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Furious News of the World staff to sue for unfair dismissal and it could land News International with a £14m bill


Daily Mail
Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:00 UTC
rebekah brooks

Did she weep or was she dry-eyed? Rebekah Brooks failed in her rallying cry


The 200 staff who were effectively made redundant by News International when it shut down the News of the World are set to sue the company for unfair dismissal - and it could cost the company £14million.

Many of the paper's journalists believe they have been badly mistreated because they had no involvement in the phone hacking scandal, and the large majority were not even working on the paper when the alleged offences took place.

There is the belief among the staff that the axed journalists have been used as scapegoats for NI's chief executive Rebekah Brooks and BSkyB's James Murdoch.
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Shoe

US: Woman Kicked Off US Airways Flight for Most Bizarre Reason

Maressa Brown
The Stir
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:21 UTC
Image
© unknown
Flying is not always fun. Not for the flight attendants, not for the passengers. And sometimes that lack of fun manifests in confrontations between the two parties. On a U.S. Airways flight from Philly to Miami on Friday, a flight attendant (known as Tonialla G.) was reportedly being rude to several passengers in the boarding area, and a woman named Sandy DeWitt decided to use her iPhone to snap a shot of the employee's name tag, so she could later report her to the airline.

Once at her seat, DeWitt was confronted by Tonialla, who ordered her to delete the photo. And get this -- even after DeWitt complied, the flight attendant deemed her a "security threat" and saw to it that she was thrown off the plane!

U.S. Airways' response?
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Stop

US: State of New York Cuts Back on Mowing Along Highways


ABC News Channel 9
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:30 UTC
Image
© WSYR-TV NewsChannel 9
An extra damp spring has given a boost to the foliage throughout Central New York, but in some places the explosion of growth has gone unchecked. For example, the State is allowing much of the grass along highways to grow out of control.

"A lot of the interstates haven't been done and that's very noticeable," said NY Department of Transportation representative Gene Cilento.

For a second year in a row, the DOT is restricting mowing because of the budget. That means the weeds will grow untamed nearly all summer long, except for a few select locations.

"Some locations where you go, you'll see six-foot high grass," Cilento said. "But right now, in front of signs and right around intersections, it's cut down to near ground level."
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Heart - Black

US: Young brothers, age 3 and 4, found dead in car in Wisconsin; cops question mom's boyfriend

Michael Sheridan
New York Daily News
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:58 UTC
Image
© Dane County Sheriff's Office
David Hoem, 28, was arrested for violating his parole, police say
Two young brothers, ages 3 and 4, were found dead in a car in Wisconsin - and police have detained their mom's boyfriend in connection with their deaths.

David Hoem has not been charged, but is being questioned by authorities after his girlfriend reported her children missing Tuesday following a dispute with the 28-year-old, the Journal Sentinel newspaper reported.

"This is a very unstable guy," Madison Police Capt. Joe Balles said. "It was not really clear what had happened or what he had done."

The 22-year-old mother, whose name has not been released, first went to police Tuesday to file a domestic violence report against Hoem which involved a knife, WMTV News reported.

Afterward, she contacted the children's biological father, who had been watching the kids. She learned that Hoem had gone there to pick them up.

"It was not uncommon for this boyfriend to facilitate custody exchanges between the mother and the father of these two children," Balles said.
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Handcuffs

US: US Citizen Guilty of Supporting Overseas Terror

Tom Hays
The Associated Press
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:28 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press / U.S. Attorney's Office
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office shows Betim Kaziu. Kaziu has been charged with plotting to provide support to overseas terrorists and the star witness against him is his former friend who has pleaded guilty to the charges.
A Brooklyn-born man was convicted Thursday of terror charges for traveling to the Middle East to avenge abuse of Muslims in a trial that featured the testimony of a would-be terrorist and childhood friend of the defendant who became a government cooperator.

The jury deliberated less than four hours before finding Betim Kaziu guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. Kaziu had denied ever being a threat. He faces a maximum of life in prison at his Nov. 4 sentencing.

"Through our judicial system, we have brought to justice a homegrown terrorist who conspired to kill U.S. troops overseas," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in statement. "We are committed to using all available tools to combat terrorism wherever it threatens our citizens and our country."

Unlike the cases of Najibullah Zazi, mastermind of a foiled suicide attack on New York City subways, or Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber, Kaziu's suspected exploits received little attention, in part because the plot didn't get far. But his case had many of the same themes of homegrown terrorism.

Prosecutors alleged that Kaziu, 23, and star witness Sulejah Hadzovic - two U.S.-born sons of Islamic immigrants from the former Yugoslavia who met in sixth grade - traveled to Cairo in 2009 in hopes of taking up arms against U.S. troops.

Comment: The New York Daily News published some of the inflammatory rhetoric spewed by Kaziu in the martyrdom video he made on the Albanian coast. link
"I came here with the brothers to chill before I, God willing, depart," Kaziu said as he stood on a cliff above the sea.
Yeah, the guy sounds like a real killer. Sheesh...

One can also find a poem written by Kaziu here. It gives us a glimpse into the mind of this man accused of being a wannabe terrorist. Read it for yourself and see if you find any hint of terrorism in this man's words:
" Allah ordered us to put our trust in Him
To testify La illaha il Allah and abstain from sin
To not make mischief and not take others as our savior
To abstain from zina and to be good to our neighbor
He gave us a book wherein is guidance and a way of life
Which we must follow and hold onto it tight
In return he promises mercy and gardens of delight."


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Ambulance

Tragedy! Train Hits Bus Stopped on Crossing in Northern India, Killing 35 Returning from Wedding Party

Biswajeet Banerjee
The Associated Press
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:16 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press / The Canadian Press / Pankaj Nangia
A woman sits at a hospital near her husband who was injured after a running train hit a bus at a railway crossing near Kanshiramnagar village, 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Lucknow, India, Thursday, July 7, 2011. The bus, filled with about 80 people returning from a wedding party, had stopped at the unmanned crossing after its axle broke and then was hit by the speeding train, local administrator Selva Kumar said.
A train hit a stopped bus at a railway crossing in northern India early Thursday, killing at least 35 people returning from a wedding party, an official said.

At least 39 others were injured when the train dragged the mangled bus more than 1,600 feet (500 metres) before stopping, local administrator Selva Kumar said.

The bus, filled with about 80 people, had stopped at the unmanned crossing after its axle broke and then was hit by the speeding train, she said.

The bride and the groom were travelling in a separate vehicle and were not among the victims, Kumar said. No passengers on the train were hurt.

Two men sitting on top of the bus escaped when they jumped off seconds before the train crashed into the vehicle, said Shobharan Singh, a government official at the site.
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Bizarro Earth

Scotland: Canadian Teen Cleared for Killing Man He Believed Was a Zombie


The Canadian Press
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:09 UTC
Image
© unknown
A teenager from Canada who allegedly stabbed to death a 21-year-old man in Glasgow, Scotland after hearing voices saying the man was a zombie, has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

Scottish media reports say a jury at the High Court in Glasgow cleared 19-year-old Tianhui Zhan of murdering 21-year-old Michael Davis on Oct. 13, 2010.

Davis had just finished work as a cleaner and was on his way to a second cleaning job when Zhan allegedly stabbed him three times. He underwent surgery but died from his injuries the following day.

According to the reports, the court heard Zhan picked his victim at random in an unprovoked attack because he believed Davis was a zombie who was going to attack him.
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Stormtrooper

US: Witness Says Man Shot by BART Police Was Not 'Running or Lunging' at Officers

Zusha Elinson
The Bay Citizen
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:05 UTC
BART
© Erik Verduzco/The Bay Citizen

The knife-wielding man killed by BART police Sunday night was "definitely" not "running or lunging" at the two officers when they shot him, a witness told The Bay Citizen Wednesday.

San Fancisco, California - "He wasn't some spry young thing charging after them with death in his eyes," said Myleen Hollero, a San Francisco resident. "He definitely was moving toward them, but it didn't look like he was lunging toward them."

Hollero was returning to San Francisco from the East Bay and got off a train at about 9:45 p.m. at the Civic Center BART station, where, she said, she watched the incident unfold from about 30 or 40 feet away. She said the man was standing diagonally across the platform from her.

Hollero said that from her view of the incident, police officers should "absolutely not" have shot the man, who she said "just looked like a drunk hippie."

"He was definitely a Taser candidate," she said. man who saw fatal shooting says knife-wielding man was moving slowly
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Heart

US: After arrests, Orlando, Florida activists feed homeless at City Hall

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:56 UTC
Image
A group of Orlando activists with the organization Food Not Bombs figured out a clever way to avoid arrest while still feeding the city's homeless population on public grounds: host their event at City Hall.

Members of the group had previously been arrested during a food sharing event at the picnic area of Lake Eola park, allegedly for violating a statute that criminalizes the feeding of more than 25 people without a permit.

Ben Markeson, the media liaison for Orlando's Food Not Bombs, told Raw Story in an interview Tuesday that they made the decision to move their event due to the throngs of people who flock to Lake Eola every year on Independence Day -- and to remind the mayor of a seemingly forgotten promise
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Bizarro Earth

Sea turtle choked with 317 plastic pieces found dead on Australian beach


International Business Times
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:53 UTC
Image
© Reuters/David Loh
green turtle swims off the Malaysian island of Sipadan in Celebes Sea, east of Borneo

A green sea turtle washed off dead on far North coast of New South Wales beach in Australia with over 300 pieces of plastic debris lodged in its guts.

"Unfortunately we counted 317 pieces of plastic from the lower intestine of the turtle and there is no question what caused the death of this animal," Rochelle Ferris, General Manager of Australian Seabird Rescue, an organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of marine wildlife, told ABC North Coast NSW TV.

The organization, which carried the autopsy of the dead turtle, called it the worst case of death of an endangered marine animal due to direct ingestion of plastic in the last 15 years.
      Read More...
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