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No Entry

Britons are becoming less tolerant of gay sex and it's not because of conservative Christians

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 20:02 UTC
Gay pride muslim
© REUTERS/HENRY NICHOLLS; REUTERS/Peter NichollsGay pride in London and Muslim worshippers in Baitul Futuh mosque in the same city.
Acceptance of gay sex and pre-marital relationships has fallen for the first time in decades in the UK, but the media is insistent on blaming the wrong people for intolerance.

The annual British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey has found that 74 percent believe that sex before marriage is "not wrong at all," a percentage point less than last year, and 66 percent of adults say the same about same-sex relationships. While the declines are marginal and the numbers remain near historic peaks, the last time Britain grew less tolerant of homosexuals was during the AIDS panic of the late 1980s, and researchers state that openness has "plateaued" after years of rapid growth.

If in doubt, blame Brexit

The left-of-center media took no time to identify the reasons: the Guardian's article on the subject features "Ukip, the Brexit party and the European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative MPs," Arlene Foster of Northern Ireland's DUP, "senior Conservative politicians including Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey" and singles out Jacob Rees-Mogg, even though he doesn't actually oppose same-sex relationships. In any case, one is left wondering why millions of Britons are suddenly taking their social cues from a Catholic father-of-six raised in a stately home by his devoted nanny. The Independent goes through much of the same list, throwing Theresa May and Boris Johnson into the mix, while on Sky News an LGBT activist said that Brexit had "emboldened" social conservatives.

Comment: Here the leftist media hits an impasse. They can't actually mention that immigration might have something to do with this and instead blame it on 'intolerant right-wingers'. This is just another of the many effects of lax policies that ultimately work against their ideas for a 'utopian' society. See also:

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