Society's ChildS


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Toxic cloud of tar sands waste travels from Detroit to Canada


Russia Today
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:30 UTC
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© Unknown
A massive cloud of black dust that swept across the Detroit River into Windsor, Canada this week has been linked to piles of petroleum coke, a by-product of tar sands oil illegally stored in Detroit by Koch Carbon.

Though much has already been said of the tar sands oil industry, which is currently experiencing a boom and has spurred several high profile pipeline expansions across the US, the accumulation of the petroleum coke, commonly referred to as pet coke, along the Detroit riverfront went largely unnoticed until this week.
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Light Sabers

Edward Snowden granted asylum, leaves Moscow airport in taxi

Sergei L. Loiko
The Los Angeles Times
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 08:03 UTC

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden left transit zone of a Moscow airport and entered Russia after authorities granted him temporary asylum, his lawyer said Thursday.

Moscow -- Edward Snowden finally managed to break free of his confinement at the transit zone of Moscow's international airport when he was granted Russian travel documents Thursday, after which he hopped in a cab and left for a secret location, his Russian lawyer said.

"Edward was granted a one-year asylum and I just saw him to a taxi out of the airport," Anatoly Kucherena said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "It is up to him to choose a residence inside Russia, but his location will remain secret for the duration of his stay."

"For the most wanted man on earth," Kucherena added, "personal safety is his No. 1 priority now."

Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking highly classified documents from his work as a consultant for the National Security Agency, had been effectively trapped at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport since June 23, when he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong. He was intending to change planes in Moscow, apparently for Latin America, but was caught in limbo when the United States canceled his passport.
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Stock Down

U.S. housing market shifts into reverse: A whirlpool of speculation

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 22:30 UTC
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Here are a few headlines you might want to mull-over before you plunk 20 percent down on that $500,000 Tudor in Rancho Mirage:

"Mortgage Applications Drop for Seventh Straight Week", "Homeownership slides to 18 year low", "Investors start to move out of housing", "Sellers Worry Rising Rates Will Lower Demand", "PE Scrambles To Exit Housing Market", "Higher mortgage rates lead to softer home demand, Beazer exec says."

Of course, all you're reading is stories about the 12.2% year-over-year price surge that's started the buzz about the next housing bubble. And it's true too, housing prices have gone up. Financial manipulation and corporate propaganda DO work, even in an no-growth, high unemployment economy where half the college graduates under 30 are shackled to loans they'll never repay, where one-in-six people scrape by on food stamps, and where "four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives." (AP News) Hurrah, for the American Dream! Hurrah, for propaganda!
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Piggy Bank

France: Rising costs of essentials cause people to increasingly turn to overdrafts


The Connexion
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:00 UTC
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The French are increasingly turning to overdrafts, according to a banking survey.

A survey of savers, by pollsters CSA, found that as well using them, more people preferred to have overdraft options on their accounts in case of emergency.

It also found an increasing number of people preferred to become overdrawn for short periods rather than raid their savings accounts to make up the balance in their current account.

One in two people said they used their overdraft at least once a year, with one in five using it once a month according to the survey.

Many of the financial problems associated with overdrafts do not come from the overdrafts themselves (which can be free for some accounts), but with the fees associated with going over their limits.

A spokesman for Crédit Agricole said: "A decade ago this only concerned people who could not pay back their debts. Today we find more and more retirees and poor workers."

Rising costs of essentials such as housing and energy payments were behind many of these cases said the spokesman.
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People 2

France mulls gay retirement home


connexionfrance.com
Wed, 31 Jul 2013 15:44 UTC
The Mayor of a small French town has admitted he was unaware of giving permission to build a retirement village for gay people.

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Yves Bastié, mayor of Sallèles d'Aude, gave the thumbs up to the construction of a holiday-retirement village as something he had long campaigned for.

But the mayor has admitted he was unaware that the project, put forward by the British company Villages Group, was destined to be a "private oasis for the over-50s gay and lesbian community".

"I knew nothing about it," he said. "I've asked my colleagues to check this information, but if it is the case, I think the least thing would have been to inform me."

While the project was presented to the mairie, images of a heterosexual couples were used, but on the English website of the group the illustrations are of gay couples.

The plan is for 104 eco-friendly homes plus a hotel, restaurant and sports centre in a gated community with concierge services and riverside access.

The entry price for a home is €236,000, plus €70 a week maintenance and service charge which also covers activities.
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Arrow Up

France: New tariffs enter into force


connexionfrance
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 15:38 UTC
Electricity bills rise an average of 5% from today, as interest rates on savings are cut to 1.25% and gas prices drop slightly.
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EDF is introducing a new set of tariffs from August 1, which will hit small users the least, but will push up prices in general. They affect the state regulated accounts still owned by 95% of French households.

The interest rate of the tax free savings account the Livret A is cut from 1.75% to 1.25% - its lowest ever level, last seen in August 2009.

Meanwhile the prices of state regulated gas bills are set to drop slightly, by an average of 0.45%.

The SNCF and RATP have both decided to keep their fares unchanged.
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Arrow Up

Wheat prices in Japan to increase for third time this year

Aya Takada
bloomberg.com
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:27 UTC
Wheat prices in Japan, which imports 60 percent of its food, are poised to increase for the third time in a year, adding to inflation as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic stimulus weakens the yen and boosts costs.

Foreign wheat sold by the government to flour millers including Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. (2002) will probably rise about 5 percent in October from 54,990 yen ($553) a metric ton on average, according to the U.S. Wheat Associates. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will decide on prices this month, based on purchasing costs in the six months through August, said grain-trade director Sunao Orihara.

The increase will add to expenses for producers from noodle maker Nissin Foods Holdings Co. (2897) to Yamazaki Baking Co. (2212), which raised bread prices as much as 6 percent last month. Higher food costs are helping Abe's campaign to achieve a goal of 2 percent inflation for sustained growth. Consumer prices gained the most since 2008 in June, signaling the world's third-biggest economy may be starting to shake off 15 years of deflation. Wheat costs rose 10 percent in April and 3 percent in October.

"We expect another increase in yen-based wheat prices, despite a retreat in the international market, as Japan's currency remains weak against the dollar," Charlie Utsunomiya, director at the Tokyo office of U.S. Wheat Associates, said in an interview, based on sales through July.
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Arrow Up

Rising food prices - not just your imagination

Sian Breslin
huffingtonpost.co.uk
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:00 UTC
Tesco Boss Larry Phillip has finally come out to say that the days of cheap food prices are over. "Because of growing global demand, it is going to change. There's going to be more demand and more pressure. Over the long term I think food prices and people's proportion of income may well be going up but we'll be doing our bit. Unless more food is produced prices must go up. It's the basic law of supply and demand." Ah economics, how you attempt to explain everything. But what does this all mean?

Food Poverty

It means that we are going to have to pay more for food that ever before. It seems as if a lot of people are already well accustomed to higher food prices, which have risen by 25% over the last five years. An estimated 18 per cent of the UK is suffering from food poverty. Is it possible to continue to eat healthily while food prices rise? Processed, ready-made meals have been said to contribute to obesity levels. However, unfortunately such food is often cheaper than their healthy alternatives. What is the answer?
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Question

Vanished without a trace - have you seen these missing people?

Matt Young and Candace Sutton
The Australian
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 02:12 UTC
Missing
© The AustralianThese seven faces are among the 35,000 Australians listed missing each year.
  • Every 15 minutes, one Australian disappears
  • 35,000 Australians are reported missing each year
  • It's National Missing Persons Week
  • Australia's greatest missing person mysteries
It's your mother, your child, your partner, your friend. One day they are there and the next they have gone. It's as if they have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

For the first few weeks you jump at every phone call. In the pit of your stomach there is a nameless dread that the phone call will bring the news you've been fearing. Then nothing, endless days of nothing. Families and friends tell the same stories about their loved one who suddenly goes missing.

Years pass and they never give up hope, even if it is only the hope that the remains of their daughter, parent, wife or husband will be found, so they can mourn and accept their loss.

Every year, about 35,000 Australians are reported missing. Most are located, but then there are those who never return home, leaving the lives of those close to them in limbo.

Read some of their stories here.

Source: news.com.au
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Arrow Down

Boy, 12, robs lemonade stand with BB gun


Komo News
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 08:42 UTC
Lemonade Stand
© Ryan Smith/Somos Images/CorbisHeartless: A 12-year-old boy is under arrest after police say he held up a lemonade stand set up by a 10-year-old and threatened him with a BB gun over $30.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania - Authorities say a 12-year-old boy used a BB gun to rob a 10-year-old who was running a lemonade stand in western Pennsylvania.

Johnstown Sgt. Patrick Goggin says the 12-year-old approached the stand Monday with what appeared to be a handgun in his pocket and threatened the younger boy. Goggin says the boys "got into a wrestling match over the money box" before the older boy took $30 and ran away.

Three other children chased the boy home and helped police track him down. That's when police determined the boy had a BB gun.

Police aren't identifying the suspect because he'll be charged in juvenile court where most cases remain confidential.

Johnstown is about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Source: Associated Press
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