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Handcuffs

Homeland Security agents help break up an illegal immigrant smuggling ring

Jason Hopkins
The Daily Caller
Thu, 30 May 2019 17:43 UTC
homeland security
Guatemalan and Department of Homeland Security officials busted a multi-million-dollar human smuggling operation Wednesday.

Nine leaders of a major human smuggling ring were captured on Wednesday, thanks to a joint effort by Guatemalan authorities and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Investigation agents. The arrests dealt a devastating blow to an organization that reportedly transported around 800 migrants a year into the U.S. and boasted $10 million in assets.

The cartel - dubbed the "Merida organization" after its ringleader Lidia Fausta Merida-Lopez - charged around $12,000 per adult and $3,500 per child, depending on where exactly migrants wanted to go and what mode of transportation they chose to take. Merida-Lopez was among those apprehended in the wide-sweeping bust.

"They've moved thousands of people," an official said about the group, according to The Washington Times. "They're diverse, they're connected and linked to narcotics smuggling organizations, they're truly a transnational criminal organization."
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Fire

Fire engulfs migrant center in Bosnia, injuring 32


ABC News
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 10:37 UTC
Firefighter
© AP PhotoA firefighter helps douse a fire at a factory building being used as a migrant center, after a major fire at the building in Velika Kladusa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Saturday, June 1, 2019. The blaze erupted early Saturday at the centre which hosts some 500 migrants, injuring over thirty migrants, police said.
A fire engulfed a migrant center in northwestern Bosnia on Saturday, injuring 32 people and forcing some to jump out the windows to escape the blaze, police said.

The blaze erupted early in the morning in the center in Velika Kladusa, which hosts some 500 migrants who have become stuck in the impoverished Balkan country while trying to move toward wealthier nations in Western Europe.

The blaze likely started accidentally from a cooking device, said local police spokesman Ale Siljdedic.
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Attention

Four children in coma after bouncy castle blown away in high winds


RT
Fri, 31 May 2019 13:11 UTC
Bouncy castle
A tragedy struck out of nowhere in the eastern Russian city of Ulan-Ude, when an inflatable bouncy castle was blown into the air while children played in it and landed onto a motorway, leaving five children with severe injuries.

Horrifying CCTV footage shows how the popular amusement castle near a shopping center was lifted up and hurled through the air until it landed in a busy road as people at the scene desperately tried to chase after it.

The children, all aged between three and seven, were thrown into the air and tossed onto the pavement, while parents were seen rushing to their aid and picking them off the ground. At least two children were buried under the bouncy castle when it landed, local media reported.
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Padlock

Privacy? What's that? Facebook lawyer argues users have none


RT
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 08:38 UTC
facebook protester
© Reuters / Stephen Lam
Facebook's lawyer has denied the social media platform invaded American users' privacy when it allowed their personal data to be slurped up by Cambridge Analytica, claiming they had no privacy to begin with. No crime, no victims?

"There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy," attorney Orin Snyder argued in a motion to have a class-action lawsuit against Facebook dismissed in California's Northern District Court this week. The suit alleges Facebook's failure to protect user data from predatory third parties like Cambridge Analytica constitutes invasion of privacy, breach of contract, and negligence and violates other privacy statutes.

Comment: That's one way to handle the issue - just admit the truth that there is no such thing as privacy on Facebook. Then people really have nothing to complain about and we'll see who will put their money where their mouth is and leave the platform. Our guess would be surprisingly few.

See also:

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Fire

Emergency declared in Russian city of Dzerzhinsk after explosions at TNT plant


RT
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 12:50 UTC
Explosion
© Elena Sorokina via REUTERS
Officials in the central Russian city of Dzerzhinsk have declared an emergency after a series of blasts rocked an explosives factory. At least 38 people have been injured, four seriously, and two remain missing.

The explosions at a TNT production plant have sent massive plumes of smoke over the city. A first explosion soon triggered two other blasts at the same facility at 11:45am Moscow time on Saturday, before spreading to another building nearby.

More than 300 people and 50 technical units were involved in the response to the blast, according to the emergency ministry chief for the Nizhny Novgorod region. A criminal inquiry has been launched into the explosions, on suspicion of a breach of industrial safety rules.
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Arrow Down

'Failure of the century': Iran mocks Trump's Mid East peace plan during Quds Day march


RT
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 09:49 UTC
Iran protesters burn Israel flag
© AFP
Iran marked its Quds Day celebrations with a sharp condemnation of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan. People filled the streets across Iran to voice opposition to the deal.

"Without a doubt, the Deal of the Century will turn into Failure of the Century, and will not yield results," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told media in Iran's capital Friday, referring to a peace plan Washington hopes to unveil this summer.

Rouhani joined thousands of citizens in Tehran for a national tradition observed each year on the final Friday of Ramadan. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranians have marked the day with an event in honor of al-Quds - the Arabic name for the city of Jerusalem - and the broader Palestinian cause. The event is celebrated in much of the Muslim world.
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Bullseye

EU election results show people are 'fed up with fake democracy'


RT
Mon, 27 May 2019 17:08 UTC
eu election poster
© Reuters / Pascal Rossignol
Anti-establishment forces had major gains in the EU elections because voters are tired of parties refusing to challenge Brussels, analysts told RT, saying the results also show that migration is still a top issue.

Euroskeptic parties made considerable gains in the European Parliament elections, leaving the bloc's establishment parties badly battered and searching for answers. Ultimately, analysts told RT, it illustrates how Europeans have run out of patience for politics as usual.

In the past, whenever the EU found itself in trouble, Brussels would always remedy the crisis by calling for more European integration, Dr. Werner Patzelt, a political science professor at the Technical University of Dresden, noted. And until now, Brussels always got its way.

"This time it was different," Patzelt told RT.

Comment: For more, check out SOTT's analysis: European Parliament Elections 2019: Big Wins For Nationalist Parties in The UK, France, And Italy And check out SOTT radio's:

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Binoculars

Mont Blanc climbs restricted after fatal accident, will 'crowded' Everest be next?


RT
Fri, 31 May 2019 19:55 UTC
Mt. climbers
© Reuters / Toby Melville
Climbers looking to scale the highest mountain peak of the Alps may have to put their plans on hold. After a fatal accident on the slopes of Mont Blanc, French authorities have placed new restrictions on a popular climbing route.

A 25-year-old Slovak national fell to his death Friday near a point on Mont Blanc known as 'Eagle's Nest'. First responders were unable to reach the man in time.

The young man's lethal plunge, and 15 similar cases last year, prompted local French authorities to require that climbers book lodging at one of a handful of refuge sites on the mountain, a rule that will be enforced for the remainder of the climbing season.

Those who violate the rule could face two years in prison and a penalty of up to 300,000 euro ($335,000).

Comment: See also: Mount Everest is covered in tons of trash and dead bodies - Nepal initiates new clean-up program

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Handcuffs

Russian air crews would be allowed to handcuff unruly passengers under new law


RT
Fri, 31 May 2019 13:45 UTC
Airline attendants
© Sputnik / Ramil Sitdikov
A new law envisioning cabin crews using devices to restrain unruly or drunk passengers has passed the first reading in the Russian Lower House of Parliament.

The proposed amendments to the Air Code would authorize the pilot in command to take measures of enforcement against passengers who "pose a threat to the health and security of other passengers and refuse to obey the orders" using restraint devices.

A list of onboard devices that could be used against unruly passengers is currently being discussed in parliament. While the cosponsors of the bill agreed that plastic handcuffs for hands and ankles would be effective, Tasers were ruled out as they could be used against crew members. MP Alexander Starovoitov, the cosponsor of the legislation pointed out that today it's mostly passengers who help the crew to subdue brawlers by using what is at hand, such as scarves or towels.

Comment: See also: Man wreaks havoc aboard Russian plane, brawls with passengers & dies

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Bomb

Several explosions kill six, injure 12 in Kirkuk, Iraq


Sputnik
Fri, 31 May 2019 04:14 UTC
Explosions kill 6 in Kirkuk, Iraq
© AP/Hadi Mizban
Six people were killed and 12 more injured on Thursday by several explosions in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, local media reported.

According to the Rudaw broadcaster, improvised explosive devises planted in several vehicles detonated across the city.

The blasts left several Iraqi security officers injured, the Sky News Arabia broadcaster reported.

The situation in Iraq has been highly unstable for several years due to activities of the Daesh* terror group, which seized huge terrorists in the country in 2014. Despite the fact that the occupied areas were retaken by the Iraqi government troops, the jihadists are staging regular attacks on the country's troops and civilians.
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