Page: ...
_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Hi there everyone,

After a couple of requests, some consideration and my own rather curvaceous tangent on the thread for the Russian families of the school massacre… I decided to start a thread dedicated to interesting issues in the daily news (or even the daily news itself, anything news-related really… you get the idea).

I’ve done a search and while there’s hundreds of threads for individual news stories, I couldn’t find one for an ongoing discussion of what’s happening in the world around us.

I know lots of people don’t follow the news, but many do, and my opinion is that discussion on current events gives people a better understanding of nations, races and ‘humanity’, for want of a better word.

HoP is in the enviable position of having a really global audience – there can’t be many websites with regular posting members from right across the world, covering such a wide spectrum of cultures, ideas and beliefs. We have the ability to look at events from many different viewpoints, so I thought we should use it.

Anyways, I was thinking we could post, or draw attention to, some of the main stories that affect us on a daily basis…

Btw, I really don’t want this to become an America-bashing thread (or any other type of bashing). I think most of us share the view that the American government are fairly appalling at the minute, and while criticism will definitely happen, I don’t want any Americans on the site to feel victimised or that pro-Bush types feel their views aren’t valid. Try to keep all the views considered and, if possible, sourced.

So anyways, let me know what you think…

A couple of interesting stories I picked up on today were:

Indonesia has become the latest nation to join the war on terrorism following the car bomb at the Australian embassy which killed 9 people and injured 180… I heard an Indonesian government official (I think it was the spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry) say they are 'now ready to join the war on terror', after it was alleged the ‘militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah’ were responsible. (sorry, am about to leave work and couldn't find a source... will try to get it tomorrow).

Also, US secretary of state Colin Powell has declared the situation in Sudan a genocide:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3641820.stm

It seems the countries are busy arguing over the term ‘genocide’ as opposed to actually getting out there with aid and peacekeeping forces.

Anyways, I’d be interested to hear anyone’s opinions on these stories… as well as anything else you’d like to bring up…

Thanks
take care
Clare xox

Getting to the other side smile


SpiderbabySILVER Member
c",
199 posts
Location: Ireland


Posted:
Written by: FurryPurple




And don't be surprised if things haven't been posted here yet... just post it yourselves smile






Its just im usually the last to find out about these sort of things wink


It was just mindless thugs rioting, they were attacking shops so it shows they were just looking for an excuse to cause trouble. the unionist march was just the excuse

my friend siad Schuh was distroyed and so was mc donalds . . . strangely enough a burger king beside the distroyed mc donalds wasnt touched at all.

_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
ubblol

Indeed... Burger King - 9 out of 10 thugs prefer it.

See you in Dublin spiderbaby
hug

Getting to the other side smile


SpiderbabySILVER Member
c",
199 posts
Location: Ireland


Posted:
FurryPurple, i know this isnt really the thread for it but do you think any of the irish spinners are going to oxegen?
Im in naas so im within walking distance of oxegen biggrin

_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
spank

Nope it's not the place smile

Not sure how many will be going... most will be saving for the EJC, Electric Picnic and million other much better things happening during the summer...

Now... post some interesting news story instead biggrin

See you soon x

Getting to the other side smile


ado-pGOLD Member
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland


Posted:
i went two years ago and swore never to go again.

it was an eco disaster and nearly made me cry.

and yes

i know...

offtopic

smile

Love is the law.


BirgitBRONZE Member
had her carpal tunnel surgery already thanks v much
4,145 posts
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)


Posted:
On call centre workers in India...

"Indian by Day, American by Night"

(Just for those of you who haven't realised it, in order to get the 8-6 call centre services that most people can't really use cause they're working then, call centres half way across the globe have to work at really bad hours...)

Written by:

we meet Naomi (formerly Namrata), who has wavy blonde locks and an English rose complexion. Though she looks like she has bleached her skin and hair, she won't discuss it. Naomi is in the final stage of the process of Westernization that Ahluwalia has documented with his film. "I'm very Americanized," she says in a strange accent that seems vaguely Texan. Namrata, it seems, is an identity lost to the forces of globalization in the new India, with its skyscrapers, call centers and consumerism.





https://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,403861,00.html

"vices are like genitals - most are ugly to behold, and yet we find that our own are dear to us."
(G.W. Dahlquist)

Owner of Dragosani's left half


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Any one know about thorium

Claimed to be three times more abundant than uranium, SAFE, and the e fuel source for a truly clean and green nuclear industry.

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Thanks for the posts hug

Lots of bad things have happened in Northern Ireland... but it's always a bit shocking to see how low people will stoop...
Graves desecrated

Also,
The future of the web...

Getting to the other side smile


mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Thats awful about the graves.
It really angers me that people can have that little respect for those that live or rest around them. frown

I also don't think they realise the love/energy and money that goes into maintaining a grave,and the effect it will have on people.

We had a similar outbreak of vandalism in one of the cemetaries over here,and my mums first husbands gravestone was split in 2...not nice at all.

Thoughts and prayers going out to the families and friends of those whose graves have been tampered with.

grouphug

StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Hi FurryPurple, I was wondering how the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, is being received in Ireland?



Chocolate may boost brain power



biggrin

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


DominoSILVER Member
UnNatural Scientist - Currently working on a Breville-legged monkey
757 posts
Location: Bath Uni or Shrewsbury, UK


Posted:
HIV infections apparently stablised

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5021074.stm

Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can beat the world into submission.


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Hey Stone... I didn't even know he was here til you posted that - thanks!

I was in Paris all weekend, but I haven't heard anything at all...

shrug

Getting to the other side smile


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Yeah! Australia is right up there wink

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Yeep... I know...

If it had been Bush or Blair there would probably have been more said... maybe even the odd protest...

shrug
le sigh

Getting to the other side smile


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Sorry, I stand corrected...

As Indymedia Ireland points out... there was a protest rolleyes

Stop Torturing Sheep

Getting to the other side smile


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Thanks Furry Purple. That’s interesting, I had no idea Mr Howard had been targeted around the globe by PETA. .

Apparently, in Washington last September one man and four women stripped down to g-strings and painted Australian flags on their bodies as part of a PETA sheep protest.

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Particularly for Mags...

Aung San Suu Kyi taken to hospital

Getting to the other side smile


StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Very Good News

Beer may help against cancer


Even better, Very Good News after 17 pints

Could Irish coffee be the perfect drink?



biggrin

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
hehehe
stupid tea drinkers, thinking they were better than us
Irish coffee here I come

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Took ages to find this thread rolleyes

biggrin

Ok, I wanted to post about this, but it doesn't really deserve a thread of it's own...

Today in Northern Ireland we had our local politicians finally coming to goverment (after many years of poncing about, not doing any work - without even the excuse of art or poi).

It was a shambles... finished off quite appropriately by an ageing terrorist attempting to storm the place with a handgun, knife and bomb-in-a-bag.

(History: Michael Stone was the thug who shot mourners at an IRA funeral in the late 80s. Since then he's been released from prison because of the Good Friday Agreement, written a book, become a painter (not so much artist), and supposedly changed his ways...)

The is the usual level of drama and farce the people of Northern Ireland put up with.

Moving forwards?



Meanwhile... in a story that has reporters panting like dogs for the sheer good timing of it all (just when the new Bond is released)... A former Russian spy has died after apparently being exposed to radiation in a London restaurant.

Cue the cliched headlines...



Meh... anything interesting happening in your part of the world?

ubbrollsmile

Getting to the other side smile


BansheeCatBRONZE Member
veteran
1,247 posts
Location: lost, Canada


Posted:
We caught a Russian spy in Montreal, but no one has poisoned him yet...( so far as I know) wink

"God *was* my co-pilot, but then we crashed, and I had to eat him..."


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Hmmm... Keep an eye on him... y'never know...

Getting to the other side smile


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
just normal wisconsin stuff
https://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/10390893/detail.html?rss=mil&psp=news
the actual story was sad but that they were going to breed it with horses and donkeys is interesting as well
https://www.channel3000.com/news/10384292/detail.html?rss=c3k&psp=news
this is just odd, and the next
https://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/10387626/detail.html?rss=mil&psp=news

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Wow... that first one is the shortest story ever... with absolutely no details ubblol

Thanks for that... smile

Getting to the other side smile


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=535346

we have this stupid code of silence so even if you do know who shot one of these people, you don't say anything. it is either pride, because you're "down" with the people who did it, or because you don't want to end up on a list like this...
i think we are up to eighty some murders thus far

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


_Clare_BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)


Posted:
Oh my god... that's shocking.

There's something similar here in Northern Ireland... you don't tout on a mate, or whatever paramilitary group you're involved with...

That's why they brought in the confidential telephone - so people could tell the police without identification...

Getting to the other side smile


DurbsBRONZE Member
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England


Posted:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=00010452-DAEA-1541-A89C83027AF1010E

This case came into the headlines when we were in NZ - the whole thing was pretty off, not only the murder but the lack of communication and closing of ranks etc etc.

4 months on and they've only just arrested someone...
Sad stuff

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude


DurbsBRONZE Member
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England


Posted:
Oh hang on, that's a month old...
D'oh

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
This happened while i was at work...you couldn't feel the explosion here

I knew a few people over there from my last job, not closely but acquaintances







Witness says explosion sounded like 'incoming mortar round'
By MARK JOHNSON and GINA BARTON
markjohnson@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 6, 2006
The blast from Falk Corp. ripped through the 8 a.m. morning bustle, shaking workers and commuters.


Dave Mays, 61, a machinist, was working in the Annex when he and his co-workers smelled gas. They called their supervisor who said workers had shut off the gas and it was OK.

"I left," Mays said, "but some of them stayed."

His back was turned when the explosion erupted behind him, knocking him to the ground.

"It sounded like I was over in Vietnam - an incoming mortar round," said Mays who served in the Army in Vietnam.

Kevin Carter, 42, was running a machine when all the lights went out and the explosion rocked his ears.

"I thought an airplane hit the building," he said. "Everyone ran outside but debris from the building (that had exploded) was flying down."

Outside, said Mike Eddy, 38, "there were cars flipped over and people lying on the ground ... it was bad, really bad."

Nothing remains of the building but the steel frame, Eddy said. "It's just gone, it's just gone. I don't know what to say"

The morning commute was in full swing and Jack Copet had just merged from Miller Parkway onto I-94 East when he heard a deep KA-THUNK, so loud that he thought something large had tipped over inside his trunk.

Instantly he remembered that the trunk of his 2000 Saturn was empty and he thought maybe he'd been rear-ended. Then the 31-year-old quality control analyst looked to his right and just ahead of him off the highway he saw a huge, dark black plume of smoke.

"It was almost like when the Twin Towers came down," he said. "I could see timber floating, flying off like in the movies. I thought, man, that was some power. It was scary. Everyone in my lane slammed on their brakes. The plume of smoke was black, but just for an instant you could see something red like flames."

Katie Porter was driving to work, following her normal route from Wauwatosa down Highway 41 and through the Menomonee Valley on Canal Street to the Third Ward, when her Saturn Ion was shoved off the side of the road.

"There was a truck or a van next to me and I thought it had slammed into me," Porter said. "But I looked and it had stopped behind me."

Then she noticed the smoke and falling debris and focused on the distant factory.

"I saw the building explode outward and then just fall in," she said. "The walls were pushed outward and the whole thing collapsed and there was black smoke."

Porter assumed it was part of a planned demolition of the building, and wondered why they had not stopped traffic on the road. "I know there are foundries back there," she said. But I wasn't sure they were in use."

On 27th Street near the Domes, Nanette Fox heard the explosion and saw pedestrians jump. Car alarms went off up and down the street.

As Fox drove across the bridge, chunks of debris thudded onto her car and the thick smoke made it difficult to see the road ahead of her.

About the same time, Jill Huffer was driving north across the 27th Street Viaduct, taking her two kids - Calvin, 9, and Casey, 5, to Hawley Environmental School. It was not their normal route, but Calvin had a 7 a.m. appointment at the orthodontist.

"I heard this big boom and it felt like I blew a tire," Huffer said. "I saw smoke. I saw debris flying way into the sky and then I saw a flash and then fire blast down on the ground."

She kept driving, not knowing if there were other cars behind her. She found herself crying as she drove.

Calvin asked what was wrong.

"I just kept thinking there were people in there," Huffer said.







At least 2 dead in Falk explosion, officials say
Propane believed to be cause of blast
Journal Sentinel staff

Posted: Dec. 6, 2006
Updated 10:55 a.m. | Continuous updates in NewsWatch

At least 2 workers were killed in an explosion this morning at the Falk Corp. plant in the Menomonee Valley, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office has reported.

The fire department has asked the Medical Examiner's office to standby while they continue to work to secure the blast site.

At least one other worker is reported missing.

The blast just after 8 a.m., believed to be caused by a propane-fueled explosion, destroyed a building in the company's complex, injured numerous workers and rumbled through much of the city.


The frightened relatives of Falk workers rushed to Miller Park, where blast survivors assembled following the explosion that rattled much of the city and some of the suburbs.


"I'm going home and I hope that's the case for the rest of my co-workers," said Glenn Cahala, who works in a main office separate from the building destroyed in the explosion.

"I can't think of what this means for some families, this time of year," he said. "I can't tell you how sad this is."

Dozens of workers, many of them with cuts and bruises caused by flying glass and debris, arrived at area hospitals throughout the morning.

A dozen injured workers were taken to Froedtert Hospital about 9 a.m., another four workers with minor injuries arrived at St. Mary's Hospital on the east side. Others were being taken to Sinai Samaritan Medical center downtown and St. Luke's Medical Center, at 2900 W. Oklahoma Ave.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz urged residents and relatives of Falk workers to stay away from the area. There are numerous underground propane tanks on the property and fire officials fear additional explosions, she said.

Fire, police and emergency medical crews gathered in the parking lots of Miller Park to coordinate efforts to rescue victims and fight the fire that followed the blast. Smoke billowed from the floor of the Valley just south of I-94, obscuring the sky and causing traffic to slow to a crawl.

"All I can see is the a smokestack that says 'Falk,' " said the fire department's Jenkins.

Initial reports suggest a 10,000-gallon propane tank exploded in a warehouse that was destroyed in the blast.

Residents heard and felt the explosion in the downtown condominiums, houses in Bay View and offices on the far southwest side - even as far away as New Berlin.

Industrial workers in and around the Menomonee Valley described a war-like scene as the explosion knocked out windows and kicked up blinding clouds of dust.

"It felt like an earthquake," said Jeff Iding, a laborer at the family-owned M.P. Iding Company.

Jack Copet saw the aftereffects of the blast from the rear window of his Saturn, as he drove eastbound on I-94.

"It was almost like when the Twin Towers came down," said Copet, a 31-year-old quality control analyst from West Allis.

"I could see timber floating, flying off like in the movies," he said. "I thought, man, that was some power. It was scary. Everyone in my lane slammed on their brakes."

We Energies responded to the Falk scene this morning as well, after receiving reports of the explosion and an odor of gas or a natural gas leak, said utility spokesman Barry McNulty.

No natural gas leak was found when utility crews arrived, he added. Firefighters had cut off natural gas service to Falk, to help them maintain safety.

The explosion disrupted a distribution feeder that provides electricity service to 14 customers, including Falk, in the area. Power was restored to about nine customers, while five others including Falk had power withheld at the request of firefighters, McNulty said.

Falk and its manufacturing and warehouse complex along Canal St. is owned by the Rexnord Corp., which purchased the old Falk Corp. in May 2005. Roughly 700 workers are employed at the Falk complex, which continues to manufacture gears and industrial equipment.

Falk is one of Milwaukee's oldest manufacturing businesses, having opened its doors as a brewery in 1856. After finding success in foundry work, it transformed itself into a gear company in 1899.

The business went through many hands over the years, most recently being sold to the Rexnord Corp. for $295 million in May 2005. Included in the deal was the valley complex, which is 1.5 million square feet, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The federal government has fined Falk twice for safety violations in the last five years, records from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicate.

In March, 2004, the agency assessed a $1,875 penalty against the company for air contamination involving silica crystalline quartz dust. The case was settled with a $950 payment, records indicate.

In December 2003, OSHA assessed a $4,500 penalty for a violation involving powered industrial trucks. That case was settled with a $2,700 payment.

The industrial-truck violation was classified as serious - meaning that the problem could have caused death or serious injury and that the company knew of it or should have known. The potential for injury from the air-contamination problem was not serious.

The corporation's long history in Milwaukee has included a fire that destroyed the business in 1889 and an explosion that killed one worker and injured 11 others in 1964.

In 1992, federal investigators cleared the company of wrongdoing in the 1991 death of Hugo Schulz, an employee from Brookfield, who was killed when a 1,000-pound clutch fell on him. OSHA found that Falk hadn't violated safety standards in the fatal accident, but the agency proposed a fine against the company for an unrelated violation that turned up in the investigation of Schulz's death.

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
hookers and those dressing like hookers beware
https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061213/ap_on_re_eu/britain_prostitutes_murdered

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


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