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Mandela spins in his grave as South African police and ANC fire on protesting schoolchildren

Thabo Seseane Jr.
World Socialist Website
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:14 UTC
South Africa protest
© Noma Bolani
Residents in Bekkersdal near Randfontein have blocked roads in protest of poor service delivery in the area.
On March 15, African National Congress (ANC) spokesman Nkenke Kekana said his party would meet the citizens of Bekkersdal to discuss "concerns of the community." Town residents, including schoolchildren, were shot at last week by the police and members of an ANC contingent campaigning in the area.

Bekkersdal was the scene of intense protests lasting a month towards the end of 2013. Residents have still not forgotten a visit paid by Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane last October, when she was heckled and booed. She inflamed that situation by telling her audience, "People can threaten us and say they won't vote, but the ANC doesn't need their dirty votes."

When residents heard last week that ANC dignitaries would be campaigning in the area, they erupted even in Mokonyane's absence. Schooling was disrupted around 11 a.m. as pupils streamed onto the streets.

The Citizen of the previous day carried a photo taken in Bekkersdal of an armed man wearing ANC colours. Nkenke said, "Right now, we don't know who that person is. If he is a [VIP] protector, he is not supposed to wear ANC gear."
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Evil Rays

2-year-old Kansas toddler tasers herself in the forehead


KAKE News
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:33 UTC
Image
© Flickr/Hradcanska
Wichita Police are investigating after a young girl shot herself with a taser.

It happened Tuesday at a northwest Wichita home in the 2600 block of North Paradise. Police initially thought a four-year-old girl shot her two-year-old sister in the head with a Taser electrical weapon. But after speaking with the girls' father, he told them the younger sister shot herself. She is in fair condition.

Police say one of the barbs was still stuck in the toddler's forehead when she was taken to a local hospital. The father told KAKE's Deb Farris the girls were playing in a bedroom while the nanny was in the kitchen. The 2-year-old found the taser in a nightstand drawer and accidentally pulled the trigger.
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Bomb

First World War bomb explodes killing 2 in Ypres, Belgium

Luke Garratt
Dily Mail, UK
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:25 UTC
Image

Emergency personnel remove evidence near a covered body after a World War One armament exploded in Ypres, Belgium
* Armament was disturbed and exploded evacuation works at the site

* Killed two and injured two, all construction workers working in the area

* This area of Belgium is rife with unexploded bombs from the Great War

* It is the former Flanders battleground where many shells were fired

A First World War bomb killed two construction site workers when it exploded 100 years after being fired at a Belgian battlefield.

The bomb had laid dormant for a century at an industrial site in the former area of Flanders battlegrounds, killing two and injuring two more.

Johan Lescrauwaert of the Ypres prosecutor's office confirmed that the armament from the 1914-1918 war exploded near the workers, but did not say whether it was a shell or a grenade.
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Light Sabers

Russia not isolated: Pan-African Parliament supports Russia's stance on Crimea


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:05 UTC
Pan-African Parliament logo
© PAP

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has voiced support for Russia's stance on Crimea, saying no one has the right to call the will of the Crimean people expressed at a referendum into question, Mikhail Margelov, the Russian president's special envoy for cooperation with Africa and the head of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

Margelov, who is attending a PAP session, said that Ghana' s former president Jerry Rawlings had been the first to set the tonality for the discussion.

"He gave his full and absolute support to Russia's stance on Crimea. The deputies applauded him. After that, he came up to me and shook my hand. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the same in a private conversation," Margelov said, noting that the Pan-African deputies told him that the days of the uni-polar world were over because Russia was strong again.

"You are our hope," the deputies stressed.

The Pan-African Parliament, which unites 54 African countries and is the main legislative body of the African Union, noted a positive tonality of a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted to Crimea which all Pan-African deputies listened to with great attention.

Comment: Russia not isolated: China and India back President Putin in Crimean reunification with Russia

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Snakes in Suits

Oxfam: UK's 5 wealthiest families worth more than poorest 20 percent


RT
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 21:49 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Luke MacGregor
The combined fortunes of Britain's five richest families are worth more than the poorest 20 percent of the population, says an Oxfam report. The organization has appealed to the government to take action over the UK's widening wealth gap.

In a report published on Monday entitled "A Tale of Two Britains," the charity revealed the scope of the UK's wealth divide. It calculated that Britain's five richest families have a fortune of £28.2 billion ($46.9 billion), more than the £28.1 billion ($46.7 billion) of the poorest 20 percent of the UK population. The study also said that over the past two decades the richest 0.1 percent of the population has seen its wealth grow almost four times faster than the 90 percent of population who are considered well-off.

In real terms in means the rich have seen their income rise by £24,000 ($40,000) every year.
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Cell Phone

Ten French employees of Orange have committed suicide this year

Peter Allen
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:47 UTC
Image

Ten people at telecoms firm Orange France have committed suicide in the past three months, and a report says all of the deaths were 'explicitly related to work'
* Ten people at French telecoms firm commit suicide in three months

* Report says all of the deaths were 'explicitly related to work' at Orange

* Staff have complained about 'bullying culture' at Orange France

Ten people working for one of Europe's largest telecom firms in France have committed suicide in the past three months for reasons 'explicitly related' to their jobs, it emerged today.

Orange France, a company also present in the UK, is notorious for its tough approach to customer services as well as their employees.

Staff working in call centres have previously complained about a 'bullying culture' and the firm, including having to ask permission to go to the bathroom.
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Arrow Up

Massachusetts mom lies down as 'speed bump' to save daughters in rolling car

Michael Howard
Yahoo News
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:49 UTC
Mindy and Twins
© Mindy Tran
A Lawrence, Mass., woman says she saved the lives of her twin daughters after she used herself as a "speed bump" to stop her car from rolling into traffic.

Mindy Tran, 22, says she had been living in a shelter with twin daughters Saleen and Sydney, and that they had recently moved into their new apartment just days before the incident.

"It felt like I was starting a new life," she told ABC News today from the hospital where she is recovering from a broken leg and dislocated shoulder and hip.

"The girls had started at daycare and we just moved in. It seems like when things are going too well, something bad will happen."

Tran says she is lucky to be alive after she lay on the ground behind her Honda Accord to stop it from rolling into the street with her kids still inside. "I laid down horizontally, using my body as a speed bump to stop the car," she said.

Her 2-year-old daughters were buckled in the back seat when the car started rolling. A neighbor also came to help.

"My neighbor jumped in and he asked what I wanted them to do," she said. "I said make sure my daughter's got out of the car safely."
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Bacon

Big pig: North Carolina man fells 500-pound boar with one shot

Matthew Stucker and Steve Almasy
CNN
Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:24 UTC

Killing a 500-plus pound boar might sound like a big deal. But for one North Carolina man, it is just how he brings home the bacon.

Jett Webb killed the massive animal last month in eastern North Carolina.When the amazing pictures of the animal and hunter recently circulated on the Internet, Webb started fielding calls from the media. Webb told CNN on Thursday that while many people were astonished by the kill, he shot a boar of a similar size two years ago.

Still, friends and family were in awe. "They were blown away. It's not every day you see something that size," Webb said. "They can't believe something that big is running around the woods of eastern North Carolina."
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Chess

No shots fired, Ukrainian soldiers walk out as Russian forces reclaim Ukraine naval HQ in Crimea


Asharq Al-Awsat
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:10 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
A Ukrainian naval officer, right, passes by armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, as he leaves the naval headquarters in Sevastopol, March 19, 2014.
Russian troops and unarmed men stormed Ukraine's naval headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Wednesday and raised the Russian flag in a tense but peaceful takeover that signals Moscow's intent to neutralize any armed opposition.

Russian soldiers, and so-called "self-defense" units of mainly unarmed volunteers who are supporting them across the Black Sea peninsula, moved in early in the morning and quickly took control.

Shortly after the incident, Ukraine's acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh said in Kiev that the country's forces would not withdraw from Crimea even though Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a treaty to make it part of Russia.
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Padlock

18 yr old spends 13 days in Ohio jail for a pocketknife in EMT medical vest

Dave Urbanski
The Raw Story
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:02 UTC
Image
© WOIO-TV
Jordan Wiser
Enrolled in an Ohio vocational-technical school, Wiser was taking Firefighter 2 and EMT courses to bolster his dream of future public service.

"Last year, I completed the law enforcement course," the 18-year-old told The Huffington Post. "I received several certifications, including the National Terror Defense certification from FEMA, the Terror Recognition certification and (certification as an) Emergency Vehicle Operator."

Wiser also joined the Army, enrolling the Future Soldiers program, and was scheduled to ship out in August. After his planned military service, he figured he'd embark on a career as a police officer or firefighter.

But Wiser's big dreams of public service are on hold. In fact, he's now enduring a nightmare.

It all started Dec. 12 when administrators at Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus (A-Tech) in Jefferson, Ohio - about 60 miles northeast of Cleveland - questioned Wiser after an alleged tip regarding videos uploaded to Wiser's YouTube account. Among the clips are reviews of video games and merchandise, home defense tactics, and an interview with a local police officer.
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