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Spanish Anti-Austerity Protests Spread to More European Cities


World Socialist Website
Tue, 31 May 2011 16:13 UTC
Image
On Sunday evening thousands of protesters voted to continue the occupation of Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, in the "tent city" established in the immediate aftermath of the mass demonstration on May 15.

Voting to stay, protesters chanted, "We are not going! We are not going!"

The rally was the culmination of some 120 protests held in the capital over the weekend. Protests are also continuing in Spain's major cities and towns including Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Logrono.

The AFP agency reported a Puerta del Sol protest spokesman who said, "We have started something in Sol. We have started to spread to the rest of the world, so this is not the time to stop it. The support we received internationally was very important, it was something that moved us in Sol, especially the mobilisation in Paris was a very big support, and also the mobilisation in Greece".

"For the moment we are here indefinitely. We will decide depending on events", he added.

Those gathered also observed a minute's silence in tribute to those who faced vicious police and "political oppression" repression during the protests, including in Barcelona's Plaza de Catalunya. On Friday, police in Barcelona were instructed to clear the square, using the pretext of Saturday evening's football Champions League final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United at Wembley. Around 120 people were injured during the assault by riot police, who attacked peaceful protesters with batons and tear gas and fired rubber bullets.
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Bad Guys

US: FEMA To Demand That Hurricane Katrina Victims Return Aid Money

Michael Kunnzelman and Ryan Foley
Huffington Post
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:40 UTC
Fema Hurricane Katrina Aid Debt
© AP
Carpenter Alan Perkins walks past a sign put up by another resident living in a tented city in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Thursday, Sept. 8 , 2005. The victim of Hurricane Katrina put up the sign after she called four times for FEMA's assistance and was always prompted to leave a message.

New Orleans -- Nearly six years have passed since Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans in misery, but many residents haven't forgiven the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its sluggish response to the storm. Now another delayed reaction by FEMA - a stop-and-start push to recoup millions of dollars in disaster aid - is reminding storm victims why they often cursed the agency's name.

As a new hurricane season begins Wednesday, FEMA is working to determine how much money it overpaid or mistakenly awarded to victims of the destructive 2005 hurricane season. The agency is reviewing more than $600 million given to roughly 154,000 victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and is poised to demand that some return money.

FEMA already has sent letters to thousands of victims of other disasters, asking them to return more than $22 million. Letters to victims of the 2005 hurricanes could go out in a matter of months, but it's too soon to tell how many people will be told to repay or how much money is at stake.

The effort isn't sitting well with victims who spent the money years ago and who could need help again if another powerful storm hits. It's of little consolation that FEMA says procedural changes since 2005 mean future disaster victims aren't likely to have to deal with large recalls of cash.
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Alarm Clock

Mysterious Bacterial Outbreak in Europe


United Press International
Tue, 31 May 2011 07:18 UTC
Image
© Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press
Berlin - Scientists in Europe are racing to locate the source of a bacterial outbreak that has killed at least 16 people, sickened hundreds more and disrupted food markets across the continent.

"Don't eat your salad, it's not good for you," parents in Germany tell their children these days, in a bizarre reversal of the usual healthy diet sermon. To blame is a bacterial epidemic that has killed 15 people in Germany as well as one woman in Sweden and continues to roll across northern Europe.

Officials from the Robert Koch Institute, a respected German health science facility, warned that further deaths are likely.

Scientists suspect the outbreak is linked to vegetables contaminated with the enterohaemorrhagic E.coli bacterium but they haven't located the exact source.

The first cases were reported in Hamburg, Germany, and the disease, which can cause fever, bloody diarrhea and kidney failure, has since spread across the continent. There have been dozens of confirmed cases in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and Britain.
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Pistol

Texas, US: Mysterious shootings have neighbors on edge

Demond Fernandez
ABC News
Tue, 31 May 2011 07:25 UTC
Apparent random shootings in a southwest Houston neighborhood have residents on edge. A victim who was shot in the back has been upgraded to good condition. For the first time, we're hearing from a second victim who was shot in the same neighborhood, also for no apparent reason.


The shootings happened along Bob White near Ariel. Many of the neighbors along Robindell are strongly suggesting anyone steer clear of that intersection. They say this mysterious gunman has them feeling like prisoners in their own homes.

There is a huge reason you won't catch too many neighbors outside their homes near Bob White Drive in Robindell right now.

"Everybody is very scared," said neighbor Mary Thayer. "Very scared."

Neighbors are scared knowing two people have been shot in the last week and a half while walking along the street. We spoke with one woman who was shot in the shoulder.

She said, "I'm still shocked. I'm afraid to go outside whether it's here or anyplace."
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Alarm Clock

Alarm Clocks Blow up at Ikea Stores in Belgium, France and The Netherlands


My Fox
Tue, 31 May 2011 08:45 UTC


Small explosives concealed in alarm clocks detonated at Ikea furniture stores in Belgium, France and The Netherlands, Belgian authorities said Tuesday.

The explosions in stores in the Belgian city of Ghent, Lille in northern France and Eindhoven in The Netherlands caused no damage or injuries.

"The information we have is that the explosions happened the same way in all locations, with booby-trapped alarm clocks that had been hidden exploding," according to An Schoonjans, spokeswoman for Ghent prosecutors.

In Ghent, an employee and a security agent complained of earaches after two small explosions, which detonated almost simultaneously before the store closed Monday evening.
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Clock

US: Myrtle Beach Police Inundated With Crime During 8-Hour Window

Tonya Root
The Sun News
Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00 UTC
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Myrtle Beach Police Department
Reports run wild in 8-hour window

Myrtle Beach police received reports of five armed robberies, a stabbing, a shooting and an incident involving a shotgun being pointed at a security guard during a nearly eight-hour period in the city early Sunday and Monday.

Because so many people were in the area for Memorial Day celebrations and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest, officers responded to numerous criminal complaints and traffic violations, said Myrtle Beach police Capt. David Knipes.

"Policing this event has always come with huge challenges. Unfortunately, criminal activity is often associated with large events, which is why we have deployed additional officers to allow us to respond to this increase in activity," Knipes said Monday afternoon. "All of the officers working this event have done an outstanding job in very stressful conditions."
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Pistol

US: Poet Gunned Down in North Miami


CBS News
Sun, 29 May 2011 05:51 UTC
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© North Miami Police
Willie Lee Bell. Jr
North Miami Police are trying to determine what led to the shooting death of local poet Willie Lee Bell, Jr., 46, in front of his Literary Café and Poetry Lounge.

The shooting happened just after 12:30 a.m. on the 900 block of NE 125th Street. According to police, someone drove up and the passenger got out of the car and shot Bell multiple times.

North Miami Police said that multiple suspects were possibly seen leaving the scene in a dark colored vehicle with a spoiler on the rear, or a light colored car.
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Pistol

US: Witnesses Recall Frightening South Beach Police Involved Shooting


CBS News
Tue, 31 May 2011 05:29 UTC
Three police officers and four innocent bystanders remain hospitalized just one day after two separate police-involved shootings in Miami Beach. One person was also killed in the shooting which was caught on camera.

A YouTube video posted early Monday and obtained by CBS4 News shows the first shooting scene from several stories above.


Jameela Simmons said she saw it from the beginning and that it started when police stopped the car at 18th and Collins.

She says someone in the car started shooting at officers and bystanders.

CBS4's Natalia Zea asked Simmons, "You saw the guy inside the car shooting?" She responded, "Yes I saw him shooting at the police officer, that's probably why he pulled off because he had a gun,"

Zea asked what police were doing while the man was shooting. Simmons said, "They were shooting back of course, they had to open fire they were shooting back."
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Pistol

7 Killed in Attacks in Mexican Resort of Acapulco


The Mainichi Daily News
Tue, 31 May 2011 21:43 UTC
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© The Associated Press / Semar
In this image released by the Mexican Navy, a group of Mexican Navy marines conduct an operation in an island on Falcon Lake in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
Shootings and attacks in Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Acapulco left two police officers, three suspected drug cartel gunmen and two other men dead, police said Monday.

The confrontations on Sunday began when gunmen traveling in a convoy of eight vehicles opened fire on an Acapulco municipal police patrol car Sunday, killing two officers.

Federal officers responding to the reports of gunfire later located the convoy; in the ensuing gunfight, three suspects were killed.

Police in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, said in statement said that the three dead assailants were found with assault rifles, military-style uniforms and bulletproof vests.

The mutilated body of a man was found inside the trunk of a vehicle along a federal highway, police said on Monday. Officials also reported finding the bullet-riddled body of a 20-year-old man with his feet and hands tied in a residential neighborhood. Police gave no motives or identities of the men killed.

Ramon Almonte, the Guerrero state police chief, said on Monday he will ask the federal congress to make it easier for common citizens to get permits for weapons to defend themselves.
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Heart - Black

UK School bans pupils from hugging

Anthony France
Orange News
Fri, 27 May 2011 16:52 UTC
big hug
A school has banned pupils from giving each other high-fives, handshakes - and even hugs.

Governors imposed a 'no contact' rule which they say prevents fighting or bullying, reports The Sun.

Dayna Chong, 15, was thrown into detention for cuddling a female pal at The Quest Academy, in Croydon, South London.

Her mother, Anita, 33, from New Addington, said the policy was "extreme" and "ludicrous".

She said: "If the kids can't even hug each other at school some of them will never learn how to be socially interactive.
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