Society's Child

Chernobyl: New radiation hotspots exposed at ground zero 33 years after disaster

Sputnik
Sun, 12 May 2019 17:46 UTC

Following the Chernobyl accident, authorities officially designated an exclusion zone around the plant where restrictions on public access and inhabitation are in place. This is where specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles have spotted previously unknown areas with significantly greater levels of radiation.

A British research team claims to have discovered unexpected radioactive hotspots near the Chernobyl ground zero, three decades after the worst nuclear accident in history.

The hotspots were identified by a suite of drones capable of detecting radioactive gamma particles and neutrons, the University of Bristol announced.

The drones carried out surveys within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a largely inhabited area within a 30km radius of the failed reactor.

The team flew 50 missions over the area over 10 days, mapping the so-called Red Forest, the ghostly 10-square-kilometre woodland around the plant considered to be one of the most contaminated places on the planet.

Comment: See also:

New Orleans woman charged with child desertion for hiring ride-sharing service to take 5yo to school

Laura McKnight
The Times-Picayune
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 23:12 UTC

A woman was booked with child desertion this week after authorities say she sent her 5-year-old son to school alone via a ride-sharing service, according to St. Bernard Parish authorities.

Reiona Oliver, 27, is a bounce artist known as "GameOva Reedy," according to a report by WWL-TV.

Oliver was arrested Tuesday (April 23), after a driver for a transportation service brought Oliver's 5-year-old son to a St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office substation in Arabi, officials said.

The driver told deputies that a woman, later identified as Oliver, had summoned a ride to a Chalmette home Tuesday morning. When the driver arrived, Oliver placed her son into the car and instructed the driver to take the boy to a school in New Orleans.

34 bodies found at clandestine sites during police raids in western Mexico

ABC News
Sat, 11 May 2019 18:41 UTC

Jalisco New Generation Cartel

Mexican authorities have discovered the remains of at least 34 people at two separate properties in the western state of Jalisco.

State Attorney General Gerardo Octavio Solis said Saturday that two of the bodies have already been identified, and that excavations continue.

In four raids, officials found stolen vehicles as well as tactical equipment. At one location, forensic teams can only work at most 30 minutes at a time due to caustic substances, Solis said.

The state is home to Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful and brazen criminal groups in Mexico. The cartel once shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket launcher.

Some 40,000 people have gone missing since the start of Mexico's drug war in 2006, and clandestine mass graves dot the countryside.

Myanmar pilot safely lands plane on its nose after landing gear failure

India Today
Sun, 12 May 2019 22:22 UTC

© Twitter/BreakingAviationNews
The pilot flew past the airport twice so that air traffic controllers could check if the landing gear was down.

The aircraft had departed from the city of Yangon and was approaching the airport serving the central city of Mandalay when the pilot was unable to extend the front landing gear.

A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels on Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said.

It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway during strong wind in Yangon on Wednesday, injuring at least 17 of those on board.

Qualcomm generously rewards top management, gives CEO $3.5M bonus after multi-billion settlement with Apple

RT
Sun, 12 May 2019 21:12 UTC

Qualcomm has granted generous bonuses to its top management, with its CEO enjoying the biggest reward with over $3.5 million at the current share price after a legal fight with Apple brought billions in earnings to the chipmaker.

The San Diego-based company revealed the amount of bonuses in an SEC filing on Friday. The document says that CEO Steve Mollenkopf was awarded 40,794 shares, which is about 60 percent more than Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon got for his "outstanding efforts" in achieving the license agreement and chipset supply deal with Apple.

The other members of the executive management team, Executive Vice Presidents Donald Rosenberg and James Thompson, as well as Interim Chief Financial Officer David Wise, got some 19,264, 14,165 and 2,958 in shares respectively.

The total awards to the team amount to nearly $8.8 million, given that Qualcomm's shares were trading at $85.84 as of Friday.

Comment: Last month, Qualcomm and Apple agreed to settle their ongoing lawsuits - the two tech giants have been fighting over Qualcomm's patent licensing practices for the last two years. A potential catalyst for the settlement: Intel said it won't make wireless modems capable of connecting to the coming generation of 5G networks, thus Apple needs Qualcomm as other smartphone makers have announced 5G-capable phones based on Qualcomm's wireless chips.

Protestors toss firebombs at gov office in Albania as opposition demands PM's resignation

RT
Sun, 12 May 2019 11:04 UTC

Opposition protestors tossed Molotov cocktails at the Albanian government headquarters on Saturday, while the police responded with tear gas. The Balkan country's accession to the EU is to be decided in less than two months.

There were at least 1,500 officers guarding the government's office in the capital Tirana, the entrance to which had been reinforced with steel plates. The police initially tried to ignore provocations, but when the crowd employed incendiary bottles and smoke bombs a violent response couldn't be avoided.

The protesters began tossing Molotovs at the building as opposition leader Lulzim Basha was delivering a speech to his supporters. Thousands gathered for peaceful demonstrations in the city center.

Comment: NATO bases, EU membership and US & EU backing is likely to give any seasoned observer reason for suspicions of the legitimacy of the Albanian elections:

Islamophobia: London mayor Sadiq Khan says he has 24-hour protection after receiving threats

RT
Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00 UTC

The first Muslim mayor of the UK capital said that the torrent of Islamophobic insults and death threats is so disturbing that the authorities have to arrange round-the-clock police protection for the official.

"I will not be cowed or bullied by these people, but you can't escape the fact that those close to me are worried," Sadiq Khan told The Times.

He explained further: "It can't be right that one of the consequences of me being the mayor of London and a Muslim in public life is that I have police protection."

Comment: London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweets against 'hate speech' and 'Islamophobia'

Russian journalist dies of aneurysm while on motorcycle, usual suspects claim 'Putin did it'

Alexandre Antonov
RT
Sat, 11 May 2019 08:03 UTC

For some in the West, any death of a prominent journalist in Russia seems to be only a fortunate opportunity to speculate that he or she must have been an enemy of the Kremlin and died because of it.

The latest person to fall victim to this trend is Sergey Dorenko, who suddenly died on Thursday while out on a motorcycle ride.

"Anti-Putin journalist dies in mysterious motorbike accident days after criticizing Russian authorities over fatal plane crash," the Daily Mail chose to headline its report on Dorenko's death.

The usual Russiagaters were quick to chip in with anger and disbelief. Bill Browder, the internationally famous anti-Putin crusader, called Dorenko "one of Russia's most outspoken independent journalists and critics of the Putin regime."

Comment: If the usual suspects really cared for the safety of journalists it'd be the assassinations and injustices in Ukraine that they'd be drawing attention to:

Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer

Nearly 40 percent of graduating college seniors feel unprepared for a career: Survey

Brittany Slaughter
College Fix
Thu, 09 May 2019 00:00 UTC

Nearly 40 percent of graduating college seniors feel unprepared for their future careers, according to a recent survey.

What's more, the survey found that students going into college as freshmen felt more prepared for a career than graduating seniors leaving with a degree.

The LendEDU-College Pulse survey found that 36 percent of seniors don't feel prepared for their career, compared to 20 percent of freshmen, noting as students "move through college and get closer to graduating, they lose confidence in their career outlook."

The survey, conducted between December and mid-March, asked 7,749 college students: "Do you think that college is sufficiently preparing you for your future career?"

Comment: See also:

Prominent former Afghan TV journalist shot dead in Kabul

Mena Mangal
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Sun, 12 May 2019 19:19 UTC

Afghan officials say prominent former television journalist Mena Mangal has been shot dead in Kabul.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Raimi said Mangal was shot dead in Kabul's 8th district early on May 11 as she was waiting for a car.

Witnesses to the shooting near Kabul's Karte Naw market told RFE/RL that two men appeared on a motorcycle and fired four shots into the air to disperse passersby. They then fired two shots that hit Mangal in the chest.

Mangal's relatives confirmed that she had been waiting for a ride to take her to her job as a cultural adviser to the Wolesi Jirga, the lower chamber of Afghanistan's parliament.

The gunmen then fled the scene.

Comment: See also:

Has everyone seen the documentary Century of the Self? It's about Bernays, PR BS, etc. and is REALLY well done. (I found it at an AA article.)...

Rowan Cocoan

Their were saints in Catholic history who most have heard about and others not so much. Now you have Saint Francis of Assisi, but you also have...

Buffalo_Ken

I have a different definition for the "global commons". It is in the definition of "the commons" definition in the link provided below. Here is a...

Buffalo_Ken

Biden the child-killer. Think of the children, vaxxers, think of the children.

hobnyeba

Thanks, all, for great comments and links. Lots to think about.

ReRan

Society's Child

Chernobyl: New radiation hotspots exposed at ground zero 33 years after disaster

New Orleans woman charged with child desertion for hiring ride-sharing service to take 5yo to school

34 bodies found at clandestine sites during police raids in western Mexico

Myanmar pilot safely lands plane on its nose after landing gear failure

Qualcomm generously rewards top management, gives CEO $3.5M bonus after multi-billion settlement with Apple

Protestors toss firebombs at gov office in Albania as opposition demands PM's resignation

Islamophobia: London mayor Sadiq Khan says he has 24-hour protection after receiving threats

Russian journalist dies of aneurysm while on motorcycle, usual suspects claim 'Putin did it'

Nearly 40 percent of graduating college seniors feel unprepared for a career: Survey

Prominent former Afghan TV journalist shot dead in Kabul

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