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U.S agricultural inspectors seize 1,304 giant African snails

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© Wikimedia commons
Agricultural inspectors have seized 1,304 giant African snails, one of the world's most destructive invasive species, from sites around the United States, the Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

The slimy pests, which can grow as big as rats, eat up to 500 different kinds of plants and can damage buildings and humans' health. They are a particular problem in Florida, where an extermination campaign is under way.

The Agriculture Department said in a statement that officials with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service seized an adult giant African snail and 284 juvenile snails on New York's Long Island on June 26.

The snail came from a seller in Georgia who owned 949 of them. He told officials they were originally bought from a British source and were sent to the United States by mail.

All the snails were seized. Based on information from the Georgia man, the inspection service also confiscated one giant snail apiece in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Albany, New York.

Inspection service officials also seized 67 snails in July that had been imported from Nigeria to theUnited States via Los Angeles.

Airplane

Death under strange circumstances: Small plane, headed for Manassas, crashes into Atlantic Ocean off Virginia coast

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© Unknown
A single-engine airplane that was scheduled to land in Manassas crashed Saturday into the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast, authorities said.

The Coast Guard said the pilot, the only person on board, appeared unconscious as the plane flew southeast, at about 13,000 feet, through Washington's restricted airspace and eventually across Virginia's eastern shore.

The plane eventually ran out of fuel and crashed about 50 miles southeast of Chincoteague, the Coast Guard said.

Life Preserver

Yet another act of kindness made in Russia: Russian plane arrives in Syria with 15 tons of aid delivery

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A Russian aid airplane carrying 15 tons of humanitarian aid arrived in Syria on Thursday, the official SANA news agency reported.

The plane landed in the international airport of the coastal city of Latakia, the latest shipment from Russia in a bid to alleviate some of the suffering of the Syrian people.
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Separately, SANA said the Syrian government sent on Thursday a total of 15 truckloads of aid rations to the western and northern parts of the northern city of Aleppo.

Comment: Russia is rapidly replacing the USA/West as the benefactor and arbiter of what is good and right. Countries change with their governments; the USA changed for the worse, Russia changed for the better.While US and the West defame Putin, Russia quietly helps others and delivers a regular shipment of relief aid for Serbia's flood-stricken regions


X

Indian girl, seven, is buried alive but manages to claw her way to safety

A horrified villager rescued a young girl who had been buried alive in a cane field after hearing her crying for help.

Alok Kumar, from Maanpur village, Sitapur district, was returning from his fields on Monday evening when he heard the girl's desperate cries.

He followed the muffled sounds to the middle of a cane field, where to his shock he found the soil moving as the girl tried to dig her way out.
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© Headlines todayTanu was buried alive in a cane field in UP's Maanpur village, but was rescued by chance when a passing village man heard her cries

Mr Kumar started digging and unearthed a small girl who was in a semi-conscious state. He quickly pulled her out and rushed her to the nearby Maanpur police station.

Light Sabers

Injuries as neo-Nazi march provokes clash with anti-fascists, police in Stockholm

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© Reuters/Frederik PerssonDemonstrators clash with the police during a protest against an election meeting organised by right-wing political group The Party of the Swedes (Svenskarnas Parti), at the Kungstradgarden square in central Stockholm August 30, 2014.
Seven people suffered injuries after riot police clashed with anti-fascists at a neo-Nazi rally in Stockholm. Police say four law enforcement officers needed treatment, along with three civilians.

The march was organized by the Party of Swedes, a far-right organization, and attracted around 150 members. They were far outnumbered by those protesting against the gathering, with thousands gathering in the city center. The vast majority of protesters were well-behaved, but a minority attacked the police with firecrackers, bottles, eggs and panels from a security fence.


"We have had violent riots with people throwing objects at police," police spokesman Lars Bystrom said, according to AP. He also mentioned that two arrests were made, one for "preparation of aggravated assault," and another for climbing onto the roof of the Royal Opera House, where the neo-Nazi group started and ended their march.

The rally took place with Swedish parliamentary elections set to take place in two weeks. Just last week, on August 23, violence broke out at another march held by the Party of Swedes in Malmo, which has a high immigrant population with 31 percent of the city's residents having been born abroad, according to the city's official website.

The trouble started after anti-fascists tried to block the neo-Nazi march and clashed with the police ahead of a speech by Stefan Jacobsson, the leader of the Party of Swedes. Ten people were injured during the clashes, with many of the demonstrators critical of the heavy-handed tactics used by the police, which includeda charge by officers mounted on horseback at the participants.


Bullseye

Novorossia fighters put Ukrainian gunboat out of action in Sea of Azov

Novorossiya fighter
© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

Donetsk militiamen on Sunday knocked out of action a Ukrainian patrol gunboat in the Sea of Azov, Nororossia news agency said.

According to the report, the incident took place in the Gulf of Taganrog near the townships of Shirokino and Bezymennoye, ten to twenty kilometers to the east of the coast city of Mariupol.

In the meantime, some Ukrainian media said two coastal guard gunboats had undergone gunfire. They indicated that the incident occurred at around 15:20 East-European Daylight Saving Time (12:20 GMT).


Heart

While US and the West defame Putin, Russia quietly helps others and delivers a regular shipment of relief aid for Serbia's flood-stricken regions

A Russian relief cargo arrived at a military airfield in Batajnica on Saturday night.
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© ITAR-TASS/ЕРА/TANJUGSerbia was hit by powerful floods in May this year. Thousands of people were left homeless
Serbia was hit by powerful floods in May this year. They caused numerous fatalities and inflicted great damage on Serbian agriculture and infrastructure. Thousands of people were left homeless. Russia was the first to send rescuers and relief aid to Serbia at the Serbian government's request.

Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic met the cargo and the Russian military who had delivered it at the airport on Saturday.

"The natural disaster in Serbia that occurred in May caused numerous casualties. Many countries showed their sympathy and offered us help. During my visit to Moscow I met Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. We talked about the disaster and help, which we needed. We received what we needed ten days later," Gasic stressed.

Comment: Russia is rapidly replacing the USA/West as the benefactor and arbiter of what is good and right. Countries change with their governments; the USA changed for the worse, Russia changed for the better.


Star of David

Foreign fighters flocking to Middle East to wage jihad, for Israel

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© EPAAround 5,000 Jews carry the title "Lone Soldier" given to volunteers from abroad, writes Hanine Hassan
Her name is Katie. She is from the Netherlands, and chose to serve in the Israeli navy instead of remaining in her country.

Will her government label her and the rest of the hundreds of Dutch youth serving in the Israeli military asjihadstrijders (jihad fighters), the name given to the hundred or so that went to Syria? Katie, a Dutch-Israeli dual citizen, is after all a jihadist in occupied Palestinian lands.

Israel's genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip is entering its second week. The death toll has risen to more than 600, with thousands more injured and displaced - alongside arbitrary arrests, the demolition of family homes and a policy of apartheid towards Palestinians both in the West Bank and within the state of Israel. What's more, these war crimes are directly supported by the recruits from Europe and the United States that land at Ben Gurion airport throughout the year.

The notion of Europeans and Americans serving in the Israeli army isn't new.

Pistol

Gun violence NYC: Police officer and gunman wounded in Brooklyn shootout

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© Marc Herman, NY Daily NewsA NYPD police officer was shot around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Police investigate the scene at Gates Ave. and Marcus Garvey Boulevard.
A gunman who shot a police officer in the leg was in turn shot and wounded by other officers early Sunday morning in Brooklyn, the police said.

The encounter began around 2:30 a.m., when plainclothes officers on patrol in an unmarked vehicle noticed a man adjusting his waistband near Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Monroe Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Police Department said. Suspecting the man was carrying a gun, the police said, the officers got out of the vehicle and approached him.


Comment: Take note, adjusting your waistband in public may attract the attention of police.


When they did, the man ran, the police said.

A block away, at the intersection of Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Gates Avenue, the man came upon two other officers on foot patrol and opened fire, the police said. He hit the officer, John Hirschberger, 28, in the left thigh, and continued running as the other officers returned fire, the police said.

Green Light

Hands up! Don't shoot! Michael Brown solidarity march in Washington, DC

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© Reuters/Larry DowningProtesters march as they call for a thorough investigation of the shooting death of teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, on a street in front of the White House in Washington, August 28, 2014
A crowd of protesters has taken to the streets of Washington, DC, expressing their solidarity with the people of Ferguson who gathered earlier on Saturday in remembrance of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed by police earlier this month.

Chanting "Hands up! Don't shoot!" the Washington protesters took over the streets in a northeast neighbourhood, blocking the traffic. Wondering "How many must die?" till police brutality and racism is stopped, protesters demanded "Justice for Mike Brown!"

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© Unknown
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people gathered in Ferguson, Missouri calling for justice over the killing of Brown. Protesters said that this is just the beginning of a movement to highlight US racial inequality.

The rally started where the unarmed 18-year old was shot dead on August 9th by white police officer Darren Wilson in the small Missouri town, AP reports. There were children and families among the protesters who wore T shirts and carried banners with the ubiquitous sign "hands up, don't shoot."

Comment: The Michael Brown shooting: What you're not being told