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Lights go out at diplomatic meetings with Blinken & Lavrov
2 Dec, 2021 15:00
A meeting between US and Ukrainian diplomats was thrown into darkness as the US secretary of state began to speak. A similar incident took place later as Russian and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reps spoke.
A meeting room hosting American and Ukrainian diplomats was suddenly plunged into darkness on Wednesday as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his remarks to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba.
Blinken was in the midst of reassuring Kuleba of Washington’s “unwavering commitment” to Ukrainian sovereignty when the lights went out. Their meeting was set to take place on the sidelines of the OSCE conference in Stockholm.
A similar blackout seized the room later that day as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid and other officials. Lavrov suggested the problem was caused by an official brushing up against the light switch with their rear end.
Blinken is reportedly expected to pile on further threats of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, should Moscow not cease troop maneuvers along the country’s own border with Ukraine. While Kiev has complained of Russia’s recent military maneuvers, claiming some 90,000 soldiers are conducting exercises near the border the two states share, Moscow has argued that it has the right to deploy troops however it wishes inside its own country.
Too bad the meetings weren't held in Tblisi rather than Stockholm. They could have spent the time singing, "That's the Night When the Lights Went Out in Georgia"!
Surgeon fined for amputating wrong limb
2 Dec, 2021 14:14
In the Austrian city of Linz, the 43-year-old doctor was found guilty of inflicting bodily harm through gross negligence. According to the newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten, the defendant admitted to “making a mistake,” saying that she had marked the wrong leg before the operation began. However, she denied acting with gross negligence, with the defense arguing that the control system in place had failed.
The surgeon was fined to the tune of €2,700 ($3,060) on Wednesday, though she may end up not having to shell out half the amount. The elderly patient passed away before the case was brought to court, and the judge ordered the doctor to pay €5,000 ($5,671) to the patient’s widow in damages for the suffering inflicted on her late husband.
Austria’s public service broadcaster (ORF) cited the judge as telling the defendant she should have “looked a second or third time,” considering the seriousness of the operation. The surgeon has since moved to a different hospital and can still appeal the judgement. For now, both the prosecution and defense have taken time to consider their next moves.
According to Austrian media, the case took place in May, in the city of Freistadt. The patient was an 82-year-old man who had a history of pre-existing conditions affecting both of his legs. On May 18, he was to undergo an above-the-knee amputation on his left leg. When asked in court why she marked the right leg, the surgeon replied, “I just don’t know.”
The team tasked with the final examination of patients prior to surgery also failed to notice the mistake. It was only two days after the operation that the surgeon’s error was discovered when the doctors changed the patient’s bandages. The elderly man, who has since passed away, reportedly had to have his second leg amputated, too.
Of course, he did. For an orthopedic surgeon, a few thousand dollars is a minor slap on the wrist. It must have been a hellish trauma for the patient and his partner to go through.
Health authorities in the state of Upper Austria, where the incident took place, reassured the public that the case in Freistadt was thoroughly analyzed and security training has been updated.
Parents of Michigan shooter Ethan Crumbley, 15, go on the RUN
after being charged with manslaughter
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and SHAWN COHEN
PUBLISHED: 14:47 EST, 3 December 2021
The parents of accused Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley are now on the run from police, just hours after a prosecutor announced involuntary manslaughter charges against them and revealed stunning details about the murder weapon that was a Christmas gift for the 15-year-old, whom police say shot dead four students after penning a disturbing note saying:
'Thoughts won't stop, help me.'
Police have issued a 'be on the lookout alert' for James and Jennifer Crumbley, who were charged Friday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Tuesday's deadly shooting. The charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald alleged that the parents ignored multiple warning signs and refused to take their son out of school just hours before the shooting took place.
Jennifer Crumbley bragged on social media about going out with Ethan to test his Christmas present - a 9mm handgun - just three days before the shooting at Oxford High School, and just one day after her husband James had purchased the gun for Ethan.
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| Ethan Crumbly |
The prosecutor revealed that James Crumbley, who - like his wife - had a prior criminal history in Michigan, bought the murder weapon from a retailer with his son there on November 26. He stored the 9mm handgun in an unlocked drawer in his bedroom, McDonald said.
The next day, Jennifer posted about the Christmas present to Instagram with the caption: 'Mom & son day testing out his new Xmas [sic] present.’ Jennifer's Instagram account has since been taken down.
There is definitely either an element of madness or a demonic influence in this kid's life. If you can't see it in his eyes, then hear it in his words, 'Thoughts won't stop, help me.' There had to have been other signs of his problems in spite of his brother saying otherwise.
This action by the Oakland Co., prosecutor is going to start a firestorm, but parents have to be responsible for their children. For this massacre to happen just days after getting the gun would indicate that the boy was nowhere near ready for the responsibility of handling one.
There is much more on this remarkable story on the Daily Mail.
Homeless man gets jail time for breaching ‘stay at home’ order
3 Dec, 2021 15:19
In a “cruel twist of irony,” a man was sentenced to seven weeks in jail by a Singapore court on Thursday for breaching a Covid-19 “stay at home” order despite being homeless.
Singapore national Rozman Abdul Rahman, 40, returned from Indonesia on March 20, 2020. After an immigration officer insisted he sign a stay-home notice (SHN), he listed his estranged stepsister’s house as a place for him to quarantine – but he was actually homeless.
During the period when he was supposed to self-isolate, he lived on the streets, sleeping in a car park, and later moved to a homeless shelter. He also kept working as a security guard at a grocery logistics company. His manager claimed he was not aware that Rahman was on an SHN.
After being unable to locate him, law enforcement officers eventually found Rahman via his employer and arrested him. He was sentenced to seven weeks imprisonment on Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this year.
Well, at least now he has a home for the next 7 weeks.
“In the midst of a worldwide crisis, Rozman was left with a personal crisis of his own – homelessness. He had no place of residence. He was left to fend on the streets,” his lawyer, Azri Imran Tan, said, adding that his punishment was a “cruel twist of irony.”
He argued there “should be a distinction between those who frivolously go out and breach SHN versus those with no choice.”
While his defense asked for a short detention and fine, prosecutors accused Rahman of deliberately exposing others to the risk of Covid-19, something which could have seen him jailed for up to six months.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lai Yan called the 13-day breach of rules “almost unprecedented.” Rahman is expected to appeal the decision.
Singapore has had one of the tightest Covid-19 measures in the world with hundreds of people fined and imprisoned for breaching self-isolation rules.
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