Society's ChildS


Sheriff

SWAT mistakes prayer group for gun thieves, raid wrong home, detain 14yo girl in bathroom, and send old lady to hospital

Swat raid wrong house
© The Free Thought Project
Guns Loaded? Check... Extra Ammunition? Check... Bullet-proof protective vests? Check... Right home address? Uh oh! In yet another SWAT Team flub, a home has been raided, and its occupants beaten. However, once again, the police went to the wrong address.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office in Gaithersburg admits they got it all wrong when they burst into Israel Orellana's home in Montgomery County. Orellana has the same name as the man police were searching for in a gun theft case. But still, incredibly, Carroll County got a warrant to search the wrong address. Worse yet, the group of people gathered in the home were church goers who were spending the night socializing and praying.

Orellana told reporters, "I thought it was my mom's friends because sometimes they pray and they start dancing." But that night, it wasn't dancing which was disturbing his peace, it was officers of the peace doing so.

People

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov reveals what helps him keep calm and carry on during tough talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
© Sputnik/ Maksim BlinovRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed what thoughts help him retain mental equilibrium during rigorous negotiations.

"I keep thinking about Spartak Moscow," he told Esquire.ru when asked what he does when partners "do not hear" him.

Spartak Moscow is a prominent Russian football club which has celebrated its 95th anniversary. Sergei Lavrov is a die-hard football fan.

Dollars

Cashless society: 1 in 3 Europeans ready to dump cash ahead of digital future

euros in cash register
© Michaela Rehle / Reuters
Over a third of Europeans would be happy to abandon cash and rely on electronic payments if they could, according to a study by ING bank released on Wednesday.

The survey of almost 15,000 respondents showed that over half used less cash over the last year, with 78 percent wanting to use less cash in the next 12 month.

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People 2

Russian parliament submits draft bill to help eradicate bride abduction 'tradition'

man and wife, bride and groom
If implemented, the new legislation might help eradicate the bride abduction "tradition" which still exists in some regions of Russia.

On Wednesday, the parliament of Russia's Republic of Ingushetia submitted a draft bill to the State Duma, suggesting a three-year imprisonment penalty for kidnapping women and forcing them into marriage.

Russia's Criminal Code includes an article regarding human abduction, which carries a prison sentence of up to fifteen years, depending the consequences and if it was committed by more than one man. The article, however, states that if the abductor releases the abductee voluntarily, and there were not any other offences committed, no criminal charges would be pressed.

Attention

Venezuela opposition 'national sit-in' unleashes fresh wave of violence leaving 4 dead

Jesus Leonardo Sulbaran, 42, was shot in the head in an alleged sniper attack
© @GobAlexisRJesus Leonardo Sulbaran, 42, was shot in the head in an alleged sniper attack.
Four people were killed across Venezuela Monday in the latest round of violent anti-government protests convened by the opposition.

Protesters took to the streets to block roads and highways throughout the South American country in a "great national sit-in" organized by the right-wing opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

According to National Assembly Vice-President and hard-right Popular Will party leader Freddy Guevara, the goals of the mobilization were to "unmask the true face of the dictatorship" and "create ungovernability". The opposition coalition called on its supporters to take to the streets indefinitely at the beginning of April in a bid to force early presidential elections among other demands.

While turnout was significantly smaller than previous mobilizations last week, the day was punctuated by deadly violence.

Handcuffs

Federal officials indict fifteen for illegal protected bird trafficking

wild bird trafficking ring
© AP / James NordSouth Dakota U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler discusses the details of indictments in an eagle trafficking case in Rapid City, S.D., Monday, April 24, 2017. Over a dozen people have been indicted for illegally trafficking eagles and other migratory birds after a two-year undercover operation.
Federal officials in South Dakota said Monday that 15 people have been indicted for illegally trafficking eagles and other migratory birds after a two-year undercover operation potentially involving hundreds of birds.

U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler said that officials expect "significant" additional federal charges in the case, which focused on trafficking of eagles and eagle parts and feathers for profit. Authorities said the case involves more than 100 eagles, a number that could climb as high as 250.

Seiler described one operation as basically a "chop-shop for eagles" in which eagle feathers were stuffed into garbage bags. He said it was clear that it was a moneymaking operation and that the feathers and eagle parts such as talons and beaks were treated as merchandise.

"There was no cultural sensitivity. There was no spirituality," Seiler said. "There was no tradition in the manner in which these defendants handled these birds."

Comment: If only this much effort was expended to break up human trafficking rings...


Network

Teenage cyberhacker-for-hire jailed for masterminding global attacks on Sony and Microsoft

Adam Mudd
© PCGamesN / TwitterAdam Mudd
A British teenager has been jailed for masterminding a cyber-hacking business that carried out more than 1.7 million attacks on websites including Sony and Microsoft, wreaking havoc worldwide.

Adam Mudd was 16 when he created the Titanium Stresser malware program, which lets users crash websites and computers by flooding them with data. The attacks were carried out against more than 650,000 victims, including websites such as Minecraft, XBox Live, and TeamSpeak, a chat tool for gamers.

Mudd, now 20, developed the distributed denial of services (DDoS) software from his bedroom in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, according to the Daily Mail. He earned the equivalent of more than £386,000 ($495,000) in US dollars and bitcoins selling the program to cybercriminals.

Heart - Black

Men who live-streamed Facebook rape sentenced to prison in Sweden

facebook
Two men who participated in the rape of a Swedish woman which was live-streamed on Facebook have been sentenced to prison. A third man has also been put behind bars for publishing the video online and failing to report the violent incident.

The Upsalla District Court sentenced one of the men, a 21-year-old Afghan national, to 27 months behind bars for rape and assistance to rape on Monday.

The second man, an 18-year-old Afghan national, was given one year, which was halved because he was a minor at the time of the attack.

Bad Guys

Italian police arrest ISIS recruiter who taught how to become 'invisible in Europe'

ISIS militants
© Dabiq / Global Look Press
Italian police have arrested an "extremely dangerous" Moroccan man who had reportedly planned terrorist attacks in Italy and used social media to recruit accomplices, according to media reports.

Mouner El Aoual, 29, was arrested in Turin on Monday in an operation which included Italy's Special Operations Group. It followed seven months of surveillance after an FBI tip-off.

According to media reports, the man used the app Zello to discuss plans to carry out attacks in Italy.

Stock Down

Chaos in the West: Maybe 'Preparedness' Isn't Such a Bad Idea

It only takes a small pinprick to deflate a balloon
economic collapse
The first course of the French election has been served, and I think it safe to say that it went entirely as expected.

Gold bulls snatched their little ingots off the table and equities traders plowed back in to the markets with vigor.... Same old, same old, so nice to be back in the 'comfort zone'. Now all the markets need is for Macron to be elected president of France and the EU can breathe easier with a new oxygen bottle plugged into its ICU.

There should be no further misadventures — just ask Hillary.

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