28 November 2014

Where in the world? Ferguson, USA

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The city of Ferguson erupted this week after the grand jury's decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown.

Announcement


President Obama called for protests to be peaceful ahead of the grand jury announcement however things would soon turn sour with Attorney General Eric Holder being asked to intervene once again.

During the trial Officer Darren Wilson claimed that he followed his training and that Micheal had attacked him resulting in him firing at Micheal. In his first interview since the trial Darren Wilson claims he wouldn't do anything different and his attorneys say he has accepted that his career in law enforcement is over.

After the verdict was handed down Michael Browns mother broke down crying, she would later speak out saying she felt as if she had been shot.

Response


Protests sprung up across the states after the judgement was handed down with thousands flooding the streets of Los Angeles and New York, there were even protests as far a field as London consisting of several thousand. As protests grew more violent a police car was set on fire and another was flipped over outside of Ferguson City Hall. During protests a driver was caught on camera driving into a group of protestors dragging a women in front of the car.

With a second night of protests planned an anti-government militia travelled to Ferguson and said they would be willing to use lethal force to protect the city's business. The National Guard was called out by Missouri Governor to guard against fresh riots with over 400 people being arrested.

While outrage turned to violence in Ferguson many celebrities took to social media with Rihanna to Lena Dunham giving their condolences. Towards the end of the week as protests began to dwindle an uneasy calm fell on Ferguson with no one knowing what will trigger the next outburst.

21 November 2014

Who's in the news? Bill Cosby

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One of TV's most beloved father figures has made the news recently after allegations of rape from decade's ago resurfaced with multiple alleged victims stepping forward.

Accusers


Allegations began when Hannibal Buress lambasted Bill at a stand-up show in Philadelphia. Since then women have come forward on mass, one being former actress Joan Tarshis claiming Bill raped her in 1969 going on to call him a "serial rapist".

Supermodel Janice Dickinson spoke up claiming Bill sexually assaulted her in 1982 but Bill's lawyer stepped in slamming Janice's claims. Former co-stars came into the picture denying allegations of assault with Raven Symone stating "I was NOT taking advantage of by Mr. Cosby when I was on the Cosby Show!"

However it didn't end there with more allegations coming late in the week from a Florida women Therese Serignese who claimed Bill raped her in 1976 and later another claim from The Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno's wife Carla who claimed Bill raped her in 1967.

Response


With allegations running rampant Bill's endeavors have been taking a knock. As part of a promotion for his new show Bill took to the web with an meme generator which backfired with most meme's created referencing the rape allegations. And as news spread it was revealed that many of Bill's past and future shows have been removed from Netflix, TV Land and NBC.

While many women have stepped forward with allegations some media outlets have referenced past interviews with Bill where he addressed the issue including a separate interview back from 2005. Most shocking was a past comedy routine where Bill joked about drugging women's drinks. While things may be crumbling around him, Bill has decided to carry on with 3 comedy gigs already lined up.

14 November 2014

Technology Far and Near

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This week technology allowed man to travel to the outskirts of our world while closer to home it was fighting for it's freedom.

Far


The ESA made history when the Rosetta spacecraft managed to successfully land it's robot craft, Philae, on the surface of Comet 67P. There was a slight hiccup when the anchoring harpoons didn't fire causing the probe to bounce and re-land technically making it both the first and second successful landing. A little further out in space scientists believe they may have figured out how Jupiter's infamous red spot got it's colour.

On the human front of space exploration, investigations into the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has revealed that the surviving pilot didn't realize his copilot unlocked the space plane's re-entry system early. 3 space station crew, one from Russia one from the United States and one from Germany, returned home after 5 and a half months on board the International Space Station landing their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan.

And finally when it comes to orbiting our place in the universe Elon Musk confirmed plans for his company SpaceX to launch satellites in 2-3 months to provide internet access but this was over shadowed when the Chinese revealed plans to create a satellite facility in Antarctica raising concerns of the militarisation of continent.

Near


Closer to home the worlds two largest polluters, the US and China, made progress by agreeing on cutting green house gas emissions and also agreeing to drop tariffs on a wide range of technology products.

But soon it was back to the usual debates with President Obama stepping in to give his support to Net Neutrality but while your access might be free for the time being it's also been revealed that US authorities have been snagging large amounts of data via mobile phones using fake cell towers on planes. But it's not only the American Government as we discovered when Germany's foreign intelligence agency reported that it wants to spend $375 million to spy in real time on social networks outside of Germany.

And lastly the FBI was busy after it managed to uncover and arrest the creator of under world website Silk Road 2.0 causing the TOR project member to figure out where they went wrong but while the FBI may have had success on one front they lost out when a judge said the public had the right to know about the FBI's facial recognition database.

7 November 2014

Unsportsmanlike Behaviour

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While sports show the perseverance of the human spirit it also shows the darker side of human nature which was on full display this past week.

On the Field


Smaller cash-strapped F1 team's threatened to boycott the US grand prix this past weekend due to the division of royalties and with attention on Formula 1 finances Bernie Ecclestone admitted F1 had problems but wasn't sure what to do about it eliciting calls to start by cutting costs.

In the world of soccer an Israeli match was cancelled after a player was assaulted by a fan of the opposing team and after spitting on an Argentine forward it was reported that FA would take no action against Belgian's Fellaini.

From physical retaliation to fowl play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie was caught intentionally knocking over his net to prevent a two-on-none rush. Meanwhile the NBA has fined Tony Allen $15,000 for intentionally striking a camera on the baseline.


Off the Field


Surprisingly there are quit a few court cases involving sports men and women starting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testify for 2 hours in Ray Rice case. The goalkeeper for the United States women soccer team, Hope Solo, has been charged with two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault. In another case, this time involving child abuse, Adrian Peterson avoided jail by striking a plea deal with prosecutors and with his doping ban behind him Alex Rodriquez may find himself back in court but this time regarding his cousin. Former AFL player Stephen Milne had rape charges dropped instead pleading guilty to indecent assault.

Off the court and outside of court other players lives were just as complicated with two OHL players suspended for using vulgar and abusive language in conversation with women on Tinder. An interview with Mike Tyson was cut short after he called the shows host "full of shit", not the first time he's had an altercation on air, and finally a porn star has publicly shamed Flyers defenceman Del Zotto after he tried to use her as a dating service to hook up with her friend.