Society's ChildS


Bomb

Five arrested in failed bomb attempt, explosives found in 'chic' Paris neighborhood


RT
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 09:50 UTC
French soldiers
© SkynewsFrance is under a state of emergency following a number of terror attacks.
Five people have been arrested after what appeared to be a failed bombing attempt in an apartment building in Paris, after a neighbor tipped off police. One of the suspects was under government surveillance for radicalism, according to the interior minister.

The neighbor alerted law enforcement to suspicious activity early Saturday in the chic 16th arrondissement, according to police cited by AP. An explosive device was found and deactivated, according to a judicial official.

Counter-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation. One of the five suspects was under government surveillance for radicalism, Interior Minister Gerrard Collomb said.

When asked how someone under surveillance could carry out an attempted attack without being detected, Collomb said radicals usually have "friends, networks that can carry out the act." Those people don't show outward signs of radicalization, but are "ready to help"

Collomb said the incident proves the threat against France remains "extremely big." "Blowing up a building in a chic neighborhood of Paris - is this not a sign that no one is safe? This doesn't happen just in suburbs in working class neighborhoods," he said.

He went on to stress the importance of a new counter-terrorism law which is expected to gain parliamentary approval later on Tuesday.


Comment: Authorities would be able to place people under house arrest, order house searches and ban public gatherings without needing the prior approval of a judge.


Comment: Interesting how attacks and threats often occur just before counterterrorism mechanisms (and the suspension of rights) are up for government approval, making talking points more convincing, generating public demand.

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Arrow Down

Order returns to Barcelona on a foundation of Spanish suppression

John Wight
Counter Punch
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 18:50 UTC
Barcelona supporters wave Estelada or pro-independece flags
© AP / Emilio Morenatti
Arriving in Barcelona in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, Ernst Toller was moved to write, "'The most striking experience a foreigner has in Barcelona is that of the functioning of democracy." In 2017 something akin to history repeating is unfolding in the Catalonian capital, where democracy has again been raised aloft as a cause worth fighting for.

The scenes of Spanish riot police marching through the streets of Barcelona and other Catalonian towns and cities, attacking civilians with batons and rubber bullets outside polling stations for the crime of attempting to cast a democratic vote on their future, of ballot boxes being seized and elected politicians being arrested - all at the behest of the government of an EU member state - you might think are incongruous and incompatible with the EU's self-declared status as a pillar of democratic values in the 21st century, a status enshrined in Article 2 of its very own constitution, the Lisbon Treaty, which reads:
"The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail."
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Bomb

Damascus: Blast kills 15 including 5 police officers UPDATES


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:27 UTC
Damascus explosion
© Sputnik/Muhammad Maarouf.
Fifteen people died during an explosion not far from central Damascus, as Sputnik correspondent said.

An explosion occurred not far from central Damascus, local media reported Monday. According to the SANA news agency, the incident took place in the Al Midan district and may be a terrorist attack. Sputnik correspondent revealed that 15 people died, including five policemen as a result of the blast.

Moreover, a local security source told Sputnik that the terrorist attack had been conducted by four suicide bombers wearing explosives on the belts, and carrying grenades and weapons.

No extremist group has taken responsibility for the attack so far.

Comment: More information:

More from Reuters:
At least 10 people were killed and 20 more injured when four armed men assaulted the station, the pro-Damascus television channel al-Mayadeen reported. Russian news agency RIA put the toll at 15.

Militants targeted the al-Midan police station and clashed with police officers there, Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar said on state television from the station.

One man blew himself up at the main entrance and another detonated his explosive device on the first floor, he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Footage on state TV showed bodies in shrouds on the floor of the station and fire fighters putting out flames.

A bomb blast had also hit the same police station in al-Midan late last year. Monday's attack came as a response to "the major victories that our armed forces are achieving on Syrian land," the interior minister said.
Additionally from the Independent:
The blasts damaged the lower floors of the building and shattered the windows on one side.
Ambulances had previously rushed to the blast site while security agents cordoned off the area.
Video from PressTV News Videos:
"There were three explosions: the first was the grenade, the second was the first suicide bomber, and the third was the second suicide bomber inside the police department itself."

Update October 3, Fort Russ News:
The terrorist group ISIS today issued a statement, claiming responsibility for yesterday's terror attack that targeted the police headquarters in Al Midan district in central Damascus.
The double suicide attack resulted in the deaths of 17 policemen and civilians. More than 20 people were wounded.


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Battery

Research shows one third of smartphone notifications worsen mood

Sarah Knapton
The Telegraph
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:00 UTC
Man using smartphone app
© Getty Images
Smartphones were meant to make life easier, but a new study suggests that one third of notifications which pop up cause a downturn in our mood.

A team at Nottingham Trent University investigated the effect on mood as 50 participants received thousands of digital alerts over a five-week period.

Out of more than half a million notifications, they found that 32 per cent resulted in negative emotions, triggering users to feel hostile, upset, nervous, afraid or ashamed.

Notifications relating to non-human activity - such as general phone updates and wifi availability - had the worst impact on phone users' mood, the researchers found.

Faceless updates from apps were the most frustrating work-related notifications also had a negative impact on mood, particularly when they arrived in bulk.
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Nuke

Scientists find 'unexpected' radioactivity in groundwater and sands 100km away from Fukushima power plant


RT
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:05 UTC
Fukushimna radiation
© Toru Hanai / Reuters
Six years on, consequences of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continue to uncover. Scientists say they've found new and "unexpected" source of radioactive material dozens of kilometers away from the site.

New radioactivity has been discovered in salty groundwater and sands beneath beaches up to 100km away from the disaster site, according to the findings published in 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' journal on Monday.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the US and Japan's Kanazawa University revealed high levels of persistent cesium-137 in eight beaches, sampled for the study between 2013 and 2016.

These levels turned out to be up to 10 times higher than levels in seawater of the power plant harbor, according to the press release on the WHOI website.

Comment:

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Smoking

Full smoking ban in Estonia prisons causes no 'noteworthy' incidents


The Baltic Times
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 16:34 UTC
Cigarette burning
Smoking was banned in Estonian prisons starting from Sunday and the Ministry of Justice said that the ban has not caused any noteworthy incidents.

Spokespeople for the Ministry of Justice told BNS that implementing a full ban on smoking went calmly and no serious incident regarding the smoking ban has been reported.

Spokespeople said that the rules as of 2010 say that inmates cannot be in possession of tobacco products. Cigarettes and other tobacco products are in the possession of prison staff and the inmates were allowed to smoke up to three cigarettes per day and only in the walking area.

"Smoking has been strongly restricted in prisons for seven years already," spokespeople said. "Therefore, only newly arrived inmates can have strong tobacco addiction, but not the longer term inmates. They said that the restrictions set in place in 2010 were psychologically more difficult.
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Info

Puerto Rican mayor reveals truth behind San Juan mayor's politically motivated attack on Trump

Chris Enloe
The Blaze
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 16:00 UTC
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz
© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesA Puerto Rican mayor is directly refuting the claims of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who has openly criticized the federal government for allegedly not providing enough help after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
The mayor of a city that directly borders San Juan, Puerto Rico, is casting doubt on the claims of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who directly criticized Trump's administration on Friday for not efficiently helping the island after a powerful hurricane devastated it.

What did Yulín Cruz allege?

Yulín Cruz, a Democrat, has alleged in numerous interviews that the federal government has not done enough to support Puerto Rico in the wake of the hurricane. She even claimed that "we are going to see is something close to a genocide" if Trump and government agencies didn't do more to help.

What others say?

However, many other top Puerto Rican politicians, including Gov. Ricardo Rossello, have been very complimentary of the government's efforts to provide aid. One mayor in particular, Guaynabo's Angel Perez, is speaking out directly against Yulín Cruz and her claims that the government isn't doing enough to help.
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Red Flag

Negligence or useful 'accident'? Latest depot fire destroyed more ammo than Ukraine military has used during its three-year civil war


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:07 UTC
explosion ukraine military depot sept 2017
© ReutersMassive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region
Officials have calculated that last week's massive fire at an ammunition depot in central Ukraine has caused $800 million in damage, destroying over a quarter more ammo than Kiev has used over the course of its three-year war with independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian television network TSN, the fire, which ignited last Tuesday at the Kalinovka base in Vinnitsa region, resulted in the loss of about 32,000 metric tons of ammunition (about 25% more than the estimated 24,000 tons used so far in the Ukrainian military's operations in the Donbass), and forced authorities to close 50 km-worth of airspace around the base.

More importantly, the network explained that the vast arsenal at the base was one of many left behind by the Soviet army as it withdrew from Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The vast arsenal there was placed in temporary storage facilities, often in areas not properly cleared for weapons storage.


Comment: Thousands forced to flee, airspace closed after munitions warehouse explodes in central Ukraine - UPDATE

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Eye 1

The New Establishment and the battle for the future

Nick Bilton
Vanity Fair
Sun, 01 Oct 2017 15:39 UTC
Apple Facebook Uber google
© Tamara Shopsi
Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook have remade the economy in their image. So what happens if they turn on each other?

It was getting close to midnight at the Slanted Door, Charles Phan's renowned Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building, overlooking San Francisco Bay. Outside, Teslas and Priuses were making their way along I-80, over the bridge toward Oakland and Berkeley; a few lights from the tankers, trawling the waters past Yerba Buena Island, flickered like fireflies. A cold early-October breeze rippled the waves.

C.E.O.'s are an early-waking group, and inside the restaurant only a few stragglers remained from the speakers' dinner of Vanity Fair's third annual New Establishment Summit. Bob Iger and Richard Plepler had left at least an hour earlier. Sarah Jessica Parker and Jony Ive were gone, too. Meanwhile, the restaurant staff was carefully bustling around the sleek, modernist dining room, whisking away wineglasses and stacking empty dessert plates after another busy night in America's idea capital.
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Sheriff

Research shows crime is actually reduced when proactive policing is curtailed

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
police state
Current US police practices INCREASE crime
It may seem counter-intuitive to some, but a new scientific research study suggests that crime can be reduced by cutting back on proactive policing. In other words, getting rid of modern-day policing policies and community-based policing may, in fact, reduce crime altogether.

The results of the research study were published in the journal Nature, and is titled, "Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime". The problem being studied was whether or not "high rates of police stops, criminal summonses, and aggressive low-level arrests reduce serious crime."

The researchers acknowledge law enforcement agencies will deploy their human resources (officers) to areas where crime is to be expected which provokes a response by the community to either comply with the law or execute their plans to commit crimes, often as a result of the police presence in the community.

Comment: Bureaucrats with weapons: Are police really necessary?

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