Society's ChildS


Sherlock

Canada:1918 mass murder mystery still puzzles Albertans

Jana G. Pruden
The Gazette
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:32 UTC
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© Bruce Edwards, edmontonjournal.comThese red and orange trees in the Grande Prairie area, shown in July 2007.
Amateur historian Wallace Tansem spent a decade looking into the biggest unsolved mass murder in Alberta history, a case his father and uncles had talked about for years.

As Tansem learned more about the killings near Grande Prairie, Alta., in June 1918, he was haunted by one thought, the same question another man had asked an undercover police officer more than 70 years earlier.

"How is it that six men are killed and no one knows anything about it?"

It was first assumed to be a murder-suicide. The bodies of Joseph Snyder and his nephew, Stanley, were found in the remains of their burnt-out shack near Grande Prairie. Both had been shot, likely with the .38 revolver found near the bodies. The Snyders were quiet and had always seemed to get along well, but 1918 had been a hard year, and killings were not unheard of.

Six days later, people noticed a bad smell emanating from the farm down the road.
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Magnify

Family seeks truth over mysterious death of British businessman in Ukraine

Nick Irving
Daily Mirror
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:25 UTC
Police have reopened the inquiry into the death of a wealthy British businessman who is feared to have been executed by a contract killer.

Barry Pring, 47, was decapitated by a speeding car as he waited for a taxi in Ukraine in 2008.

Barry Pring
© Unknown
His ex-stripper wife, Ganna Zuizina, 29 - who had left the scene moments before the tragedy - is fighting for a share of his estate, estimated to be worth £1.5million.

Barry's family believe he was murdered and have spent £100,000 on legal fees to try to get to the bottom of the case and to stop his internet bride inheriting his cash until the mystery is solved.
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Stormtrooper

France transfers sensitive warship technology to Russia


RIA Novosti
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:07 UTC
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© AFP/ Eric FeferbergFrench-built Mistral class amphibious assault ship
France has transferred to Russia all the technology it asked for under a $1.7-billion deal for two French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy, a Russian arms exporter said on Monday.

Under the deal signed on Friday, the first warship will be delivered in 2014 and the second in 2015.

"The French side has transferred all technologies, including the Zenit-9 [command and control] system, as well as two other systems," said Anatoly Isaikin, head of the Rosoboronexport state-controlled arms exporter.

A formal contract for the construction of the two Mistral class ships will be signed separately at a later date, he said, adding it could take up to three months to compile.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Around Tornado Deaths, a Nagging Tale of Shelter Denied

Campbell Robertson
New York Times
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:01 UTC
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© Rob Culpepper for The New York TimesThe site of the house where Annette Singleton, her son and two other boys took shelter on April 27. Her son says they were turned away from a church.
It was discussed openly and in whispers, over the phone and in the church pews. When it was brought up at school, the curious were quickly shushed. Eventually, the whole thing got pushed aside by other concerns, a bit of nastiness better forgotten, or judged never to have occurred at all.

But Madison Phillips says it is true. He says that he and his mother, Annette Singleton, both black, were turned away from a church shelter by a white woman on the afternoon of April 27, the day of the tornadoes. And within hours, Ms. Singleton and two of Madison's young friends, who had been huddling with him in his house within yards of that church, were dead.
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Light Sabers

Russia: Woman passes unnoticed through Domodedovo Airport security


RIA Novosti
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:13 UTC
Moscow transportation authorities are investigating an incident at Russia's busiest Domodedovo Airport, in which a woman managed to pass unnoticed through security and document controls and board a plane.

The incident took place last Friday, the Moscow transport prosecutor's office said in a statement on Monday. The woman was reported to have boarded the plane bound to the Tajik capital of Dushanbe without undergoing any security procedures.
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Arrow Up

UNHCR Report Says Refugee Numbers at 15-Year High

Shiv Malik
The Guardian, UK
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Anjum Naveed/APReport from the UN high commission for refugees says that Afghanistan is still the leading country of origin for refugees.
The number of forcibly displaced people around the world has reached a 15-year high, according to the UN high commission for refugees (UNHCR), with the vast majority languishing in poor countries ill-equipped to cater to their needs.

The UNHCR's 2010 trends report estimated that there were 43.7 million refugees and people displaced within their country by events such as war and natural disasters at the end of last year. More than half of the total are children. The figure does not take into account the new wave of migration set in train by the upheaval of the Arab spring.

The figure breaks down into a global total of 15.4 million refugees, 27.5 million internally displaced people and a further 840,000 people waiting to be given refugee status.

The 48-page report also reveals that there has been a fall in the number of returning refugees to 197,600, the lowest in two decades. This has resulted in the number of long-term refugees in "protracted situations" making up almost half of the total of all refugees, the highest number for a decade.
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Family

Tens of Thousands Protest Against Cuts in Madrid


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:46 UTC
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© AFP/Jose JordanProtesters demonstrate in Valencia. More than 100,000 protesters took to the streets in Spain on Sunday blaming bankers and politicians for causing a financial crisis that forced the country to adopt painful spending cuts.
Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Madrid Sunday blaming bankers and politicians for causing a financial crisis that forced the country to adopt painful spending cuts.

Demonstrators of all ages linked to a protest movement called the "indignants" assembled early Sunday in several neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Madrid.

They then formed six columns and converged on the city centre, gathering near Spain's parliament where they met various forms of police resistance, including 12 vans blocking several major roads.

Protests over the economic crisis and soaring unemployment began in Madrid on May 15 and fanned out nationwide as word spread by Twitter and Facebook among demonstrators.
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Sherlock

Vermont, US: The Mysterious Disappearance of Bill and Lorraine Currier

Christina Caron
ABC News
Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:02 UTC
Curriers
© Essex police/Associated PressEssex police are looking for Bill and Lorraine Currier, who were last seen June 8, 2011 by their respective co-workers in Burlington, Vermont
It's been nearly a week since Bill and Lorraine Currier mysteriously vanished from their small town in Vermont.

"The fact that they've completely disappeared, none of it seems to make any sense," Essex police Lt. Robin Hollwedell told ABCNews.com. "When two good people disappear from town with seemingly no explanation, that's a concern for us."

The couple was last seen by coworkers on Wednesday, June 8, around 5 p.m. They were reported missing by Bill Currier's sister, Diana Smith, the following day.

Smith told ABCNews.com today, "We're praying for their safe return."
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Bad Guys

China: Hong Kong "gay cure" doctor defends his role

Beh Lih Yi
Agence France-Presse
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 07:30 UTC
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© Agency France Presse/Mike ClarkeSupporters of gay rights advocacy group Rainbow Action in a protest on Friday accuse the Hong Kong social welfare department of being homophobic by offering so-called "gay conversion" therapy.
A Hong Kong psychiatrist who claims homosexuals can be "cured" defended his role Sunday, after he was hired to train government counsellors in a move that outraged gay rights activists.

Critics said it could be the world's first government-sponsored session on gay conversion therapy.

But psychiatrist Hong Kwai-wah said his three-and-a-half hour training session for more than 60 social welfare staff on Friday did not emphasise gay conversion.

"The main point is not about gay conversion therapy," the 56-year-old doctor told AFP in a telephone interview, saying he was "surprised and disappointed" over the attacks by activists.

"The main point is how to pay attention and give guidance to same-sex attracted youths and their parents, to understand their struggle and their needs," said Hong, who specialises in "treating unwanted homosexuality".
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Bizarro Earth

US: Minnesota Shutdown Threatens Weddings, Much More

Martiga Lohn
The Associated Press
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:11 UTC
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© Associated Press/Jim MoneIn this June 8, 2011 photo, Crystal Morales and Derek Cloutier are shown outside Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel in Minneapolis where they plan to wed in July. However, their wedding location might be in jeopardy if there is a government shutdown in Minnesota.
Fort Snelling State Park - After enduring a 15-month deployment together in Iraq and more than a year living in separate states, Crystal Morales and Derek Cloutier can't wait to get married next month in their dream location, a historical military chapel on the bluffs above the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

One big problem: Fort Snelling State Park and its chapel may close July 1 if the Minnesota government shuts down. Morales calls the spot "my whole image of what I always wanted, like a castle."

"I can't even imagine really getting married anywhere else because of how perfect it is," she said on a breezy June day outside the chapel.

Their July 16 wedding is just one of many plans that could be snarled by a second potential government shutdown in six years in Minnesota, brought on by another political impasse over taxes and spending.

Minnesota's looming shutdown is the latest and most frantic example of a state dealing with the recession's lingering effects, a fiscal crisis and polarized politics. Across the border in Wisconsin, where one party controlled power, the combination led to swift, sweeping change and then backlash from those opposed to reforms affecting public workers and schools. In Minnesota, a divided state government has led to stubborn brinksmanship with no progress for months on how to fix a $5 billion deficit.
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