Friday, September 12, 2014

Dad No-Show At Court As Memorial Held For Kids

A father accused of killing his five children has waived his first court appearance as a memorial was held for the youngsters.

Timothy Ray Jones Jr, 32, is accused of killing his three boys and two girls, wrapping their bodies in separate bin bags and driving around for days with their decomposing bodies before dumping them on a rural hilltop in Alabama. He did not appear in court as scheduled in Lexington, South Carolina, on Friday because his lawyer said he needs a mental health evaluation.

"He is being portrayed as a monster," said his attorney. "He is just a man and is trying to deal with this situation. "He is scared and simply wants someone to guide him through the process." The lawyer, Aimee Zmroczek, said her client has been held in isolation under suicide watch.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Girl, 7, Shot In Head Dies In Hospital

girl 7-y.o dead

A seven-year-old girl who was apparently shot in the head in Sussex has died in hospital, police have confirmed.

Mary Shipstone was attacked outside her home on Thursday afternoon. The body of a man, believed to be Yasser Alromisse, the girl's estranged father, was found at the scene, but is yet to be formally identified. In a statement, Mary's family wrote: "We are today grieving the death of our beautiful and loving Mary.

"We would please ask that the public and media respect our privacy and allow us to try to come to terms with what has happened." Police believe the shooting was an isolated incident, and are not looking for anyone else in connection with her death.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Bank of Russia keeps powder dry for future inflation and growth problems

Who was Reeva Steenkamp: Model and law graduate with 'wicked' sense of humor

Reeva Steenkamp

Steenkamp was born in Cape Town but moved to Johannesburg years ago to pursue modeling.

The two became an item around November 2012, and were popular in South African social circles. She constantly referred to him as "my boo" on social media and posted pictures of their vacations together. But phone messages read during the trial showed a couple that had some rocky patches as well. In some of the messages, she accused him of being overly jealous and overbearing. But he said he loved her and was planning a life with her. About a month before her death, the model shared a picture collage that included the runner. "Some of my favorite people," she described the picture.

Pistorius' relatives said she made him happy. "All of us saw at first hand how close she had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were," said Arnold Pistorius, his uncle. Both had big dreams, the uncle said.

"They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," he said. "We are all grieving for Reeva, her family and her friends. Oscar -- as you can imagine -- is also numb with shock as well as grief."

The younger Pistorius made history when he became the first Paralympian to compete in the able-bodied Olympics in London in 2012. He ran on special carbon fiber blades affixed to his legs. He was born without the fibulae in his legs, and they were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old.

Before she died, Steenkamp sent out a message urging her thousands of social media followers to empower women. "Speak out against the rape of individuals" in South Africa, she said in a post on the photo-sharing site Instagram. "RIP Anene Booysen." Booysen, 17, was raped and mutilated in South Africa in February 2013, putting a spotlight on violence against women in the nation.

Steenkamp urged her followers on Twitter to wear black the day after Valentine's to protest violence against women. Steenkamp was looking forward to Valentine's Day. "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" she asked her Twitter followers the day before. "Get excited."

At dawn, she lay dead in a pool of blood.

INC News, 12/09/2014-via CNN

How foreign fighters are swelling ISIS ranks in startling numbers

Jihad recruitment

Just 18 years old, Hamad al-Tamimi says he was a religious studies student in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before jihadists influenced and recruited him online. Now he's in the hands of Iraqi authorities, accused of being an ISIS fighter captured in Iraq's west.

Al-Tamimi is one of numerous foreign fighters believed to have swelled the Sunni extremist group's ranks in recent months. On Thursday, the CIA made a startling announcement: The number of people fighting for ISIS is more than three times the previous estimates. Analysts and U.S. officials initially estimated there were as many as 10,000 fighters, including those who were freed from prisons by ISIS, and Sunni loyalists who have joined the fight as the group advanced across Iraq. But now ISIS, which calls itself the "Islamic State," can "muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday.

"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity and additional intelligence," the spokesman said.

INC News, 12/09/2014

BREAKING NEWS - BREAKING NEWS

Former EastEnders Actor Dies Aged 75

BREAKING NEWS - BREAKING NEWS

The former Democratic Unionist Party leader Dr Ian Paisley has died, aged 88.

Pakistan, arrestati i talebani che spararono a Malala

Malala

L'esercito pakistano ha annunciato di aver arrestato gli uomini che hanno tentato di uccidere, nel 2012, la 14enne Malala Yousafzai colpevole - secondo i talebani - di fare campagna a favore dell'istruzione delle giovani nella turbolenta valle dello Swat.

I dieci militanti arrestati appartengono ad un gruppo affiliato al Tehrek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP), ha spiegato il direttore generale dell'ufficio stampa dell'esercito (Ispr), generale Asim Saleem Bajwa.

Malala venne colpita da due colpi, alla testa ed al collo, mentre era con due amiche, Kianat e Shazia. Venne trasferita, dopo un'iniziale ricovero a Peshawar, in Gran Bretagna. Da allora è diventata un esempio nella lotta contro l'arretramento culturale imposto alle donne dai talebani nella regione. E' stata anche candidata al Nobel per la Pace.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Telecoms Giants In Talks On Independence Vote - via Skynews

Scottish decision over Telecom

Some of Britain's biggest telecoms groups are posed to deliver a collective warning that an independent Scotland would dramatically inflate their costs, raising the spectre of across-the-board price rises for consumers north of the border.

Sky News has learnt that BT, EE, O2, TalkTalk and Vodafone are in talks about a joint statement that would refer to "the inevitability of cost increases" for operators as a consequence of uncertainties over regulation and the currency that Scotland would use. The letter is understood to be being co-ordinated by the CBI, whose president, Sir Mike Rake, is also chairman of BT Group. A source said that John Cridland, the CBI director-general, was involved in the talks.

Senior telecoms industry sources confirmed the discussions and said that a statement could be issued as soon as Friday afternoon if agreement could be reached on the wording.

INC News, 12/09/2014-via Skynews

Escaped Ohio School Shooter Is Recaptured

escaped shooter

Authorities have caught the convicted killer of three Ohio students hours after he escaped from prison. TJ Lane, 19, was hiding in a church near the prison when he was found early on Friday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

Lane escaped along with two other inmates from a prison in Lima, about 80 miles (130km) south of Toledo, setting off a search by law enforcement officials using a helicopter and infrared-detection equipment.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Girl shot 'in head by father' in village

baby shot

A six-year-old is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after apparently being shot in the head by her father, who then turned the gun on himself.

The body of a man - believed to be the girl's father - has been found in a car close to the scene of the shooting at an address in Spring Hill, in Northiam, near Rye, East Sussex. Police say the death is not being treated as suspicious. The girl has been taken to King's College Hospital where police say she is fighting for her life.

Chief Superintendent Neil Honnor said: "We are treating this as a tragic domestic incident and do not believe that anyone else is involved. "At this stage we are not in a position to confirm the relationships of all those involved but we can say that the girl and the man knew each other. The man does not live at the address.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Most Russians Are Not Interested in Politics, Poll Shows

The politic and the Russians

Russians may give their President Vladimir Putin soaring approval ratings, but more than half of the country's inhabitants take no interest in politics or even dislike it, a recent poll indicates.

About 30 percent of respondents said they were indifferent to Russian politics and did not care about the country's political affairs, while another 23 percent said they did not like politics and did not want to be bothered with it, the independent Levada Center pollster said in a survey released Thursday.

Another 40 percent said they closely followed political news in Russia, but did not participate in political parties or movements, according to the poll. Only 2 percent said they were active in political parties or groups, or actively supported one.

Putin's approval ratings in Russia dipped to 84 percent in late August from 87 percent at the beginning of the month, according to previous Levada Center polls, but the difference falls within the 3.4 percentage point margin of error.

The latest poll was conducted on Aug. 22-25 among 1,600 people in 134 cities and towns around Russia, and also had a margin of error of no more than 3.4 percentage points.

INC News, 12/09/2014

Ukrainian Trucker Turns Soviet Songs Into Anti-Putin Anthems

Truck driver and Anthems

Some of the most scorching, searing sarcasm against Russian President Vladimir Putin has been coming lately from the unlikely stage of a truck driver's seat, and pouring out in a smooth operatic baritone to the tune of popular Soviet songs — but with very different lyrics.

Vadim Dubovsky, a native of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk who has been living in the U.S. for the past decade, drives his truck outside of Chicago and uses his professional music skills and talents to voice just what he thinks about Putin and Moscow's policies in Ukraine. And the thoughts are not kind.

When Russia recently dismissed the arrests of its paratroopers in Ukraine by saying they had "accidentally" wandered into the country, Dubovsky responded with a song titled "You are the Army of a Freak." "You shouldn't wander around where you can get lost, accidentally stumbling into other people's war," he blasts in a powerful baritone to an upbeat tune. "Your relatives can now be proud of you: Not every Russian has done time in another country."

INC News, 12/09/2014

Russian Stocks Rise Despite New Sanctions, Ruble Takes Walloping

Russian rublo

Russian stocks rebounded on Friday as investors concluded that the market had over-reacted to new European Union sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, but the ruble hit a new record low against the dollar.

The EU's new sanctions further restrict access to foreign capital for Russia's largest state-controlled companies, including top energy firms. The United States was expected to follow on Friday with similar measures, targeting Russia's largest bank Sberbank.  

At 2:09 p.m., the dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.37 percent to 1,222 points, while its ruble-based peer MICEX was 0.79 percent higher at 1,460 points.  Both indexes had fallen more than 1 percent in the previous session after the EU sanctions were announced.  

INC News 12/09/2014

Corte Giustizia Ue dà torto a MasterCard, no a commissioni

Commissioni Mastercard
MasterCard non può applicare le commissioni interbancarie multilaterali (Cim) che vengono pagate dalla banca dell'esercente a quella dell'acquirente per i pagamenti con le sue carte di credito. La Corte di Giustizia europea ha respinto il ricorso presentato da MasterCard contro la sentenza del 24 maggio 2012 del Tribunale Ue che confermava la validità della decisione della Commissione che il 19 dicembre 2007 aveva dichiarato le Cim contrarie al diritto della concorrenza. Il costo delle Cim, che non esistono in tutti i paesi europei e che vengono applicati in diversi modi (in alcuni paesi vengono fatte pagare solo per le operazioni transfrontaliere, in altri su tutte le transazioni), viene imputato agli esercenti nell'ambito più generale delle spese a loro fatturate per l'utilizzo delle carte di credito e spesso finisce per essere ricaricato dai commercianti sul prezzo del prodotto.

INC News, 12/09/2014-via ANSA AP

Madre e due figli investiti nel Bresciano

Una donna e i due figli, un maschietto e una femminuccia, sono stati investiti a Pompiano, in provincia di Brescia. La piccola, in particolare, sarebbe in gravissime condizioni. Un furgone avrebbe travolto la famiglia, scaraventando i due bambini contro un muro. Ferito anche un quarto pedone.

INC News, 12/09/2014-via ANSA AP

Latorre torna in Italia. Ok della Corte indiana per 4 mesi

Latorre rientrera' in Italia
La Corte suprema indiana ha accolto l'istanza del team di difesa di Massimiliano Latorre per un rientro in Italia di quattro mesi per un periodo di convalescenza dopo l'ischemia che ha colpito il fuciliere di marina il 31 agosto scorso. I giudici hanno accettato una garanzia scritta di rientro a nome del governo italiano, fornita dall'ambasciatore a Delhi Daniele Mancini, chiedendo però anche una nuova garanzia scritta "non ambigua e non equivoca" a Latorre. Garanzia che - si è appreso - sarà presentata oggi stesso.

INC News, 12/09/2014-via ANSA AP

Why the Oscar Pistorius saga is the 'trial of the century'

Pistorius trial

The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius began on an unusually rainy day in March, drenching the journalists who came from around the world to cover the story of a fallen hero.

The journalist hordes — your GlobalPost correspondent among them — scurried like drowning rats through flooded streets around Pretoria’s High Court, desperate to safeguard a seat at the "trial of the century."

On Friday a judge found Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide, a lesser charge roughly equivalent to manslaughter. Sentencing is still to come. There is no minimum punishment for the crime, which could carry jail time of up to 15 years — or as little as a suspended sentence. It is easy to be cynical about the Pistorius trial. The Twitter echo chamber can be irritating indeed — a courtroom full of journalists sharing their every trivial observation. Some of my esteemed colleagues have smugly — and to a large degree, correctly — remarked on how little attention is paid to other worthy stories while news outlets have spent lavishly to send their journalists to this courthouse.

INC News, 12/09/2014

BREAKING NEWS - BREAKING NEWS - BREAKING NEWS

Oscar Pistorius Guilty Of Culpable Homicide

Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of culpable homicide for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The judge Thokozile Masipa found his actions were "negligent" on the night he killed the model at his Pretoria home.

The Paralympian and Olympian, dubbed Blade Runner due to his prosthetic limbs, has always admitted he shot model Ms Steenkamp at his Pretoria home and said he mistook her for an intruder.

In court, judge Masipa accused him of being a poor witness, muddled over his defence and a liar.

Pistorius colpevole di omicidio colposo

Oscar Pistorius è stato condannato per omicidio colposo. La sentenza nei confronti dell'atleta paralimpico, che il 14 febbraio 2013 ha ucciso la sua fidanzata Reeva Steenkamp sparandole attraverso la porta del bagno è stata pronunciata oggi dalla giudice Thokozile Masipa, che ieri ha escluso l'omicidio volontario