Posted by Sean on March 8, 2007
There are few new details in the Paul Joyal shooting. It turns out that Joyal wasn’t shot in the belly but in the family jewels. If nefarious spooky Russians did do this, they are either cruel or just bad shots. Joyal’s wife Elizabeth has consistently disputed police claims that her husband was robbed, but when asked her opinion of the motive, she said, “”We really have no idea what the reason was,” but added that “it could easily have been a random act of violence.” Police are also mum on any additional details.
Prince George’s police, who are handling the investigation, would not confirm whether anything was stolen from Joyal during the shooting.
‘‘The investigators are obviously aware of his background,” police spokeswoman Cpl. Debbi Carlson said.
‘‘It’s hard to determine what exactly took place there,” ..read more
Posted by Sean on March 8, 2007
Here is a sad statistic. As reported in Kommersant,
According to INSI [International News Safety Institute] , Iraq leads with 138 murders and unexplained deaths of reporters occurred from 1996 to 2006, 88 reporters perished in Russia and 72 in Columbia over the period. The global news media toll exceeded 1,000.
The alarming trend is the rising number of news media deaths. The death toll was 103 in 2001, but it widened to 117 in 2004 and to 167 in 2006.
In Russia, the problem of reporters’ safety is really grave, said INSI Director Rodney Pinder. Another incident of this kind happened in Moscow one of these days, Pinder said, reminding about the unexplained death of Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov. The INSI director also mentioned the recent murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Unfortunately, Russia is not the only country that has a deplorable record when ..read more
Posted by Sean on March 8, 2007
March 8th has a double meaning in world history. First it is International Women’s Day, a holiday that celebrates women all over the world except, it seems, in the United States. March 8th is also marks the beginning of the Russian Revolution, which is perhaps the most defining event of the 20th century. Today marks its 90th anniversary.
On March 8, 1917 scores of women protested WWI, bread prices, and poverty in Petrograd’s industrial Vyborg district. As they passed the district’s factories, the women encouraged workers to join the protest. As one worker from the New Lessner Factory described the scene:
Women’s voices were heard in the alley onto which the windows of our department opened, shouting “Down with the war! Down with the high cost of living! Down with hunger! Bread for the workers!” . ..read more
