Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Turkey released a map showing where Russia violated its airspace, and Russia countered

radar map turkey russia
Turkey and Russia have released competing maps showing where a Russian warplane violated — or steered clear of, depending on the point of view — Turkish airspace before it was shot down early Tuesday.
Shortly after the jet was downed, the Turkish military published a radar map demonstrating the reported flight path of the jet it shot down, which Ankara is using as proof that the pilots violated the country's airspace:
The blue line is the Turkish border, and the red arrow is pointing to the spot at which the warplane reportedly entered Turkish airspace.

Chicago protesters march as police release video of officer shooting teen

chicago dashcam video released flores live ac_00021201.jpg
Protesters took to the streets of Chicago late Tuesday after police released a graphic dash-cam video showing an officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
McDonald was killed in October 2014. The city's mayor has called for peace.
"I believe this is a moment that can build bridges of understanding rather than become a barrier of misunderstanding. I understand that the people will be upset and will want to protest when they see this video," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. "We as a city must rise to this moment."

School 'in lockdown' after reports of gunshots fired at car outside primary



Investigation: Police are looking into reports of a discharged firearm this morning

A school is 'in lockdown' after reports gunshots were fired at a car outside this morning.
Police were called to an incident outside Anfield Road School in Anfield Road, Liverpool.
Residents are being told by officers to stay in their homes, and the road, which runs parallel to Anfield Road School, has been cordoned off and access is currently restricted.
A spokesperson from Anfield Road School told the Liverpool Echo they were unable to confirm whether an incident had taken place.
But police have issued a statement confirming an investigation is underway after reports from the public a car had been shot at.The spokesman said: “Merseyside Police is investigating reports of a firearms discharge in Anfield this morning.
"Patrols were called to Anfield Road at about 9am after several members of the public reported a shot was fired towards a car.
"Officers are in attendance and detectives are carrying out house to house and CCTVenquiries in the area.
"Patrols have been stepped up to reassure the community."

Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area this morning is urged to call the gun crime hotline on 0800 230 0600 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
More details on this breaking story as we get them.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Turkey shoots down Russian warplane on Syrian border


Turkey has shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, a senior Turkish official has said. According to Al Jazeerah, the plane was shut down on Syrian territory in Latakia's Yamadi village.

The plane was downed by the Turkish military according to the rules of engagement because it violated Turkish airspace, the Turkish official said.

Monday, November 23, 2015

North Korea believed to earn a fortune from forced labor overseas, U.N. says

North Korea defends human rights record
North Korea's catalog of abuses against its own people within the secretive country's tightly controlled borders has been widely reported. But Kim Jong Un's regime is also believed to be pocketing huge sums from tens of thousands of its citizens who are sent abroad to toil in forced labor conditions, the United Nations says.
The laborers are made to work as long as 20 hours a day without enough food and under constant surveillance, according to a new report from Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.

Syria : Kurdish forces dig in just outside ISIS headquarters in Raqqa

When Bahoz heard the blasts, he guessed they must have come from French jets. There were 14 of them, all around the time thatPresident Francois Hollande said France had started bombing Raqqa.
The capital of ISIS's self-declared caliphate is eerily close to Bahoz's position. A fighter with the Kurdish YPG units, he sits on a series of outposts along a lengthy earth trench that is essentially the front line with Raqqa -- about 20 miles away, across flat, hostile ground.
"Three days ago we saw 14 airstrikes suddenly hit just nearby, and then the French said they'd started bombing," he told CNN, when we were given rare access to his position near the town of Ayn al Issa.
"We will do our best to avenge Paris," he vowed.

Drunk Russian sailor crashes 7,000-ton ship into Scotland -- at full speed

The cargo vessel Lysblink Seaways ran aground on the northwest coast of Scotland in February.
What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
Don't put him in charge of a 7,000-ton, 423-foot (129-meter) cargo ship, for starters.
That's how a Russian mariner who drank half a liter of rum before work, according to investigators, managed to crash into the coast of Scotland last winter -- at full speed.
The Lysblink Seaways was on its way from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Skogn in Norway when it slammed into the rocky shoreline near Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula at about 2:30 a.m. on February 18.
When the ship was salvaged, it was so badly damaged that it had to be scrapped.

DONATE