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Cupcakes and Britain's New Epidemic of Anger: How the Nation is Boiling with Rage

Frances Hardy
The Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:13 UTC
cake fury
© Wales News Service
Cake fury: Sally Dodd, left, was attacked by the unknown woman while shop assistant Terri Mammett, right, witnessed the incident
Sally Dodd has worked as a pub landlady. She has broken up drunken brawls and calmed the high spirits of armies of tanked-up Welsh rugby fans. But nothing prepared her for the day this week when a female customer ran amok in her genteel cupcake shop.

Mrs Dodd, 43, owns Sugarswirlz, a bakery selling decorated homemade cupcakes in an airy Victorian arcade in the centre of Cardiff.

The shop was full of lunchtime customers when a woman - middle-aged, sturdy and wearing a belted mackintosh - launched an extraordinary attack.

She lashed out at a display of cakes, sending them flying through the air, then flung her arm across a window display, scattering its contents around the shop.

Then events turned from farcical to terrifying. She grabbed Mrs Dodd by her hair, pulling it out by the roots in clumps, and launched a foul-mouthed tirade of abuse.
      Read More...
Handcuffs

UK: Police Chief on Child Sex Charges


Mirror News
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
A senior police officer has appeared in court accused of child sex offences and possessing indecent images of children.

Inspector Geraint Lloyd Evans, 47, of South Wales Police, was remanded in custody after appearing at Llanelli Magistrates' Court.

Evans was charged with seven separate offences yesterday and was remanded to appear at Swansea Crown Court on March 11.

The allegations include conspiring with others to incite engagement in unlawful sexual activity with a child under 13.

He is also charged with three offences of making indecent images of children, possession of four child abuse images and possession of extreme pornography.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

UK: Mum 'Tried to Stop Dad Killing Kids in Icy River Plunge'


Mirror News
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
A mum wept yesterday as she told a jury how her ex-lover sped off with their children and drove them into an icy river.

Kim Smith, 37, tried in vain to rescue the children when their dad ­Christopher Grady, 42, gave her 10 seconds to "say ta-ra".

He sat sobbing in the dock with head in hands while she gave evidence.

Grady allegedly plunged his car into the River Avon in Evesham, Worcs, last February. Daughter Gabby, five, died days later. Son Ryan, six, survived.

Ms Smith told the jury: "The last thing he shouted at me was 'river'. His face was contorted.
      Read More...
Pistol

Libya rebels losing one city, but take another, as dozens die


MSNBC.com
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:30 UTC
Hundreds protest against Gadhafi in Tripoli; 17 die in blast at arms depot

Tripoli, Libya - After a battle in which at least 30 civilians were killed Friday, forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had cornered rebels and claimed to have retaken a key city near the capital.

The rebels, for their part, claimed to have taken Ras Lanouf, a key oil port, while hundreds rallied in the capital Tripoli against Gadhafi. Live ammunition and tear gas were fired to break up the protest, witnesses said.


Friday's assault on Zawiya, about 30 miles west of Tripoli, appeared to be the strongest yet by Gadhafi's forces after repeated earlier forays against it were beaten back.

An improvised force of rebels had been pushed back to the central Martyrs Square in Zawiya, a rebel spokesman said. "Many people were killed in Harsha, which is now occupied by them," rebel spokesman Youssef Shagan told Reuters by phone, referring to a small town outside Zawiya.

"They shot at civilians. We still control (Zawiya's) central square," he added. "They are four to five kilometres away."
      Read More...
Light Sabers

Ivory Coast on brink of civil war as seven women shot dead at protest march

Pauline Bax & David Smith
The Guardian
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:47 UTC
Image
© AFP/Getty Images
A picture allegedly shows the body of one of the seven women shot dead in Abobo, a working class neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Military says shootings were 'blunder we regret' as once stable nation faces meltdown

Seven women have been massacred during a peaceful protest in Ivory Coast as the country appeared to stand on the brink of all-out civil war.

More than 200,000 people have fled, and the nation that was once a model of stability in west Africa is now experiencing bloodshed and economic meltdown.

The women's demonstration became a scene of terror when security forces opened fire with machine guns in Abobo, a sprawling, impoverished suburb of the commercial capital, Abidjan, where some of the deadliest clashes have taken place during three months of crisis.

They were about to set off from a roundabout on a march to call on Laurent Gbagbo to step down as president. "Men in uniform drove up and started shooting randomly. Six women died on the spot," Idrissa Diarrassouba told Reuters. A seventh died in hospital. Many others were wounded.
      Read More...
Pistol

Colorado boy, 12, accused of shooting dead his parents

Ed Pilkington
The Guardian
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:23 UTC
Image
© Helen H. Richardson/AP
Balloons and flowers outside the Colorado home where the shooting is said to have taken place.
Prosecutor is deliberating whether to treat the boy within the adult criminal trial process or as a juvenile

A 12-year-old boy in a small rural town, Burlington in Colorado, has allegedly shot dead his parents and seriously wounded two of his siblings.

The carnage has caused bewilderment among relatives and neighbours who saw the family as utterly normal, if deeply religious.

Charles Long, 50, and his wife Marilyn, 51, were found shot dead and two of their seven children, Sarah, five, and Ethan, nine, in a critical condition having been slashed with a knife.

Sarah, who was slashed in the neck and back, and Ethan, who was shot and stabbed in the groin, are both recovering in hospital.

The prosecutor, Robert Watson, is now deliberating whether to treat the boy within the adult criminal trial process or as a juvenile.
      Read More...
Radar

Protesters Converge on Iraq Capital


Aljazeera English
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:03 UTC
Image
© European Press Association
Iraqi protesters have decried a lack of improvement in their daily lives eight years after the US-led invasion
Thousands of Iraqis take to the streets across the country to protest against corruption and unemployment.

Thousands of people have converged on Baghdad's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square to protest against corruption and unemployment, despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reported from Baghdad that the situation was heading towards a stand-off, as security forces demanded the protesters leave, blocking their route across a bridge leading to the Green Zone, where the government has its base.

Concrete blocks were set up by authorities on all of Baghdad's bridges ahead of the protests.

"What we're seeing here is a bit of a test, of how the government will respond when these people clearly want their demands to be heard," Arraf said.
      Read More...
Oscar

The Bizarre Death and Mysterious Burial of a Hollywood Oscar Winner

Alan Parker
Toronto Sun
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:24 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Almost nobody remembers Gig Young now, but 41 years ago he was the toast of Hollywood.

The Academy Awards for 1969 were presented on the evening of April 7, 1970, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

It was the second year the Oscars were televised worldwide and it was also the second year there was no host a brief interregnum between the Bob Hope era and most of the 1970s when hosting was done by committee (before one last hurrah for Bob Hope and the beginning of the Johnny Carson era).

Winning the Oscar for Best Picture was Midnight Cowboy, the only X-rated film in the history of the Academy Awards to win Best Picture.

John Wayne got the only Oscar of his career as Best Actor for his role of crusty Rooster Cogburn in True Grit and Maggie Smith won Best Actress as an eccentric Scottish teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Goldie Hawn (in one of those typical Oscar "huh?" decisions) got the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Cactus Flower.

And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to Gig Young for his performance as Rocky, the sleazy and manipulative promoter of a Depression-era dance marathon in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
      Read More...
Pistol

Agent: I Was Ordered to Let U.S. Guns Into Mexico

Sharyl Attkisson
CBS News
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
ATF agent says "Fast and Furious" program let guns "walk" into hands of Mexican drug cartels with aim of tracking and breaking a big case

Washington - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.

He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."


An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.
      Read More...
Sherlock

US: Missouri Welfare Benefits Being Spent in Hawaii

Chris Nagus
KMOV.com
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:59 UTC
A KMOV News 4 Investigation reveals Missouri residents receiving food stamps and welfare payments are spending them in places like Hawaii, California, and Florida.

News 4 requested public information regarding these expenses through the Missouri Department of Social Services. The agency provided a state by state break down of where Missouri benefits are being spent, click here to see the list.

In January Missouri EBT cards were used to withdraw $362,682 in cash outside the state. During that same time period Missouri EBT cards purchased $3,521,974 worth of food outside Missouri. Those card users racked up $752 worth of ATM fees, they were also paid by taxpayers.


Many of the EBT purchases were in border states, but a large chunk of change was spent in hard to reach places like California, Alaska, and Hawaii.
      Read More...
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