Society's ChildS


Ambulance

Hundred injured as train derails at Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:00 UTC
The derailment has caused a delay to services
© sophieaka / InstagramThe derailment has caused a delay to services
A train has derailed at a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train station in Brooklyn, New York reportedly injuring at least 100 people and damaging the station.

Video from Atlantic Terminal shows the train having crashed into a door on the platform after coming off the line. The window is smashed and the structure twisted from the impact.



Early reports said 20 people received minor injuries in the crash, however the FDNY tweeted that there were "103 injuries reported at scene of Atlantic Terminal LIRR train derailment, all non-life-threatening." People were seen being taken from the station on stretchers.






The train derailed from track six after hitting a bumper block upon its arrival at the station. The station quickly filled with smoke, officials told the NY Post.




It had departed from Far Rockaway at 7:18am and arrived at Atlantic Station at 8:20am, nine minutes behind schedule.
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Eye 1

Carnival Cruises touts creepy monitoring "jewelry" that tracks vacation choices

Brooks Barnes
New York Times
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:11 UTC
Canival cruise passenger monitoring
© Scott McIntyre/The New York Times John Padgett, left, and Michael G. Jungen in a mock casino at a Carnival Corporation test site in Doral, Fla.
Inside a clandestine Carnival Corporation complex here, two former Disney executives have been plotting a drastic cruise industry overhaul.

Their mission: Take lessons learned at Walt Disney World, where they helped bring about a $1 billion vacation management system involving Fitbit-style bracelets that link to personal information, and apply them to cruises. The result: Millions of passengers on Carnival ships will soon be using a similar but more advanced system that allows travelers to do everything from plan vacations to open stateroom doors to order poolside cocktails.

"As long as bigger, newer, cooler ships have kept coming, the cruise industry has treated guest liabilities — standing in long lines, having a frustrating embarkation experience — as acceptable," said John Padgett, who joined Carnival in 2014 as chief experience and innovation officer after 18 years at Disney. "That thinking stops now."

Carnival, which operates more than 100 ships worldwide under 10 brands, will unveil its ambitious technology initiative on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In a keynote speech, Arnold W. Donald, Carnival's chief executive, intends to announce that the system — an app called Ocean Compass paired with a quarter-size so-called smart medallion that can be carried in a pocket or worn as jewelry — will arrive on the company's Princess Cruises fleet this year.

Comment: Big Brother even wants to know what you do to relax.

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Eye 2

Indian politicians blame women for NYE 'mass molestation' in Bangalore - 'If there's sugar, ants will come'


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:54 UTC
indian woman sunset
Vivek Prakash / Reuters
A minister and an MP in India have come under fire for suggesting that it's the way women dress that's to blame for the mass sex attack in Bangalore on New Year's Eve.

In the city of Bangalore, the largest in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, scores of women were, according to the local media, attacked and molested by groups of men, apparently drunk, on the night of December 31.

The sexual assaults happened despite the presence of 1,500 police on the streets. The incident has spread shock throughout the country.

Referring to the reports, Karnataka Home Minister, G Parameshwara criticized women for dressing "like westerners."

"In events like New Year or Christmas Day, there are women who are harassed or treated badly. We take precautionary measures," he said in an interview with the Mumbai-based TV news channel Times Now.

"Unfortunately, what is happening is - as I said - in days like New Year, [on Bengaluru's] Brigade Road, Commercial Street, or MG Road, a large number of youngsters gather. Youngsters who are almost like westerners, they try to copy the westerners not only in the mindset, but even the dressing. So some disturbance, some girls are harassed, these kind of things do happen."
The minister was condemned for the "irresponsible" remark by the central government's junior home minister Kiren Rijiju, according to AFP.
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Chalkboard

Five years into Common Core: 15-year-olds behind 35 countries in math

Tyler O'Neil
PJ Media
Fri, 23 Dec 2016 15:25 UTC
young boy hangs his head in shame after getting an F on his math test
© ShutterstockYoung boy hangs his head in shame after getting an F on his math test.
Students in the United States have fallen behind kids in many other countries, according to the two largest international benchmarking tests in math, science, and reading. Five years into the implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (commonly known as "Common Core"), 15-year-old kids in the United States lag behind their peers in 35 other countries in math.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2015 showed American students holding stagnant in science and reading, compared to results in 2012 and 2009, but far behind their previous results in math. Out of the 69 countries (and territories) tested, the United States ranked 39th.

In math, Singapore took the top spot, followed by four Chinese provinces: Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, and BSJG. Japan scored below Taipei and above BSJG. Many other countries ranked higher than the U.S., including Canada, Finland, Ireland, Vietnam, Russia, Australia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Malta, and Israel.


Comment: Singapore, other Asian nations remain at top of international education rankings


Comment: Another Obama legacy failure.

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Dollars

Britain's top bosses have already made more money in 2.5 days than the average British worker will all year


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 15:19 UTC
London man
© David Ryle / Global Look Press
British bosses have already made more money in the first two and a half work days of 2017 than most people will make over the entire year, in what researchers have dubbed "Fat Cat Wednesday."

According to the High Pay Centre, the salary gap across the UK is now such that directors earning £1,000 ($1,228) per hour will by around noon Wednesday have passed the annual salary of the average British worker - just over £28,000.

Figures calculated by the think tank estimate FTSE 100 CEOs earning nearly £4 million in 2015. In most cases, the High Pay Centre notes, bosses make an astounding 129 times more than their employees at the end of a work year.

"Our new year calculation is not designed to make the return to work harder than it already is," said High Pay Centre director Stefan Stern. "But 'Fat Cat Wednesday' is an important reminder of the continuing problem of the unfair pay gap in the UK.

"We hope the government will recognise that further reform to pay practices are needed if this gap is to be closed. That will be the main point in our submission to the business department in its current consultation over corporate governance reform."
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Sheriff

Police officer under investigation after punching girl in massive Philadelphia brawl


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 15:05 UTC
cop punching girls
© arthur.quarles / Facebook
A police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is being investigated after striking a juvenile during a street fight. The incident was captured on video and posted on multiple social networks.

Police was called to the intersection of 54th Street and Springfield Avenue in southwestern Philadelphia to break up a fight involving about 30 teens on Monday afternoon, WCAU reported. The street brawl was captured on video and posted to Instagram, Facebook and WorldStarHipHop.

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Attention

Long Island Rail Road derails in Brooklyn; several injured


NBC News
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:59 UTC
LIRR derailment
© @TheLinxNY
A Long Island Rail Road train derailed at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn at the height of Wednesday's morning rush, injuring more than six dozen people and riddling the track area with shattered glass and debris.

Fire officials say 76 people were hurt when the train plowed into track 6 at the terminal around 8:30 a.m.; all were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Pictures on social media showed the train tipped slightly at an angle. The platform also appeared to be smoky as emergency personnel flooded the scene. Photos from within the train showed seats toppled to the ground; splintered wood, fire extinguishers and other debris littered the floor.

Comment:



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Biohazard

Four children accidentally gassed to death in Texas after pesticide spraying


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:56 UTC
deadly pesticide warning
© AFP
Four children from a Texas family have been killed after a relative unknowingly created an extremely toxic gas by trying to wash away pesticide sprayed near their home.

The children, one as young as 7 years old, died from the effects of phosphine gas poisoning, reports NBC 26, when efforts to clean away aluminum phosphide pesticide from beneath a mobile home went tragically wrong.

The incident happened in Amarillo on Monday, with the Amarillo Police Department confirming the deaths of four minors from what is being described as an "accidental poisoning with no criminal intent."

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), aluminum phosphide-based fumigants are restricted and must be used by "certified pesticide applicators... at least 15ft from a residential structure". It's primarily used for destroying insects in animal feed and controlling pests in agricultural areas.

The chemical compound, which comes in pellets, tablets and dust, becomes phosphine gas when exposed to moisture. The deadly mixture causes the lungs to stop functioning and was the chief factor in the four Amarillo deaths, police said in a press release.
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Pills

NYC man arrested in Massachusetts for possessing $1.2mn worth of fentanyl


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:45 UTC
fentanyl
© Drug Enforcement Administration / Reuters
A Queens man has been arrested in Massachusetts after being caught with fentanyl worth $1.2 million in a duffel bag. The news was welcomed in Methuen where just days before, a baby was hospitalized for being exposed to the painkiller.

Robinson Rojas-Rosario, 32, is being held on $100,000 bail at the Methuen police station in Massachusetts after he was found to be carrying 33 pounds worth of China White fentanyl. Rojas-Rosario has pleaded not guilty to major drug trafficking charges, while Methuen police celebrated the arrest.

Police received a call Tuesday morning from a witness who claimed to have seen Rojas-Rosario step out of a taxi and retrieve a gun from his duffel bag, hide it on his person and then get back in the cab. When police arrested him, they did not find the gun, but they did find $1.2 million worth of fentanyl, an extremely potent painkiller.
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Pistol

Chicago cop stripped of powers after fatally shooting unarmed Hispanic man


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:05 UTC
chicago police
© Jim Young / Reuters
An off-duty transit officer has shot and killed an unarmed Hispanic man after an altercation on the Northwest Side of Chicago. The two men knew each other previously, the Chicago Police Department has confirmed.

The shooting occurred around 9:30am Monday in the Hermosa neighborhood after a 57-year-old unnamed officer and Jose Nieves, 38, got into an altercation. After the incident, Nieves was rushed to the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The incident comes only a day after another man was shot by police following a car chase in West Pullman, according to a statement by the CPD.
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