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Eye 2

Turkish journalist who leaked video of secret weapons smuggling trial sentenced to jail and loses custody of her children

Arzu Yıldız
© TwitterArzu Yıldız
Journalist Arzu Yildiz was sentenced to 20 months in jail and lost her parental rights after exposing a video related to a weapons-smuggling scandal denied by the Turkish government, in what her lawyer said was "an act of revenge" by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Nobody can take my children away from me... not even the Sultan himself, let alone the court," Yildiz told Can Erzincan TV, outside the court in the southern city of Mersin.

The journalist's sentence is related to a 2014 incident in which prosecutors uncovered trucks belonging to MIT, Turkey's national security agency, smuggling weapons for rebels across the border to Syria. President Erdogan has insisted that the vehicles were carrying humanitarian aid and accused the prosecutors of "treason and espionage," as well as of being agents of his US-based nemesis Fethullah Gulen.

The prosecutors were arrested and put on trial before a closed court, before being sentenced to prison terms. Yildiz obtained video of the proceedings, however, and posted the prosecutors' testimonies, which contradicted the government's claims, on YouTube. She was later charged with breaching court confidentiality.

Airplane

Egyptair Flight MS804 disappears from radar - Hollande speculates plane crashed with no physical proof - analysts point to "abrupt incident"

map of Med
© NBC NewsMap showing route of Egyptair Flight MS804
An Egyptair flight with 66 people on board crashed while en route from Paris to Cairo on Thursday, the French president confirmed. Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. Paris time (5:09 p.m. ET) and vanished over the Mediterranean Sea. French President Francois Hollande told a press conference that the plane had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate as to the cause. "No hypothesis can be ruled out," he said.

Egyptian and Greek authorities are searching for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of nearly 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar shortly before it was due to land. Almost immediately after entering Egyptian airspace the plane swerved sharply and then lost altitude before it dropped off radar, Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told a press conference. When the plane vanished it was about 175 miles away from Egypt's coast, according to officials.

There were 56 passengers — including three children — along with seven crew and three "security" personnel on board the Airbus A320, Egyptair said. The airline initially had said a total of 69 people were on board but later revised the figure.


Question

Arizona residents making a stink about pungent mystery odor

Marana AZ
© J.D. Fitzgerald/Marana News
Residents in north Marana, particularly in the Gladden Farms area, are complaining of a strange smell and accompanying white smoke. The smell began a few weeks ago and has been so bad in some areas that residents have been forced to stay indoors and close windows.

The smell occurs in the morning, usually between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., and has been described by residents as a "chemical smell" or as resembling diesel exhaust. A number of Gladden Farm homeowners took to a Facebook group to share their frustration and compare notes and all reported seeing white smoke or exhaust at the same time the smell is present.

"It is very strong and irritates my throat," said Gladden Farms resident Christy Hollinger. "I am pretty tolerant to smoke, exhaust, pollen so was a bit surprised this affected me."

Hollinger said that she was out walking her dogs when she encountered the smell the first time and by the time she got home, her entire home had the exhaust smell. Others have reported having to roll up windows and turn off the air in the car when driving in the area.

Most believed the smoke to be coming from of two plants off Tangerine Road, either the Cal-Portland Cement plant or the plant belonging to Granite Construction, with several residents insisting that the smoke was coming from the Granite plant, where they make asphalt, among other things.

Hollinger said she has smelled asphalt and tar in the past, but that this is a different smell and far more pungent. "There have been plenty of times in the past where there is an asphalt/tar smell that comes from the same direction," said Hollinger. "That smell is not accompanied with smoke that I've noticed. I've always accepted it as part of living near an asphalt plant."

Airplane

EgyptAir flight 804 disappears en route from Paris to Cairo with over 60 on board

EgyptAir
© Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters
An EgyptAir flight carrying at least 59 passengers and 10 crew members went off the radar after departing from Paris and heading to Cairo, the airline said in a brief statement.

"An informed source at EGYPTAIR stated that Flight No. MS804, which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST), heading to Cairo has disappeared from radar," the airline said on its Twitter.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 pm on Wednesday Paris time and was expected to arrive in Cairo by 3 am on Thursday. A direct flight usually takes just over four hours.

The Egyptian government has released no comment on the incident so far.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Sheriff

New Hampshire cops attack surrendering 50-year-old man

Richard Simone
© Tomo News USRichard Simone
Use of force investigations have been launched by both the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and Massachusetts State Police after video emerged of multiple officers beating a surrendering motorist who had led them on a high-speed pursuit.

That chase began after 50-year-old Richard Simone, wanted on several outstanding warrants including assault, refused to stop for police in Holden, Massachusetts, around 4 pm on Wednesday afternoon. For about an hour, Holden dodged police from both Massachusetts and neighboring New Hampshire, occasionally reaching speeds of up to 90 mph on the highway.

Simone weaved through traffic — at one point hitting a utility pole — as law enforcement officers from both states repeatedly tried to pull him over without success. At some point during the pursuit, Simone's gray pickup lost two of its tires; but as sparks flew, he continued driving.

Eventually, in Nashua, New Hampshire — as captured in footage from news helicopters — Simone stopped, exited his vehicle calmly in surrender, and willingly proceeded to lie face down on the ground for his inevitable arrest.

After Simone lay prone on the asphalt, at least six police officers from various agencies proceeded to beat him relentlessly as neighborhood children watched, in what appears to be — for all intents and purposes — retaliatory use of force for Simone having fled the original stop.

"He was surrendering, you know, he gave up — but I was like, 'Oh my god, they're really attacking him,'" Simone's sister told 7 News. "It was very shocking, to say the least. Disturbing to see that and to see when someone willingly gets out of the vehicle, goes to their knees, flat out on their stomach, their hands out — very shocking."


Christmas Tree

Cops and prison groups in California are fighting the hardest against marijuana legalization because of the revenue stream they'll lose

marijuana in jars
© David McNew/Getty Images
Roughly half of the money raised to oppose a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in California is coming from police and prison guard groups, terrified that they might lose the revenue streams to which they have become so deeply addicted.

Drug war money has become a notable source of funding for law enforcement interests. Huge government grants and asset-seizure windfalls benefit police departments, while the constant supply of prisoners keeps the prison business booming.

Opposition to the marijuana legalization initiative, slated to go before voters in November, has been organized by John Lovell, a longtime Sacramento lobbyist for police chiefs and prison guard supervisors. Lovell's Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, a committee he created to defeat the pot initiative, raised $60,000 during the first three months of the year, according to a disclosure filed earlier this month.

The funds came from groups representing law enforcement, including the California Police Chiefs Association, the Riverside Sheriffs' Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League's Issues PAC, and the California Correctional Supervisor's Organization. Other donors include the California Teamsters union and the California Hospital Association, as well as Sam Action, an anti-marijuana advocacy group co-founded by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Eye 1

Philadelphia police admit to using highly-equipped surveillance truck disguised as Google Maps vehicle

police google car
© Dustin SlaughterThe vehicle in question
The Philadelphia Police Department admitted today that a mysterious unmarked license plate surveillance truck disguised as a Google Maps vehicle, which Motherboard first reported on this morning, is its own.

In an emailed statement, a department spokesperson confirmed:

"We have been informed that this unmarked vehicle belongs to the police department; however, the placing of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command. With that being said, once this was brought to our attention, it was ordered that the decals be removed immediately."

The spokesperson also claimed that an inquiry is forthcoming.

When reached for comment yesterday, Google confirmed it is investigating the unauthorized use of its Google Maps logo. The spokeswoman we reached suggested that the company might have more to say at a later time.

Fire

Massive blaze beneath the elevated tracks at Harlem metro

East Harlem metro blaze
© antone_us / Instagram
A huge fire broke out underneath the tracks of the Metro North service in New York's East Harlem Tuesday night, leaving thousands of passengers stranded as firefighters battled the blaze.

The 'four-alarm fire' resulted in services to and through Grand Central being temporarily suspended.

Services will operate on a Saturday schedule until Friday while repairs are made, according to the latest MTA update.

Handcuffs

Turkish journalist put in jail, denied parental rights for covering MIT terror truck hearings

Arzu Yıldız
Arzu Yıldız
A Mersin court has sentenced journalist Arzu Yıldız to 20 months' imprisonment and deprived her of parental rights over posting videos on social media that show prosecutors — who currently face trial for ordering search of trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in January, 2014 — defend themselves in court.

The footages Yıldız posted on her YouTube account show prosecutors Süleyman Bağrıyanık, Özcan Şişman and Aziz Takçı defend themselves during hearings of the MİT trucks case held by Tarsus 2nd High Criminal Court in the southern province of Mersin.

The Tarsus 5th Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced Yıldız to a year and 8 months in prison, while imposing TL 12.600 suspended fine on news portal Grihat.com for featuring the videos released by Yıldız.

Comment: So the Turkish intelligence service loads some trucks up with 'humanitarian aid' in the form of weapons for terrorists in Syria, some Turkish prosecutors find out about it and order the trucks searched, Erdogan calls them treasonous spies and they're put on trial for just doing their jobs. Then the journalist exposing this travesty of justice gets thrown in jail and deprived of her children. All this from a proud NATO member. Turkey's U.S. masters must be so proud.


Heart - Black

Chicago police assault, and threaten to tase, man with baby in his arms

chicago pd
© Jim Young/Reuters
A federal lawsuit claims that a Chicago police officer threatened to use a Taser on a man who was holding a baby boy in his arms, and warned him that the one-year-old would feel the electricity.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims that the entire incident was caught by a security camera, and it names the city and several police officers as defendants, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Cesar Carrizales said that during the October incident, he was approached by officers in an alleyway near his garage, who then demanded that he put his son down on a filthy alleyway. He told the officers that the mother of the son, Theresa Cmiel, would take his child.