Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

US: Park Slope Bakery Worker's Sexual Assault on Job Sparks Fears Among Residents

Sarah Armaghan and Tina Moore
New York Daily News
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 07:33 UTC
A 22-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at the Park Slope bakery where she works on Friday - and the sick culprit was still on the lose Saturday, cops said.


Cops said an armed man wearing a black ski mask entered the bakery at about 9 a.m. He forced her into a back office and demanded money, cops said. When he learned there wasn't any money, he pushed her to the floor and sexually assaulted her.

The fiend was caught on video fleeing the shop. The woman was treated at Kings County Hospital and later released.

Chrissi Wagner, a manager at Ladybird bakery on Eighth Ave. in Park Slope, said the attack made her nervous.

"You think you're safe here in Park Slope, but I guess nowhere is safe," Wagner, 30, said. "It makes me feel better that we always have more than one person here working at all times."

Lashelle Wilkes, a server at The Chocolate Room on Fifth Ave. near Prospect Place, was surprised to hear about the crime. "That's really scary," said Wilkes, who lives in Harlem. "It's crazy that it happened at 9 a.m. in broad daylight."
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Arrow Up

Domestic Violence Rages in New Zealand Quake Aftermath

Amy Coopes
Agence France-Presse
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:06 UTC
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© AFP/Torsten BlackwoodA home is exposed in cross-section following the total collapse of a side wall after a 6.3 earthquake devastated Christchurch and surrounding towns. Police said domestic violence surged by 50 percent after a major tremor rocked New Zealand's second city last September, the prelude to Tuesday's quake that left at least 123 dead and destroyed parts of the city centre.
With nerves frayed by months of tremors that peaked in a horrifying earthquake this week, Christchurch residents are lashing out against those they need the most.

Police said domestic violence surged by 50 percent after a major tremor rocked New Zealand's second city last September, the prelude to Tuesday's quake that left at least 123 dead and destroyed parts of the city centre.

Just a day into the latest disaster, police commander Dave Cliff said authorities had seen another surge in family assaults, with many homeless or without power and water, and as some turned to alcohol to cope.

"The stress and trauma of Tuesday's earthquake is understandably taking its toll, and the continual aftershocks are exacerbating the tiredness and emotional fatigue," said Cliff.

"However family violence is not okay under any circumstances and it is important that situations are not allowed to escalate."

Many in Christchurch have been on edge since the September 4 quake which caused massive damage but no loss of life, with more than 5,000 aftershocks ravaging the city of 390,000 -- New Zealand's second largest.
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Light Sabers

Ireland's new government on a collision course with EU

Bruno Waterfield
Telegraph.co.UK
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:30 UTC
Ireland's new government is headed for confrontation with Brussels after the country's ruling party was wiped out on Saturday by voters in a huge popular backlash against a European-IMF austerity program.

Exit polls and early tallies from Ireland's general election heralded political annihilation for Fianna Fail (FF), the party which has ruled Ireland for more than 60 years of the Irish Republic's eight decades of independence.

The unprecedented and historic defeat, Fianna Fail's worst result in 85 years, makes the Irish government the first eurozone administration to be punished by voters in the aftermath of the EU's debt crisis. Voter turn-out was exceptionally high at more than 70 per cent, indicating public anger at the government and the EU.

Late last year, Ireland was forced to accept a £72 billion EU-IMF bailout to cover huge public debts that were ran up to save failed Irish banks.

The bail-out was designed to prevent financial contagion that threatened the existence of the euro, but according to economic forecasts, the cost of servicing Irish bank debt and the EU-IMF bank loans will consume 85 per cent of Ireland's income tax revenue by 2012, a burden that a majority of voters find intolerable.

Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister and Fianna Fail leader, who stood down last month rather than face furious voters, was also pressured into implementing a savage £13billion austerity programme of tax rises and spending cuts drawn up by the EU.

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Handcuffs

Quebec Tourist Arrested After Giving Nazi Salute Before German Parliament


CTV News
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:16 UTC
police guard germany
© The Associated Press / Michael SohnAn armed police officer stands guard at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 7, 2011.
European media reports say a Quebec tourist has been arrested in Berlin after making a Nazi salute in front of Germany's parliament.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reports a 30-year-old man from Quebec was standing on the steps of the Reichstag with his right arm raised in Hitler's infamous salute as his girlfriend photographed him.

The newspaper says police arrived within seconds, handcuffed the man and took the memory card of the camera.
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Attention

Canada: Cult Leader Roch Theriault Killed in New Brunswick Prison


CTV News
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 02:47 UTC
Roch Theriault
© The Canadian PressRoch Theriault is shown in this 1981 file photo.

Warning: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers

A notorious cult leader and convicted killer has been found dead inside Westmorland correctional centre in Dorchester, New Brunswick.

Roch Theriault, 63, was involved in an altercation early Saturday morning, according to police.

According to investigators the death was a homicide.

Although a 59-year-old inmate, arrested in connection with the incident, was later released back into the prisoner population, RCMP say they expect that he will face charges shortly.

"The investigation is ongoing and to date no charges have been laid," said RCMP Sgt. Greg Lupson.

Theriault founded and led a notorious sect in the 1980s and was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for the murder of Solange Boilard.

The charismatic cult leader had 22 children with women he held under his sway. Between 1977 and 1989 he was the head of a tiny religious group near Burnt River, Ont. During that time Theriault chopped off the hand of one of his concubines and killed another woman by disembowelling her during a cult ritual.
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Eye 1

DNA "Genetic Patdown" Introduced to Airports by DHS

Nicholas West
Activist Post
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:49 UTC
DNA Helix
© UnknownNetBio -- Rapid DNA Analysis Solutions

A new level of invasive screening is scheduled for airports this summer: a portable DNA scanner to conduct on-site, real-time genetic testing.

This technology is being implemented under the cover of combating human trafficking, illegal immigration, and finding missing persons, but Richard Seldon of NetBio, creator of the scanners, clearly states that "DNA information has the potential to become part of the fabric of day-to-day life." In an interview with Katie Drummond who broke this story for The Daily, Seldon envisions additional applications in emergency rooms, food safety tests, and law enforcement.

DNA collection is actually nothing new, as the Pentagon has admitted that it currently has a DNA database with 80,000 suspected foreign terrorists on it, and growing daily. However, this collection apparatus has been secretly in place for Americans as well. Lawsuits are pending from families who uncovered a secret program to collect DNA from babies and store it in a military database. However, that was a secret that had to be uncovered. The fact that DNA screening is being rolled out openly marks a new level of blatant tyranny in America.
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Che Guevara

Middle Eastern Uprising Spreads: Buildings on fire amid Oman clashes


Press TV
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:06 UTC
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Anti-government protests in the Omani capital of Muscat
Following clashes between Omani security forces and anti-government protesters, a police station and a government building have been set on fire.

The confrontation erupted on Sunday in the northern industrial city of Sohar, where more than 2,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets, Reuters reported.

Two people have been killed and around five others injured. Omani forces say rubber bullets caused the deaths.

The protest came one day after Omani ruler Sultan Qaboos changed six ministers in his cabinet and raised stipends for university students in an attempt to prevent further protests in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters also held a rally in Oman's largest industrial city Sohar, demanding democracy and better living condition.
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Heart

From New Zealand rubble, haunting texts to Mom beg for help

Jim Gomez
Guardian
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:06 UTC
Image
© AFP

The first text message said: "Mommy, I got buried." About 40 minutes later: "Mommy, I can't move my right hand." Then, a brief call from New Zealand's earthquake rubble to parents in the Philippines pleading to send help.

After another harrowing hour in a crumpled building, when she sent a half-dozen more texts about increasing pain, continued shaking and overwhelming smoke, came the final one: "Please make it quick."

That was the last the Amantillo family heard from 23-year-old student Louise Amantillo, who is among dozens of foreigners missing after their language school disintegrated in Tuesday's collapse of the prominent CTV building in Christchurch.
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MIB

'You made your bed, now sleep in it': Radiation alert after British-based Russian tycoon is hit by mystery illness


The Daily Mail
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:51 UTC
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© Associated PressHealth fears: Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky flew to Israel to see his personal doctors after falling ill at his British country estate
Police and radiation experts were alerted after controversial Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was hit by a mystery illness at his £20 million country estate in Britain.

The 65-year-old billionaire felt so sick for a fortnight that it was feared he may have been the victim of a radioactive poisoning attack similar to that which killed his close friend, former Russian KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, in 2006.

Security aides to Mr Berezovsky - a bitter enemy of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin - called in forensic experts from the Health Protection Agency to screen his mansion at Weybridge, Surrey, and his other homes and offices last month.

Mr Berezovsky flew to Israel for a check-up by his personal doctors before being given the medical all-clear.

Traces of Polonium 210 were found at Mr Berezovsky's offices in Mayfair soon after the death of Mr Litvinenko, whose widow has accused Mr Putin and the Russian secret service of his murder.

He had met Mr Berezovsky at the offices not long before he died.

Mr Berezovsky made the news earlier this week after it was confirmed Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich lost an appeal against him by former business partner Mr Berezovsky.

Mr Abramovich had asked the Court of Appeal to overturn a ruling by High Court judge Mr Justice Colman who refused to strike out the action.

Comment: Read the following article to appreciate the irony. That's what happens when you sleep with snakes - you get bitten.

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Newspaper

Fox News boss persuaded fellow executive to 'lie' to federal investigators

Ed Pilkington
Guardian
Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:56 UTC
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Roger Ailes with Rupert Murdoch at a dinner party in Washington. Photograph: Rex Features

The chairman of the right-wing current affairs channel, Fox News, Roger Ailes, has been named in court documents as the previously anonymous executive who allegedly tried to persuade a fellow boss at News Corporation to lie to federal investigators over a crucial Washington appointment.

The New York Times reported court documents had become available that for the first time name Ailes as the mysterious executive involved in the allegations. The claims were initially made in November 2007 by Judith Regan, one of Rupert Murdoch's rising stars in News Corporation until she was dismissed the previous year in a row over her decision to publish a book with OJ Simpson.

In her unfair dismissal claim against her former employers, Regan claimed that a News Corporation senior executive had tried to secure her silence during the process to vet Bernard Kerik as the US head of homeland security. Regan had been having an affair with Kerik, and she alleged in her lawsuit that the unnamed executive had wanted her to keep quiet about it during the vetting procedure in order to protect Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who had appointed Kerik as New York police commissioner and was Kerik's main supporter. Giuliani was at the time considering a run for the White House in 2008 and the revelations could have rubbed off adversely on him.
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