Today in the News:
– A TSA agent at JFK sprays his fellow colleagues with pepper spray by accident
– Putin’s fight against democracy continues
– and Pope Francis decides not to love in luxury fitting for a king
So we all have experienced the annoyingly long security lines at JFK airport, and yet we all know it’s for the greater good, our own safety and so we willingly wait, then take off half of our clothing, so that we can feel safe once on board. We all put our trust in the TSA to be as professional as they can be, but lo and behold a bumbling TSA agent “playing around” with a pepper-spray container at Kennedy Airport fired the burning liquid at five fellow screeners yesterday, sending all six to the hospital. So apparently, the agent, Chris Yves Dabel, discovered the device at the Terminal 2 security checkpoint and tried to determine if it was real. He told cops that he “found the canister on the floor and thought it was a laser pointer.” Wow right?! So basically instead of looking out for our security these morons decided to play around with a real taser – unknowingly! which is kinda the scary part! and then send themselves to the hospital! While we airport customers are standing around in line and putting ourselves in the hands of the TSA. This incident stopped security checks at Kennedy for at least 15 minutes according to the police, but I am sure it was way more than that… so next time you are in line for a very long time it might just be that TSA agents are too busy messing around instead of looking out for your security.
Senior EU officials have voiced concern as checks by Russian tax inspectors on foreign-funded non-governmental organisations keep growing. This week searches took place at the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch and Transparency International. Two German political NGOs, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in St Petersburg and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Moscow were searched earlier, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s computers were seized. A Russian law passed in July obliges foreign-funded NGOs involved in political activity to register as “foreign agents”. Failure to comply is punishable by heavy fines and even a two-year prison sentence. In Russia the term foreign agent has a bit of a negative connotation attached to it. The Kremlin says the controversial law is needed to protect Russia from outside attempts to influence internal politics, aka promote democracy, but critics argue it is a mechanism to crush dissent after the mass protests against the ruling United Russia party early last year. When Putin says war he means it, and German Chancellor Angela merkel is not a happy bunny right now.
Pope Francis has decided to shun a grand papal apartment on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, in favour of a modest two-room residence. His spokesman said he was “trying out this type of simple living” in a communal building with other priests. In doing so he has broken a tradition which is more than a century old. The decision reinforces the newly-elected Pope’s austere reputation. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he refused to move into the Bishop’s Palace. Preferring more modest accommodation, he also often cooked his own meals. It’s always nice to see some modesty within the church, as opposed to the oppulence we frequently see.
Today in the News:
– A TSA agent at JFK sprays his fellow colleagues with pepper spray by accident
– Putin’s fight against democracy continues
– and Pope Francis decides not to love in luxury fitting for a king
So we all have experienced the annoyingly long security lines at JFK airport, and yet we all know it’s for the greater good, our own safety and so we willingly wait, then take off half of our clothing, so that we can feel safe once on board. We all put our trust in the TSA to be as professional as they can be, but lo and behold a bumbling TSA agent “playing around” with a pepper-spray container at Kennedy Airport fired the burning liquid at five fellow screeners yesterday, sending all six to the hospital. So apparently, the agent, Chris Yves Dabel, discovered the device at the Terminal 2 security checkpoint and tried to determine if it was real. He told cops that he “found the canister on the floor and thought it was a laser pointer.” Wow right?! So basically instead of looking out for our security these morons decided to play around with a real taser – unknowingly! which is kinda the scary part! and then send themselves to the hospital! While we airport customers are standing around in line and putting ourselves in the hands of the TSA. This incident stopped security checks at Kennedy for at least 15 minutes according to the police, but I am sure it was way more than that… so next time you are in line for a very long time it might just be that TSA agents are too busy messing around instead of looking out for your security.
Senior EU officials have voiced concern as checks by Russian tax inspectors on foreign-funded non-governmental organisations keep growing. This week searches took place at the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch and Transparency International. Two German political NGOs, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in St Petersburg and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Moscow were searched earlier, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s computers were seized. A Russian law passed in July obliges foreign-funded NGOs involved in political activity to register as “foreign agents”. Failure to comply is punishable by heavy fines and even a two-year prison sentence. In Russia the term foreign agent has a bit of a negative connotation attached to it. The Kremlin says the controversial law is needed to protect Russia from outside attempts to influence internal politics, aka promote democracy, but critics argue it is a mechanism to crush dissent after the mass protests against the ruling United Russia party early last year. When Putin says war he means it, and German Chancellor Angela merkel is not a happy bunny right now.
Pope Francis has decided to shun a grand papal apartment on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, in favour of a modest two-room residence. His spokesman said he was “trying out this type of simple living” in a communal building with other priests. In doing so he has broken a tradition which is more than a century old. The decision reinforces the newly-elected Pope’s austere reputation. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he refused to move into the Bishop’s Palace. Preferring more modest accommodation, he also often cooked his own meals. It’s always nice to see some modesty within the church, as opposed to the oppulence we frequently see.