ansible
ansible's JournalAnti-Macron demonstrators set ablaze Paris and shroud in thick smoke iconic Eiffel Tower
Source: express
What has been dubbed the “seventh act” of the yellow vest protesters ended in violence, plunging the French capital into chaos once again. Shocking pictures show the iconic tower shrouded in smoke and vehicles engulfed in flames, with firefighter battling the blaze to put it off. Hundreds of yellow vest demonstrators, who have been named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists must have in their car, marched through the streets of France’s major cities for the seventh time yesterday since the anti-Macron movement started in mid-November.
The turnout was noticeably lower than at previous marches but Paris, Marseille and Rouen became theatres of destruction and clashes between the riot police and citizens. Police used water cannon and tear gas against the crowd and arrested dozens of people. They conducted searches on many of those wearing the now iconic yellow vests.
But yellow vests kept re-grouping after every clash. Several hundred people in Paris marched outside the offices of broadcasters France Televisions and BFM TV shouting “fake news” and accusing journalists of being “collaborators” of the French Government. And across the country, people wearing yellow vests called for the resignation of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The ongoing protests, which started on November 17, are the result of discontent across France over the rising cost of living. They were triggered by a fuel tax hike, set to take place in January 2019. But despite Mr Macron now caving in and cancelling the fuel tax increase, protesters keep gathering to push for a new leader at the Elysee.
Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1065154/french-riots-yellow-vest-protest-eiffel-tower-pictures-emmanuel-macron-news
Russian coal-mining town 'paints snow white to hide evidence of pollution'
Russian authorities reportedly slapped white paint onto snow to hide evidence of pollution in a coal-mining town in Siberia. Footage shared by Russian media shows a woman whose hands become coated in what appears to be paint after she brushes against a bank of snow in Mysky, Kemerovo.
“You can see the stains... it even sticks,” she says, according to The Moscow Times. Local media reported white snow was in short supply around the town due to the number of polluting coal mines in the region. On Wednesday, a town official apologised to residents for the incident.
“I will refrain from assessing the professional qualities of the workers, because it is quite obvious,” Dmitry Ivanov said in a statement. “I gave the command to immediately clean ... the paint and put it in order,” he added.
“I apologise to the townspeople to whom this incident spoiled the New Year mood.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-snow-white-paint-siberia-mysky-coal-mining-pollution-a8692336.html
Why are gas prices still so high in California?
It finally dropped to 2.99 at Valero here in the Central Valley...which isn't really helping much either even though it's already winter. I don't get it, it's less than $2 in other states.
Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message criticised online for featuring gold piano
https://twitter.com/KristianHarstad/status/1077891260894072832There’s been an online backlash to the Queen’s Christmas message this year after viewers took offence at her gold piano. The Queen was filmed sitting at a desk in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace when she delivered her speech, which included personal reflections on her long life and a wish for peace.
But it was the presence of a gold piano in the background that sparked accusations of hypocrisy and that she was out of touch. Daily Mirror associate editor Kevin Maguire said the Queen had killed satire by “lecturing the nation to pull together” while sitting in front of a golden piano in a palace she was charging taxpayers to renovate.
Scottish National Party politician James Dornan also pilloried her message suggesting a singalong on the gold piano might cheer up those hungry and sleeping on the streets. The way the Queen funds her activities, what she personally owns and what is owned by the public, is complex.
Taxpayers fund her activities including a planned renovation of Buckingham Palace (which is not her personal property) through the Sovereign Grant, which is funded from profits generated by the huge commercial property business owned by the reigning monarch but only while she is Queen. In 2017/18, the Crown Estate generated a profit of £329.4 million ($A588 million) and this money was given to the UK Treasury, the BBC reported.
A portion of this money, about £47.4 million ($A84 million), was provided as a grant to the Queen to fund her duties and maintenance of the royal palaces. The gold piano is part of the Royal Collection, an art collection made up of more than one million objects owned by the British royal family. The Queen owns some of the objects as a private individual but others are owned in the right of the Crown.
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/backlash-against-queens-christmas-day-message-because-of-gold-piano/news-story/4918a80c0f0db77076b838fa200a53d5
British police release suspects, say there might never have been a drone at Gatwick Airport
Source: Business Insider
There might not have been a drone at Gatwick Airport in the first place, British police said, after the country's second-largest airport closed for 36 hours last week over reports of drone activity on the runway.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley said on Sunday there was "always a possibility that there may not have been any genuine drone activity in the first place," because police relied on human witnesses to the sighting, The Guardian and The Times of London reported.
Tingley's comments came as police released a local man and woman who had been arrested on suspicion of "criminal drone activity," and offered a £50,000 ($63,300) reward to anyone with significant information about the drone.
Tingley added that police have "no available footage" of drone activity around the airport, which is just outside London. It puts into doubt a video, published last week by MailOnline, of what the news site said was one of the drones hovering over Gatwick during the shutdown.
Read more: https://www..com/gatwick-airport-drone-may-not-have-caused-shutdown-uk-police-2018-12
Mattis is out, and Blackwater is back: 'We are coming'
This month, in the January/February print issue of the gun and hunting magazine “Recoil," the former contractor security firm Blackwater USA published a full-page ad, in all black with a simple message: “We are coming.”
Is the war in Afghanistan — and possibly elsewhere ― about to be privatized?
If Blackwater returns, it would be the return of a private security contractor that was banned from Iraq, but re-branded and never really went away. By 2016 Blackwater had been re-named and restructured several times, and was known at the time as Constellis Group, when it was purchased by the Apollo Holdings Group. Reuters reported earlier this year that Apollo had put Constellis up for sale, but in June the sale was put on hold.
A representative for Constellis told Military Times late Friday that while it had acquired the former Blackwater training center in the 2016 purchase, it has no affiliation with the former security firm. It did not retain Blackwater’s founder and former CEO Erik Prince and has no current connection to him, or the firm’s former management structure.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/12/21/mattis-is-out-and-blackwater-is-back-we-are-coming/#.XBzPZNYOPXw.facebook
Staff at a bank in Ohio called police on a black man trying to cash his paycheck
Source: CNN
An African-American man who couldn't cash his paycheck at a Huntington bank in Brooklyn, Ohio, says the staff was "judging" him. Paul McCowns, 30, told CNN affiliate WOIO he recently got a new job and was trying to cash his first paycheck earlier this month, but the tellers wouldn't cash the check, which was just over $1,000.
As he was leaving the bank emptyhanded, McCowns was met by Brooklyn Police, handcuffed and placed in the back of a cruiser. When McCowns asked what was happening, the officer said the bank's teller had called 911.
"I have a customer here -- he's not our customer, actually. He's trying to cash a check and the check is fraudulent. It does not match our records," a bank employee says on a recording of the 911 call obtained by CNN. McCowns doesn't bank with Huntington and its staff was not able to reach his employer at first, but he followed bank protocol and provided the tellers with two forms of identification and a fingerprint. The bank still declined to cash his check.
"It was highly embarrassing, highly embarrassing," McCowns told WOIO. "The person who made that phone call — that manager, that teller — whoever made that phone call, I feel as though they were judging." The Brooklyn Police Department said in a statement that McCowns was released once officers reached his employer and "confirmed with the account holder the check was valid."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/us/cleveland-man-alleges-racial-profiling-at-huntington-bank-trnd/index.html
Florida deputy kills wife, daughter, granddaughter, self
Source: Ledger Inquirer
A Florida sheriff's deputy fatally shot his wife, granddaughter and daughter before he radioed dispatchers to say he'd hurt his family early Wednesday, then killed himself in front of fellow deputies near a high school, authorities said. The events unfolded before students had arrived for school in Plant City, a rural community east of Tampa.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister identified the deputy as 58-year-old Terry Strawn, who in 2009 was named "Officer of the Year."
"There was no indication, no behavior issues," Chronister said. "Nothing that would lead any employee to believe this employee was struggling."Strawn went on the department's main radio channel just before 7 a.m. Wednesday to say he had harmed his family. The deputy mentioned financial and health problems and said he was going to kill himself near the local high school, the sheriff said.
"Throughout the entire dialogue on the radio, the dispatchers did a wonderful job of trying to convince him that suicide is not the answer," Chronister said. The sheriff said three other deputies quickly located Strawn and they made "every attempt possible to try to convince this deputy sheriff that there was a different way, that there was a different solution. Unfortunately, the deputy took his own life on scene in front of the other deputies," Chronister said.
Read more: https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/nation-world/article223309650.html
Islamist terrorists suspected in murder of Scandinavian tourists in Morocco
Source: Telegraph
Two Scandinavian tourists killed in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains were the victims of a terrorist attack, prosecutors believe. One man has been arrested following the discovery on Monday of the bodies of 24-year-old Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway.
One of the women had been beheaded, a source told AFP. A suspect in the murder was arrested in Marrakech on Tuesday, and was known to have ties to radical Islamist terror networks. Police are hunting for three other suspects. Boubker Sabik, a police spokesman, said terrorism was suspected and that the three suspects on the run had been "identified and a search for them is under way by all the security services".
One of the three had "a court record linked to terrorist acts", he said, while the prosecutor general's office said the man in custody also belonged to an extremist group.
"Radical Islam is not ruled out, due to the profile of the suspect arrested and of the three men wanted," a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/19/islamist-terrorists-suspected-murder-scandinavian-tourists-morocco/
Toledo Father Dies Making Christmas Presents For Kids
A Toledo father lost his life while he was making Christmas presents for his kids. The coroner says 38-year old Kristoffer Staler was trying to use a homemade wood burner when it electrocuted him. Staler was pronounced dead at his East Toledo home.
Neighbors say his two daughters, age 11 and 14, came home from school and found their father in the garage. Neighbor and friend Tommy Austin says "The door opened and all I could hear is them two little girls screaming."
Staler's mother Mary filed for emergency custody of her 3 grandchildren, the two girls and and 18-year old son. "He was making a display to display his son's karate belts. When he graduates in May he's hoping to have his black-belt and Kris was making a display case," says Staler.
The family and friends have set up a go fund me account to raise money to help support the children and pay for funeral expenses. The children's mother passed away three years ago.
http://media.graytvinc.com/images/690*552/548647_444902178896410_1398398535_n.jpg
https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Toledo-Father-Dies-Making-Christmas-Presents-For-Kids-502811461.html
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