Society's ChildS

Handcuffs

US: Daryl Hannah Arrested in White House Oil Protest

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© The Associated Press / Evan VucciActress Daryl Hannah is arrested by U.S. Park Police in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline.
Actress Daryl Hannah has been arrested in front of the White House along with other environmental protesters who oppose a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The sit-in Tuesday involved dozens protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. It would go through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

Before she was arrested, Hannah told The Associated Press the protesters want to be free from dependence on fossil fuels. The group calls for clean energy investments instead. Hannah says they hope President Barack Obama will not bow to oil lobbyists.

Hannah sat down on the sidewalk near the White House and refused orders from U.S. Park Police to move.

She has been arrested in the past for environmental causes.

Source: The Associated Press

Attention

U.S. Issues Worldwide 9/11 Travel Alert to Americans

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© Al Diaz, Miami Herald/MCTSanjay Roy of Miami checks the departure board as flights at Miami International Airport in a file picture.
The U.S. State Department on Friday issued a worldwide travel alert ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, calling on Americans living and travelling abroad to remain vigilant.

The department said it had not identified any "specific threats" about possible attacks but that al-Qaida and its affiliates had "demonstrated the intent and capability to carry out attacks" against the U.S. and U.S. interests.

"In the past, terrorist organizations have on occasion planned their attacks to coincide with significant dates on the calendar," the State Department said.

The alert expires on January 2, 2012, it said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was "no specific or credible intelligence that al-Qaida or its affiliates are plotting attacks" linked to the anniversary of the worst terror strikes on U.S. soil.

But she added: "We remain at a heightened state of vigilance, and security measures are in place to detect and prevent plots against the United States should they emerge."

Stormtrooper

US, New Mexico: Police Officer Who Had Sex on Duty Won't Face Charges

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© KOB televisionA New Mexico State Police officer is under investigation after a surveillance camera at a remote Santa Fe ranch caught him allegedly having sex with a woman on the roof of a car.
A uniformed on-duty New Mexico state police officer who was caught on camera having sex with a woman on a car hood, embarrassing his department, will not face criminal charges, police said on Thursday.

"At this time we don't believe that any criminal acts occurred," New Mexico State Police Sgt. Tim Johnson said in a statement.

He said the officer involved in the encounter was currently on paid administrative leave and that the case was still "in the disciplinary process" in the department.

Johnson told Reuters that after speaking with the woman, investigators decided the trooper hadn't broken any laws.

"This officer made a horrible personal decision that will obviously reflect poorly on the whole organization," he said.

Eye 1

How Real is the Threat from Islamic Terrorism in the U.S.?

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Statistically, your chances of dying from a bee sting or a lightning strike are much greater than your chances of dying in a terrorist attack in America.

The anthrax attack and the Fort Hood shooting had nothing to do with foreign terrorists. The shoe bomber and the underwear bomber were not attacks in the US. I'll give you the Times Square bombing, even though it was such an utterly incompetent failure that it's difficult to believe that it was actually meant to succeed. I mean, really, what kind of moron thinks that a large firecracker will blow up a propane tank? If they actually had meant to kill people it would have been ten times easier and almost foolproof to just fill a Ryder truck with drums of gasoline, stop it in one of the tunnels at rush hour, and torch it.

The anthrax attacks, in particular, were traced to U.S. scientists at Fort Detrick, MD who were viciously anti-Muslim. These attacks had absolutely nothing to do with Al Qaida, and everything to do with causing enough hysteria to enable the administration's plans to repeal the Bill of Rights piecemeal without anyone daring to protest. Blaming these attacks on Muslim terrorists is simply the worst kind of disinformation, and this is no longer even controversial.

Bad Guys

Toxicologist: Oil spill far more toxic than admitted

oil spill, michigan
© Unknown

Nicholas Forte has spent the last year with an array of health issues. Headaches. Migraines. Nausea. Breathing problems so severe they would land him in the hospital.

"We have no idea what it is," the 22-year-old Battle Creek resident told Michigan Messenger. "Then it escalated to seizures."

And while the seizures landed him in the hospital - at one point stopping his heart and his breathing - doctors are at a loss to understand why. Tests indicate none of the expected patterns for epilepsy.

Crusader

UK: Anti-Israel protests disrupt BBC Proms concert

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© UnknownA group of about 20 people had gathered outside the hall to protest the appearance of the orchestra
Protesters have disrupted a BBC Proms concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The soloist, Gil Shaham, was about to play Bruch's violin concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta when some people in the audience began booing and shouting.

BBC Radio 3 interrupted its live broadcast twice before returning later.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign had earlier called on people to boycott the concert and urged the BBC to cancel it.

The pro-Palestinian group claimed that the IPO showed "complicity in whitewashing Israel's persistent violations of international law and human rights".

Health

Israeli hospitals go on emergency footing ahead of mass resignation

Public hospitals across Israel on Thursday began preparations for the expected resignation of hundreds of medical residents next week, over unmet demands for higher salaries and improved working conditions.

Some 960 residents earlier this week tendered their resignation en masse after the government rejected their demands, and said they will quit their posts on Sunday.

Israel's Health Ministry issued a letter to hospital directors on Wednesday instructing them to implement measures to deal with the severe shortage of personnel, which officials described as " unprecedented," the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper reported Thursday.

Binoculars

Special forces raid BP's Moscow office

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© Associated PressHeadquarters of BP's Russian operations in downtown Moscow
BP's troubled relationship with Russia sank to a new low yesterday after special forces raided its Moscow office and its partners in a joint venture escalated their campaign against the company.

The raid came a day after BP suffered the humiliation of being usurped by ExxonMobil in a landmark alliance with the Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, a deal that BP had claimed as its own.

Police armed with assault rifles searched for documents relating to the dispute between BP and a minority shareholder in its Russian joint venture TNK-BP.

The shareholder, Andrei Prokhorov, claims that BP harmed TNK-BP's interests by failing to include the joint venture in its proposed alliance with Rosneft and is seeking $US3 billion in damages as a result.

Stormtrooper

Libya commander: 50,000 dead in uprising

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© Associated Press
Military commander with Libya's interim ruling council estimates revolution has so far claimed 50,000 lives

An estimated 50,000 people have been killed since the beginning of Libya's uprising to oust Muammar Gaddafi six months ago, a military commander with the country's interim ruling council said on Tuesday.

"In Misrata and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa (the Western Mountains) took a lot of casualties. We liberated about 28,000 prisoners. We presume that all those missing are dead," he said.

"Then there was Ajdabiyah, Brega. Many people were killed there too," he said, referring to towns repeatedly fought over in eastern Libya.

"About 50,000 people were killed since the start of the uprising," Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, commander of the anti-Gaddafi troops who advanced out of the Western Mountains and took Tripoli a week ago, told Reuters.

Heart - Black

UK: Queen's guard at Windsor Castle and his primary school teacher wife appear in court charged with 'raping pre-teenage girl'

A soldier who guards the Queen at Windsor Castle and his primary school teacher wife have appeared in court charged with raping a pre-teenage girl.

Simon Davies, 37, and wife Fiona, 44, were held by police after a video of the alleged incident was found during a raid on a London home.

Police swooped on the house as part of an investigation into a child porn ring. It is believed the footage was being circulated online by paedophiles.

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© AlamyCharged: A soldier who guards the Queen at Windsor Castle has been arrested and charged, alongside his primary school teacher wife, with raping a pre-teenage girl