Society's Child

Ship of fools: Icebound expeditioners apologise for Antarctic rescue mission

The Australian
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 06:12 UTC

Chinese helicopter rescues passenger of Antarctic ship

Antarctic expeditioners rescued by an Australian icebreaker have apologised for an operation that could cost taxpayers up to $2.4 million.

Fifty-two passengers rescued from a Russian ship trapped in sea ice have arrived in Hobart aboard the Australian Antarctic vessel Aurora Australis, nearly three weeks after the emergency began.

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, chartered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition to retrace the steps of explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, became stuck in thick sea ice on Christmas Eve.

"We're incredibly grateful to everyone who's come out to help us," leader of the privately funded expedition, Professor Chris Turney, told a media conference in Hobart.

"We are terribly sorry for any impact that it might have had on fellow colleagues whose work has been delayed.

"Any experienced Antarctic scientist knows that's an inherent risk."

Comment: And no, Chris Turney aka "the Penguin" is no experienced Antarctic scientist unless we add political scientists and spin doctors into the equation.

Comment: The ~~expedition~~ joy ride which was a farce from beginning to end did take unnecessary risks.
French Le Monde blasts Chris Turney's Antarctic joy ride for disrupting real Antarctic science!
Rescue efforts for trapped Antarctic voyage disrupt serious science
No more dead parrots - Global-warming fans spent frozen Christmas in Antarctica:

"A look at readily available satellite imagery would have prevented the fiasco; they show an abundance of ice in the Antarctic"

16 million online accounts hacked in Germany

Press TV
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 05:11 UTC

German authorities say hackers have stolen data from around 16 million online accounts in the European country.

Officials at Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said hackers managed to get access to the details of online accounts by infecting computers with a malware program.

The malicious software registers the computer users to a network through which the data could be stolen.

German authorities have not yet released any information about the hackers or their motives.

The BSI has set up a webpage to help people know whether their email details have been stolen.

According to reports, the security breach has triggered a wave of anxiety among German internet users as they visited the website in overwhelming numbers on Tuesday, causing it to crash.

Cyclist stuck in windshield recalls bizarre crash

Suzanne Weiss
htrnews.com
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 04:04 UTC

© Sue Pischke, AP
This Jan. 21, 2014 photo shows Steven Gove’s three-wheeled tricycle and the car that hit him Saturday night at the Manitowoc, Wis., Police Station. Gove says he was struck Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 night while riding his three-wheeled bicycle. Gove says he was wearing an overcoat with a reflective vest and he had front and rear flashers on. He says he's not sure why the driver didn't see him. Police have arrested a 20-year-old Manitowoc man in the crash.

"God is good. He had his hands on me that day," said Steven Gove of Manitowoc, the newspaper carrier who escaped serious injury after he was stuck in the windshield of a moving vehicle that hit him Saturday night.

"I'm just happy to be alive," said Gove on Monday as he recalled the bizarre hit-and-run crash at the intersection of Marshall and South 16th streets. Police arrested a 20-year-old Manitowoc man who was allegedly intoxicated when he hit Gove as he was riding his three-wheeled bike.

"I was wearing my blue overcoat with my neon reflective vest. I had my front and rear flashers on. I have no idea why he didn't see me," said Gove, who had visible scratches to his face from going through the windshield.

Gove said he was returning home from delivering 275 Lakeshore Chronicles, when the next thing he knew he was upside down in the car. "I was conscious for the whole time," Gove said.

Religious Freedom: who has it worldwide

Mona Chalabi
The Guardian
Tue, 14 Jan 2014 03:56 UTC

To measure religious restrictions around the world, the Pew Research Center has attempted to look at government policies and social hostilities. Their findings suggest that religious hostilities are at their highest level since 2007.

We've mapped all of their results here. Click on the drop down list to view social factors rather than governmental ones, click on a country to see past results, search for places and share your results on social media.

Higher scores reflect less religious freedom - you can find more detail on the results below the map.

Nicolas Anelka faces minimum five-match ban over 'quenelle'

The Guardian
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:46 UTC

© Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

Nicolas Anelka makes the 'quenelle' gesture after scoring against West Ham in December last year.

Nicolas Anelka has been charged by the Football Association for making a gesture that was alleged to be "abusive or indecent or insulting or improper" during the match against West Ham on 28 December last year.

An FA statement said: "It is alleged that, in the 40th minute of the fixture, Anelka made a gesture which was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper, contrary to FA Rule E3 [1].

"It is further alleged that this is an aggravated breach, as defined in FA Rule E3 [2], in that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief."

Pregnant teen 'sells unborn baby on Facebook'

Natalie Evans
Mirror
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:44 UTC

The 18-year-old, named locally as Veronica Carrera Chaparro, was arrested with her mother and sister following the baby's birth in November

A teenager sold her unborn baby on Facebook for just £68, police said. The 18-year-old, named locally as Veronica Carrera Chaparro, was arrested following the child's birth in November. Her mother and sister were also held on suspicion of assisting the sale. Chaparro, from Maipu in Chile, is believed to have discovered she was pregnant in February last year. She broke the news to her 17-year-old boyfriend two months later and begged him to keep it secret, but he told her family.

Police claim the teenager's mum Angela Chaparro, 42, and her 24-year-old sister Daniela Perez gave her three options. "Sell it, abort it or give it up for adoption," police chief Miguel Ampuero said.

Israel produces pro-circumcision short film to fight opposing sentiments

RT
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:15 UTC

As Council of Europe parliamentarians brace for a clash, the Israeli Knesset prepares a short film praising circumcision to be shown in response to other elements within the council actively seeking to fight the practice on human rights grounds.

The pro-circumcision film will be presented on Monday at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development by Israel's representative, MK Nachman Shai.

This is believed to be a retaliatory move by Israeli MKs to combat resolutions attacking ritual male circumcision, such as the October 2013 motion by the former COE MP Marlene Ruprecht, which called it a "violation of the physical integrity of children" and urged the members to initiate a public debate with human rights as the foundation.

Although the COE cannot actually pass binding laws, its 47-member-strong European composition is often viewed as a battle ground for future bills and is often a scene for cultural and legislative debate.

Psychopathic Michigan GOP official: 'Herd all the Indians' to Detroit, build a fence and throw in corn

David Edwards
The Raw Story
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 11:44 UTC

A Republican county official in Michigan is in hot water after making racial comments about Detroit, including the idea that the city should be turned into a detention center for "all the Indians."

In a recent interview for a profile by The New Yorker titled Drop Dead, Detroit! Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson admitted, "Anytime I talk about Detroit, it will not be positive. Therefore, I'm called a Detroit basher. The truth hurts, you know? Tough sh*t."

Patterson recalled telling his children to "get in and get out" if they needed to go to Detroit.

"And, before you go to Detroit, you get your gas out here. You do not, do not, under any circumstances, stop in Detroit at a gas station! That's just a call for a carjacking," he said.

Patterson also proposed a fix to Detroit's financial problems: Turn the city into a reservation for Native Americans.

"I made a prediction a long time ago, and it's come to pass. I said, 'What we're gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and the corn.'"

Kiev protests escalate: Police - outnumbered by protesters armed with firebombs - respond with stun grenades, teargas and water cannon

Oksana Grytsenko and agencies in Kiev
The Guardian
Sun, 19 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC

© Julia Kochetova/Demotix/Corbis
A scene of destruction in Kiev, where protesters burned four police buses and two lorries.

The sound of stun grenades continue to ring out and charred vehicles are smouldering in Kiev after a night of fierce clashes between protesters and police.

The leaders of the opposition, including former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko, dismissed the violence as the work of "provocateurs" and were due to hold negotiations with the government later on Monday.

The anti-government protests, which have beset Kiev for two months, escalated into fiery street battles with police on Sunday as thousands of demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs and set police vehicles on fire. Dozens of protesters were injured and 100 police sought medical attention, with 61 being admitted to hospital.

Police responded with stun grenades, teargas and, for the first time in the country's history, water cannon, but were outnumbered by the protesters. Many of the riot police held their shields over their heads to protect themselves from the projectiles thrown by demonstrators on the other side of a cordon of buses.

The violence was a sharp escalation of Ukraine's two-month political crisis, which has brought round-the-clock protest gatherings, but had been largely peaceful. President Viktor Yanukovych last week signed an array of laws severely limiting protests and banning the wearing of helmets and gas masks. Many of the demonstrators wore hardhats and masks in defiance of the new laws.

KKK marks MLK Day by handing out fliers branding King 'a communist pervert'

Travis Gettys
The Raw Story
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 11:52 UTC

A white supremacist group marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by passing out disparaging fliers in towns around the country.

The fliers were left on front lawns and driveways by The Loyal White Knights of The Ku Klux Klan and have been reported in east Texas, southern Kentucky, central North Carolina and central Virginia.

The fliers claimed the federal holiday celebrated "a communist pervert" and usually included a mugshot taken of King after his arrest during the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott and inflammatory information lifted from a mostly debunked chain email.

Among other false claims, the fliers allege that King's "aids" used tax-exempt donations to his Southern Christian Leadership Conference to hire white prostitutes and engage in group sex.

King's successor as SCLC president, Ralph David Abernathy, disclosed that the civil rights leader had engaged in extramarital affairs, but he had no sexual involvement with prostitutes or white women and did not use church donations for sexual encounters.

Residents who awoke to the fliers, which sometimes were placed inside baggies and weighted down with small rocks, said they were disturbed by the message and its timing.

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Society's Child

Ship of fools: Icebound expeditioners apologise for Antarctic rescue mission

16 million online accounts hacked in Germany

Cyclist stuck in windshield recalls bizarre crash

Religious Freedom: who has it worldwide

Nicolas Anelka faces minimum five-match ban over 'quenelle'

Pregnant teen 'sells unborn baby on Facebook'

Israel produces pro-circumcision short film to fight opposing sentiments

Psychopathic Michigan GOP official: 'Herd all the Indians' to Detroit, build a fence and throw in corn

Kiev protests escalate: Police - outnumbered by protesters armed with firebombs - respond with stun grenades, teargas and water cannon

KKK marks MLK Day by handing out fliers branding King 'a communist pervert'

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