Belgium arrests two over 'New Year plot'
Belgian police have arrested two people suspected of planning attacks in Brussels on New Year's Eve.
Raids took place on Sunday and Monday in Brussels and the provinces of Flemish Brabant and Liege.
Police seized military clothing and propaganda materials in the raids, but no weapons or explosives.
Belgium has been on high alert since the attacks of 13 November in Paris. Several of the perpetrators are thought to have been based in Belgium.
However, the latest arrests are not linked to the Paris attacks, prosecutors say.
One of those arrested is suspected of leading and recruiting for a terrorist cell.
Women in Hollywood: plenty of talk but little change on equal pay
After Patricia Arquette’s Oscars rallying cry, Hollywood felt ripe for revolt. So why is progress so painfully slow?
When Patricia Arquette strode on stage to collect her Oscar for best supporting actress in February it was no surprise. She had been the favourite for her performance in Boyhood.
Clutching the statuette, reading breathlessly from a crumpled sheet of paper, she lauded fellow nominees, thanked other members of the cast and crew members and paid tribute to friends and relatives, as per tradition.
The brief speech ended, however, with a passionate, unexpected call to battle. “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights,” said Arquette, her voice rising. “It’s time to have wage equality once and for all. And equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Tamir Rice shooting: 'Until cops start being jailed for killing black children like Tamir, they will continue killing us and hiding behind the legal system'
Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy playing with a toy gun. It also so happened he was blackTerrell Starr New York
Listening to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J McGinty explain why a Cleveland police officer opened fire on a 12-year-old boy playing in a public park within two seconds upon arriving on the scene, reminded me of Elaine Rothenberg, a 66-year-old white woman who brandished a toy gun at cops in Torrington, Connecticut, just two days ago.
Yelling that she hated the police, Rothenberg then screamed. “What are you doing? Shoot me!” she shouted at them. “What are you, scared?”
Apparently, they weren’t scared enough to be “in fear of their lives”, as was the case for the cop who shot and killed Tamir Rice. Rothenberg was eventually taken into custody. Alive.
More than 100 journalists killed in 2015, most in 'peaceful' countries
A total of 110 journalists have been killed around the world in 2015, with an increasing number being targeted by "non-state groups" such as the "Islamic State." The findings hail from two independent reports.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published a report saying that 67 journalists had died in the line of duty this year, while another 43 died under circumstances that remained unclear. The organization added that another 27 non-professional "citizen-journalists" and seven other media workers were also killed.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the number of confirmed murders was actually 69. CPJ also included the case of reporter Alison Parker and video-journalist Adam Ward from Virginia in its report, who were fatally shot in August by former co-worker Vester Lee Flanagan II during a live broadcast. RSF did not account for them in their own study.
The annual RSF report highlighted the growing role of "non-state groups" - such as the self-styled "Islamic State" (IS) - in committing violence against journalists.Mosquito-borne Zika virus threatening newborns, adults in Brazil
December 29, 2015 - 4:13PMMac Margolis
Rio de Janeiro: In 33 years of practice, Rio de Janeiro obstetrician and gynaecologist Isabella Tartari Proenca has helped countless expectant mothers through the anxieties of pregnancy and childbirth. But ever since an exotic virus called Zika hit Brazil a few months ago, she's run out of assurances. "I get calls and text messages all day long," Dr Proenca said. "My patients are terrified."
Who could blame them? Since May, when the national health ministry confirmed the first cases of Zika virus, the mosquito- borne disease has swept the country, infecting at least half a million people. While most victims escape with a low-grade fever, skin rashes and achy joints, some dire complications have ensued. Among them is microcephaly, a condition that leads to exceptionally small infant head size, which causes lasting neurological damage and can lead to death.
Zika has since spread across Latin America. By December 22, Brazilian authorities had confirmed 2782 cases of microcephaly this year, a five-fold increase over the yearly average since 2010 – 80 babies whose mothers tested positive for Zika were stillborn or died shortly after birth.
Early intervention? Why Montreal has an anti-radicalization center
Montreal is the latest city in Canada to try to spot vulnerable people at risk of radicalization before they potentially commit a terror attack. The US government is reportedly mulling a similar program.
MONTREAL — In the wake of last month's terrorist attacks in Paris, Montreal’s mayor asked parents who were worried about their children being radicalized to call someone — but not the police.
“You're watching the news and you see your son, your daughter going through something, and being totally disconnected from the world,” Mayor Denis Coderre said last month. “What are you going to do about it? Now you have a center. You have a phone call.”
At the other end of that call is the Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence. The idea is to spot people who could be radicalized and rehabilitate them before they fly to Syria or plot an attack at home, and it's an approach that's already gained currency in Canada and Europe, and may yet have traction in the United States.
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