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Chess

Building bridges: Russia and North Korea consider building cross-border automobile bridge


RT
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 16:15 UTC
Russian and North Korean flags Vladivostok
© Sputnik / Tatyana MeelRussian and North Korean flags in Vladivostok, Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a study to examine a car bridge project that would connect Russia's Primorsky Region with North Korea, the president's envoy to the Far Eastern federal district has said.

"This question was discussed during Vladimir Putin's meeting with the North Korean leader. The head of the state tasked the Far Eastern Development Ministry with analyzing this project," Yuri Trutnev said on Monday.

The ministry said earlier that North Korea will provide workforce and construction materials for the project while Russia will "give the necessary equipment."

The automobile bridge is planned to be built in accordance with Russian standards. The neighboring countries have long-contemplated a bridge that could allow more vehicles to move across the border without a lengthy by-pass through China.

Comment: More on the recent meeting between Putin and Kim Jong-un:

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Eye 1

Massachusetts prosecutors to sue ICE over courthouse arrests


ABC News
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:25 UTC
ICE badge
Prosecutors, public defenders and community groups in Massachusetts plan to file a federal lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over its policy of arresting people at courthouses on civil immigration matters.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins are among the people scheduled to attend a news conference Monday to announce the lawsuit.

Comment: See also: Massachusetts judge and court officer charged with helping man evade immigration agent

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Fire

Fountain catches fire in Moscow after $18mn restoration works


RT
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 11:15 UTC
Flower fountain
© Sputnik / Vladimir PesnyaThe Stone Flower fountain in Moscow.
It may sound like a bad joke, but Russian firefighters were actually called to put out a fire at one of Moscow's iconic fountains, which has recently undergone a multi-million-dollar makeover.

Photographs of smoke coming from the Stone Flower fountain at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VDNKh) have emerged on Facebook.
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Light Sabers

'We will not bow to the giant': Indian farmers sued by PepsiCo reject any settlement


RT
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 13:15 UTC
Potato farmer
© REUTERS/Amit Dave
Farmers in India, who were sued by PepsiCo for planting patented potatoes, have rejected an out-of-court settlement. Supported by officials and fellow farmers, they have the national law on their side, activists say.

The food giant targeted nine farmers in the western Indian state of Gujarat with lawsuits demanding they pay damages for using a variety of potatoes protected by copyright. The court action, PepsiCo said, is meant to protect other farmers, who buy the seeds directly from the company and sell the produce back at a price determined by the company. One of the lawsuits filed by the multinational against four farmers was heard in the city of Ahmedabad on Friday.

The company offered two options to settle the dispute out of court. One would be to sign an agreement to stop planting the seed variety. The other one would be to come into the fold and sign a standard farming contract with the giant. The latter would give the defendants "access to higher yields, enhanced quality, training in best-in-class practices and better prices,"the company stated.

But the four farmers rejected the proposed settlement.
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Cow

Vegan gentrification: When vegans moved in and tried to take over, Toronto's Parkdale residents got angry

Alex McClintock
ABC News
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 10:00 UTC
Parkdale Toronto
© ABC News: Alex McClintockMore than a third of south Parkdale residents live in poverty, but hipsters have been changing the neighbourhood.
The anger permeating Parkdale in inner-city Toronto - rooted in worries about housing affordability, disputes over development and questions regarding access to services - isn't unique.

From Brunswick to the Bronx, the gentrification of working-class and disadvantaged inner-city areas, and the subway-tiled cafes that inevitably follow, is a regular feature of 21st-century urban life.

But in Parkdale, the most visible symbol of change is different. A group of vegan restaurants has moved in - and the backlash has been fierce.

Parkdale's vegan-vs-locals clash began in earnest when Vegandale Brewery, whose signage bears the slogan "morality on tap", opened last year.

Comment: There's something supremely arrogant and narcissistic about moving in to a neighborhood, particularly one with as rich a history as Parkdale in Toronto, and assuming you can subvert it to your own ideological framework. New immigrants and low-income families, who comprise a good percentage of the residents of Parkdale, likely have little-to-no interest in veganism. It's the ultimate in corporate hubris to try to pull a stunt like this.

See also:

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Black Cat 2

Australia to air drop poison sausages in effort to kill two million cats by 2020

Ed McConnell
Mirror
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 16:13 UTC
cat bird
© AFP/Getty ImagesAs part of efforts to become predator free by 2050 the Australian government is trying to wipe out the feral cat population already blamed for 20 extinctions.
The Australian government is air dropping poisonous sausages across thousands of acres of land in an attempt to kill feral cats.

The country is trying to cull two million felines by 2020 in order to save native species which the animals are preying on.

Officials are already trapping and shooting cats but now the authorities are turning to a less conventional weapon - sausages.

Chunks of kangaroo meat are combined with chicken fat, herbs, spices and 1080, a poison predominantly used in New Zealand to kill invasive species like rats, the New York Times reports.

The cats that eat the treats meet their maker within 15 minutes.

Comment: While pest control and mitigating the effects of human activity on local ecosystems are understandable, mass culls and even rewilding efforts can have disastrous unforeseen consequences:

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Airplane

Boeing whistleblowers report more 737 Max problems to FAA

Drew Griffin
CNN
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:59 UTC
Boeing 737 MAX
© ReutersA Boeing 737 MAX plane is seen during a media tour of the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington, U.S. 7 December 2015
The day after Ethiopia's minister of transportation released a preliminary crash report on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, four Boeing employees called an Federal Aviation Administration whistleblower hotline that allows employees and the public to report aviation safety issues.

A source familiar with the matter says the hotline submissions involve current and former Boeing employees describing issues related to the angle of attack sensor -- a vane that measures the plane's angle in the air -- and the anti-stall system called MCAS, which is unique to Boeing's newest plane.

All of the 737 Max planes worldwide have been grounded.
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Handcuffs

Two main suspects detained over Sri Lanka bombings


RT
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:59 UTC
Sri Lanka suicide bomb terror attacks
© REUTERS/Thomas PeterSecurity personnel stand guard outside an Anglican church before a service, a week after a string of suicide bomb attacks across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 28, 2019.
Two main suspects connected to the recent Sri Lanka terror attacks have been detained by police, according to a local news portal citing police.

Two brothers believed to be the main suspects behind the series of bombings that targeted several churches and luxury hotels have been arrested and handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan Police, Ada Derana reported.

They have been reportedly identified as Mohamed Saadik Abdul Haq and Mohamed Saahid Abdul Haq.

Comment: RT reports more on the recent arrests:
The elder brother of two suicide bombers believed to have participated in the deadly Sri Lanka Easter bombings has been detained outside the country's capital with two swords, local media have reported.

News portal Ada Derana said that the brother, identified as Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Ifran Ahmed, was in possession of two swords when he was arrested in a suburb outside Colombo. His younger brother is suspected of carrying out a suicide bomb attack at Colombo's five-star Shangri-La hotel. Another brother is said to have attacked a restaurant at the luxury Cinnamon Grand hotel.

Their father, a wealthy spice trader, was taken into custody after the deadly attacks, which killed at least 253 people and injured hundreds more. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the bombings.


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People 2

Nearly 102 million Americans do not have a job right now - Worse than at any point during the last recession

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 10:06 UTC
jobless
Wouldn't it be horrible if the number of Americans without a job was higher today than it was during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009? Well, that is actually true. As you will see below, nearly 102 million Americans do not have a job right now, and at no point during the last recession did that number ever surpass the 100 million mark. Of course the U.S. population has grown a bit over the last decade, but as you will see below, the percentage of the population that is engaged in the labor force is only slightly above the depressingly low levels from the last recession. Sadly, the truth is that the rosy employment statistics that you are getting from the mainstream media are manufactured using smoke and mirrors, and by the time you are done reading this article you will understand what is really going on.

Before we dig into the long-term trends, let's talk about what we just learned.

According to CNBC, initial claims for unemployment benefits just rose by the most that we have seen in 19 months...
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 for the week ended April 20, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The increase was the largest since early September 2017.
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Sheriff

Michigan police can't search passengers in stops without consent, ruling finds

Mark Hicks
The Detroit News
Sun, 28 Apr 2019 04:15 UTC
Michigan State Police
© Charles V. Tines / Detroit News file
A recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling on police searches of passengers during traffic stops can give people more power to challenge such probes and is expected to affect police training in Metro Detroit and across the state, officials and legal experts say.

"The opinion protects Michigan citizens and visitors against unreasonable police searches," said Michael Faraone, the Lansing-based attorney for the passenger whose case sparked the decision. "It is a change in Michigan law. State and local police will need to be retrained on what is allowed."

On Monday, the court ruled in favor of a passenger, Larry Mead, who claimed his rights were violated when police in Jackson County searched his backpack in May 2014 without his consent.

A sheriff's deputy had stopped the car he was riding in with an expired plate driven by a woman Mead had met earlier that night. The driver was giving him a lift, the ruling said.

The deputy looked in Mead's backpack after the driver consented to a search of her car. The backpack held marijuana and methamphetamine.

Mead eventually was arrested, convicted as a fourth-offense habitual offender and sentenced to serve two to 10 years in prison.
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