Chicago to Pay $5 million to Victims of Police Abuse

A group of black men from Chicago have been waiting for decades to get an apology for the police. Since the 1970's and 80's this group of men have complained about police violence in Chicago's South Side. They said that the police suffocated them with plastic bags, beat them with plastic bags and shocked them with cattle rods, known as torture tactics to extract confessions of crimes. This past Wednesday after many years of investigation the City of Chicago has finally expressed a sort of remorse. City Counsel members voted to give the group of men $5.5 million, a memorial, psychological counseling, job training and an assurance that their story would be taught throughout Chicago schools. The group of officers guilty of this crime are know as the "Midnight Crew" and were overseen by a notorious police commander, Jon Burge.

 

Mitch Smith and Monica Davey."Chicago to Pay $5 million to Victims of Police Abuse". New York Times. Web. 7 May 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/us/chicago-to-pay-5-million-to-victims-of-police-abuse.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Grand jury decides not to indict officers in Dallas shooting

A grand jury in Dallas, Texas has chosen not to indict police officers, John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins in the fatal shooting of Jason Harrison. Harrison was a schizophrenic man whose mother had called the police for help getting him to the hospital. When the police arrived, Jason's mother came out of the door and Jason was right behind her twiddling a screwdriver in his fingers. The officers asked him to drop it and when he didn't they shot him five times, making him ultimately bleed to death. Since the jury  chose not to indict them they will not face criminal prosecution but still may face a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Jason Harrison. The incident occurred in June and his family filed their lawsuit in November. The family believes that the officers should have used nonlethal methods of helping instead of going to the deathly alternative at first glance. The officers however, say it was their only option considering Harrison was pegged as "dangerous" for not taking orders of dropping the screwdriver.

"Grand jury decides not to indict officers in Dallas shooting." CNN. Web. 23 April 2015. <cnn.com>

Tension Between Iran and Saudi Arabia Deepen Over Conflict in Yemen

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have gotten much worse since Thursday when Iranian leaders lashed out in violence against the Saudi air campaign in Yemen, even insulting the young Saudi prince who is leading the fight. The supreme leader of Iran denounced the Saudi airstrikes "a crime" and "a genocide" while all but saying how the Saudi war in Yemen was doomed to fail. Saudi Arabia extended its bombing campaign for a sixteen night in order to try and stop the Houthi movement and their allies from dominating Yemen, however it was not successful. It has also been confirmed that Iran has been sending weekly flights into Yemen carrying supplies to help them fight back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/world/middleeast/yemen-fighting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Germanwings Airbus Carrying 150 Crashes in French Alps

Search and rescue teams have their mission to reach a remote sight in the French Alps where authorities have confirmed a German plane carrying 144 passengers and six crew members crashed while en route to Dusseldorf, Germany from Barcelona, Spain. It is thought that there will be no survivors. The wreckage of the plane, which is located very deep in the mountains was located by a French military helicopter. Officials are not sure when the plane made its last contact with air traffic controllers but they do know that they lost radio contact 40 minutes after the plane took off at around 10:40 am. After radio contact was lost, air traffic controllers sent out an emergency call as the plane crashed from an altitude of 38,000 feet. Even thought rescue teams have not made it to the crash sight, from helicopter views, it is believed that there will be no survivors of the crash.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/world/europe/germanwings-crash.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

3 Israelis Charged With Smuggling Materials to Hamas

During Israel's 50-day war against Hamas in Gaza last summer, residents of Israel's border communities lived in fear of attacks by Hamas militants. Being so, Israelis were outraged when they heard that three Israeli citizens had been charged on suspicion of supplying materials to Gaza that were supposedly for Hamas to be used for its military infrastructure. One of the accused, Michael Peretz, 46, is from a small community near the Gaza border. Haim Yellin, the regional council head of the border area called his actions, "a betrayal of his community and his family." Peretz's main contact in Gaza was a merchant named Osama Zuaroub who has supposedly sold $30 million worth of metal goods to Hamas.

Egypt's Crisis Across the Border with Libya

On Monday, Egyptian armed forces carried out a predawn airstrike in Libya in response to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by the terrorist group known as ISIS. The Egyptians attacked camps, training facilities and weapons depots belonging to the group near the Libyan town of Derna. It is understandable that Egypt is concerned about the extremist threat considering hundreds of thousands of Egyptians live and work across the border in Libya, extremely vulnerable to the country’s and the widening violence. But the airstrikes marked a significant expansion of Egypt’s direct military involvement in Libya, however the call this week for the United Nations Security Council to mandate an international coalition to intervene in Libya and impose a naval blockade has gotten hardly any support so far.


The Editorial Board. "Egypt's Crisis Across the Border with Libya." New York Times. February 9 2015. 1. Print