Historically September 1st is famous for...

Posted September 4, 2010

Emma NuttSeptember the 1st is probably most well know for being the date in 1939 when the Nazi's invaded Poland, bombed Westerplatte and kicked off events that would begin World War II.

However, depending on which period in history you prefer it might also be noted that several other things happened in history on this date.

In 1532 Lady Anne Boleyn was made Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiance King Henry VIII. He created this title for his mistress, who would become his second wife. He had her beheaded in 1536 after she was investigated and found to be guilty of high treason.

This date in 1715 saw the death of King Louis XIV of France. He died of gangrene at age 76 and had ruled for 72 years (+110 days). The longest recorded reign of any European monarch.

Emma Nutt became the worlds first female...

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Poland sees hundreds die of drowning over the summer season

Posted August 31, 2010

Soaring temperatures in Poland over the summer season has led to people seeking out way to cool down. Jumping into and swimming in rivers, lakes and the sea is one way but tragically, this summer, has led to 380 people losing their lives by drowning.

Mariusz Sokolowski, spokesman for the Police Headquarters, said, “It’s been the most tragic season in years. Many people tried to prove that they were champion swimmers but failed.” He also pointed out that alcohol and recklessness were contributory to the deaths as well.

For the full article visit All Voices

Polish soldiers wounded in Afghanistan

Posted August 31, 2010

On Monday two Polish soldiers were injured in Afghanistan when their logistics convoy vehicle was hit by a rocket propelled grenade.

Head of information services for the Polish contingent in Afghanistan Sebastian Kostecki said that the attack happened at 15.40 local time (13.10 CET).

For the full article visit All Voices

Cost of protecting Smolensk memorial cross soars as more guards and police are drafted in

Posted August 19, 2010

The city of Warsaw is spending thousands of zloty protecting the Smolensk memorial cross outside of the Polish Presidential Palace.

The cross, which commemorates the 96 people who died in the April 10 air crash in Smolensk, has already attracted thousands of tourists and just as many protesters.

Speaking on behalf of the Warsaw City Guards, Monika Nizniak said, “Salaries for city guards amount to over 173,000 zloty (44,000 euro) but the whole action of protecting the cross will cost much more."

161 guards were on duty protecting the area outside of the Presidential Palace on August 3rd when the cross was supposed to be moved to St Anne's Church.

Days later at a protest against the cross 168 guards were on duty protecting the area.

Since August 13th the need for protection of the area outside the Presidential Palace has seen guards on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A total of 309 guards have been on duty since then.

Nizniak added, “City guards have between 8-12 hour shifts at the cross, usually on their days off, working extra hours."

Approximately 90 public order offences have been reported in the area of the Presidential Palace with 3 drunk people and 5 people who were drinking in a public place all detained and 5 more taken to a sobering up station.

In the past couple of days a 71-year old man was arrested after spreading excrement on the cross and a 60-year old man was also arrested after threatening protesters with a live hand grenade.

Not only are guards in use to protect the cross, 60 police officers have also been drafted in to protect the area day and night.

Officers have began to complain about holidays being cancelled and of being overworked as they strive to protect the memorial cross.

Maciej Karczynski from Warsaw police HQ said, “The policemen who protect the Palace could be on duty in other, more dangerous places of town instead."

All Voices

Online social networking, are they really your friends?

Posted August 12, 2010

Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook intrigue me for a number of reasons. I use both for different reasons.

Facebook has given me the chance to connect to people I haven't seen or heard from in years and it gives me the chance to keep in touch with them without the pressure of having to call them or visit them. Simply, I can keep in touch with friends who I am not necessarily that close to but don't want to lose touch with.

My Twitter site is less so. The only people from my Facebook site who appear on my Twitter site are people I met through citizen journalism. The reason behind that is that I use Twitter mostly for sourcing and promoting my citizen journalism work.

I use Twitter to keep an eye on breaking news and for keeping up with articles posted on other websites that I might want to write about myself. Once I've written my article I 'Tweet' it as a way of free promotion and hopefully that brings people to the website I've placed my article on and they will earn my article views which in turn means that I earn money. I don't visit Twitter every day and I don't see the need to.

Facebook, on the other hand, I visit every day and often. I find messages from friends who I see out with Facebook and some messages from people I don't. I'm not addicted to Facebook although it might seem so. I believe that addiction to Facebook is something more serious than visiting it a few times during the day. The addiction to Facebook is when you literally can't click away from it. When you write something and hang about for hours to see if anyone writes anything back.

The most serious side of Facebook addiction is when it becomes more important that anything else in your life. When you find it becomes more important than you career or your family that's when you're in trouble.

People think it's OK, it would be worse if they were addicted to drugs or alcohol but Facebook addiction is just the same. Any addiction is serious if it takes you away from everything else. Google and find out how many people lose their jobs because of their Facebook addiction. There have been a few reported cases of relationships breaking down too.

While social networking sites are good things they also have a negative side. I knew of one girl who disappeared from my friends list so I enquired why. It turns out she had slept with someone else's boyfriend (not a particularly smart move) and had then began finding threats written on her site. The threats didn't stop when she threatened to contact the police, they simply got worse. She eventually contacted the social networking site involved and closed her account.

I pondered over it for a while. She had told me the names of the people who had written the nasty comments and threats on her site and it made me wonder. How many of those people would have said the words to her face? Not many I'm sure. Sitting at a computer makes us incredibly brave at times.

I'm also wondering why people add others to their list of friends only to remove them a while later. One girl told me via email she'd removed me because I never left her messages. It works both ways, she had never left me any either. I didn't respond to the email because I find it slightly childish to start deleting people because they don't contact you. I wasn't aware that we had to contact everyone in our lists every so often of they'd feel offended.

Let's be honest. If you have a Facebook account take a look at your friends list, how many people there do you regularly contact? I don't mean the people you are currently friends with outside of the site, I mean those who you only got in touch with since opening your Facebook account. There probably isn't many people on that list that you regularly contact.

So is this a new pressure created by social networking sites? Don't add people in case you never feel the inclination to write them a message. They might feel offended.

There are people on my Facebook friends list who I only contact when we're discussing our old school. The one we attended has been re-built on another site and there is an event at the old school this month. It's been so much easier using Facebook to get in touch with everyone rather than trying to contact other people to get them to contact other people and so on.

As with everything, social networking sites will have their good and bad points.

It's dealing with the bad points that's tricky.

How to relax and be stress-free

Posted August 12, 2010

In this day and age people are under a huge amount of stress from a variety of different sources. There doesn't seem to be a day go by when you yourself feel stressed or you meet or work with someone who is so completely stressed it appears to be taking over.

Apparently a small amount of stress is good for us and I would go along with that. A little bit of stress at work gives us the adrenalin boost to complete the task and go home feeling satisfied. Too much stress at work leaves us feeling dissatisfied at the end of the day so we go home with a disillusioned feeling of a task not completed and that sits on our minds so we don't completely relax.

However, we should relax at home. Work is work and home is home. We don't go to work worrying about not having done the dishes or finished building that shelf unit but we do go home worrying that we didn't send that email or finish that report.

Other pressures come at the weekend when people expect different things of you. They want you to visit them, come to their house for a dinner party or they want you to go shopping with them, see a movie with them, visit an exhibition with them. They want you to spend your weekend doing things when maybe, just once, you want to be lazy.

The pressure of doing things at the weekend can add on to the pressure built up during the week at work and eventually it adds up, builds up. Every so often you have to be firm and say 'No, I am having a ME day'.

There's nothing wrong with having Me days. In fact, they are essential and if anyone calls you selfish for wanting to spend time alone then say 'No, I'm recharging, I'm spending some time with myself because I need it'. The truth is, we all need it.

Don't know what to do on a Me day? Well, there's no set schedule. Just think of things you enjoy doing but don't normally get to do. Take the dog for a long walk. Don't shower, laze around in your lazy clothes watching DVDs and eating junk food. If you want to sleep for part of the day, do it. Do whatever it is that you know will relax you and chill you out.

You can be completely lazy on a Me day but the important thing is, don't feel guilty about it. If you don't leave the house for 24 hours and spend most of that on the sofa watching trashy TV then that's fine because it won't be long until you're back at work, or back facing the things that give you stress.

Maybe your Me day means taking a trip somewhere, even if you're alone. There's such a pressure to always be with someone and the popular misconception that if you're visiting somewhere alone then you have no friends. Well forget that. Going alone to a place you want to visit can be the most relaxing experience. Let's say it's an art gallery. If you're alone you can look at each exhibit for the length of time you want to and you can let your thoughts work without someone interrupting you to move onto the next thing. You can spend the entire day there without anyone bothering you.

Let's say you visit the beach. Watching large bodies of water is a very relaxing experience and sitting for hours watching waves lapping in and out can ease the tension almost without you knowing it but it can be difficult to achieve if there is someone with you interrupting you with commentary on what is going on around you.

So going somewhere alone is highly recommended.

Perhaps your don't even need an entire day. Maybe a Me evening will do but the same rules apply. Whatever you do must be what you want to do so you shouldn't allow people to pressure you into going to the pub for a drink or to a movie if that's not what you want to do.

Everyone should have some sort of Me time. It's important for many reasons, it gives you time to relax without others around, time to reflect within yourself. Some people don't want to reflect on themselves but essentially it's something we must do, especially if we have niggling feelings that things aren't right, that things could change.

As much as you may enjoy the company and times with others, enjoy the time with yourself just as much.

 

 

 

 

Missing Edinburgh woman: The Hunt for Suzanne Pilley

Posted August 8, 2010

Police began their appeal for information on the disappearance of Suzanne Pilley on May 6th 2010. In fact she had been missing for 2 days and police now believe she had been murdered on the day she went missing.

On May 4th Suzanne left her home in West Edinburgh and took 2 buses into town where she did some shopping at a Sainsbury's store in Rose Street and made her way to work. She contacted her parents via text at about 0840, which was normal and according to all reports, her movements that morning were routine.

However, Suzanne never reached her work in the city's Thistle Street, a short walk from the store where she had shopped.

Police scoured hundreds of hours of CCTV images and footage and found various images of Suzanne as she made her way towards her work at Infrastructure Managers in the city's Thistle Street. The final image of her was taken a 0855 outside the building, alerting police to the fact that she had indeed made it to the premises where she worked.

Taking into account the evidence that they had, Lothian and Borders police announcedon May 19th that they had now upgraded this case to a murder investigation.

Detecive Chief Inspector Gary Flannigan said, "Tracing Suzanne to Thistle Street on the morning she went missing is hugely significant in terms of this inquiry. It further proves this was a routine morning for Suzanne, and she was following her usual patterns - we suspect she may well have made it to her office as normal. This development means we are treating this as a murder investigation. The quality of the image is such that it needs specialist enhancement but we are satisfied through the clothing, its colour and the time scale in which the image was recorded that it is Suzanne."

On May 20th police then announced that they were looking for a body in the Argyll forest. They appealed to members of the public to report if they had seen a silver family car on unclassified roads within the Argyll forest. They gave specific times.

Police asked that people try to remember that on May 5th they saw a silver family car on unclassified roads in the Argyll forest between the hours of 1300 and 1530 and again between 1900 and 2100.

Police announced that they believed Suzanne had been murdered in the basement of her work place by a colleague.

Her parents, Robert and Sylvia, said, "As a family we still live in hope of good news, and would still appeal for people up and down the country to stay vigilant and look out for Suzanne. We have, however, been kept informed of the way the police inquiry has been progressing, and deep down we do suspect something more sinister has happened. Suzanne would never put us through this kind of worry intentionally, so we can't help but think she has come to some harm. Words can't describe just how devastated we are at this time, each day we are overwhelmed by worry."

As the search went on reports surface on Friday 21st of an ex-lover of Suzanne's who had been interviewed by police.

David Gilroy, a colleague of Suzanne's had also been her lover. Mr Gilroy, married and father of two, had met Suzanne through their jobs at Infrastructure Managers. They had began an affair which saw Mr Gilroy leave his family home and live with Suzanne in her flat in an area in the west of Edinburgh.

Mr Gilroy told reporters on Friday 21st that he had been interviewed by police and he said, "I last saw her four weeks ago and purely had a discussion about the return of possessions of mine and about me continuing to assist with completing her flat, which I was doing as a friend."

Mr Gilroy was also at pains to point out that he had gone to talk with police voluntarily. He had previously spoke with police and his house was searched.

When asked if he had killed Suzanne he answered, "It is not the case. Police will do their investigation and time will tell. I have nothing to answer to."

He also decided to add,"I have assisted police with enquiries. That's the extent of things. Suzanne and I had a relationship until January of this year when I moved back to the family home with my wife and children. That's when the relationship ended. Police asked me to voluntarily go back today [Friday], which I did, as they are doing with other people."

However, despite saying that he hadn't seen Suzanne in four weeks police now report that they have reason to believe that David Gilroy and Suzanne Pilley argued on Sunday May 2nd, two days before she disappeared.

The argument is said to be over the fact that Suzanne was now in a new relationship with Mark Brooks, a restoration worker whom Suzanne had met online.

It's thought that Ms Pilley tried to confirm his relationship with Mr Gilroy and tell them theirs was over. An argument ensued.

It's also believed that the affair went on after January.

This morning Lothian and Borders police were called to a robbery at the home of David Gilroy. The ex-lover of Suzanne Pilley claimed that his Silverknowes home was robbed at 0600 and that robbers took "a Wii, phone, lap top, various things from the house."

He said, "When my wife got up this morning the back door had been broken in. We heard a small noise but nothing major."

He was asked if he thought that this break in had anything to do with Suzanne Pilley but replied "I don't know."

As police continue to search areas in the Argyll forest it's clear that there is much more to be learned in the murder case of Suzanne Pilley.

 

All Voices

Metropolitan Police appeal for information after body find in Fulham

Posted August 8, 2010

London's Metropolitan Police force is appealing for information following the discovery of a body in a garden in Fulham on Wednesday 10th March.

Obtaining a search warrant on Tuesday 9th of March following information from a member of the public, the police began their search and found the body in hte garden wrapped in a carpet the following day.

A post-mortem was due to be held on Friday March 12 at Fulham Mortuary.

DI Tim Dobson is the lead on this and is working from an incident room in Belgravia. DI Dobson said, "It is believed that the body may have been at the scene between 15 and 20 years. Whilst enquiries are underway to establish the identity of this person, we are keen to speak to anyone who may have lived in this road around that time. If you have any information please contact us."

Arrests have been made following this inquiry. On Tuesday 9th a 52 year old man was arrested in Lambeth and then bailed. He is to return at the end of March, allowing police time to continue their inquiries.

On Wednesday 10th two men, aged 47 and 52 were arrested in connection with this incident and remain in custody in Central London.

Inquiries are ongoing and police would like anyone with information to contact them either at the incident room on 020 7321 9251 or anonymously through CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111

Man charged with terror-related offences say Scotland Yard

Posted August 8, 2010

Scotland Yard today confirmed that they have charged a 30 year old man from Newcastle Upon Tyne with three terror-related offences.

The offences are said to have taken place over a four year period between April 13 2006 and February 25 this year and were to have taken place both within the UK and out with.

Sky News reports that two of the offences relate to the preparation of conducting terrorist actions and one of fund-raising for terrorism.

Thirty year old Rajib Kasim will appear before magistrates in Westminster tomorrow to face the three charges which fall into the Terrorism Act.

Jealous man jailed, guilty of killing ex-lover who had new boyfriend

Posted August 8, 2010

An IT technician who flew 4000 miles to kill his ex-lover in a jealous rage has been jailed for at least 22 years.

Twenty-five year old Paul Bristol, a technician with the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Administration, saw his ex-lover on social networking site FaceBook and realised that she was in a new relationship with Besim Haxhia.

Bristol made the 4000 mile journey from Trinidad to east London where he stabbed his twenty-seven year old ex-girlfriend Camille Mathurasingh 20 times before driving off in her car and crashing it. Ms Mathurasingh died of her injuries.

Rejecting the charge of murder, Bristol said he had been provoked into committing manslaughter.

Presiding Judge Timothy Pontius, said of Bristol that he had been "eaten up by jealousy". Speaking of the murder the judge said, "You attacked her with such repeated savagery and horrifying ferocity that it was your intention to kill her."

Paul Bristol and Camille Mathurasingh had been in a relationship for three years. Ms Mathurasingh had previously worked in Trinidad and returned to the UK in 2008. The couple continued their relationship after her return.

Bristol flew to the UK after seeing pictures of Ms Mathurasingh with Besim Haxhia on FaceBook. He had been previously unaware of her new relationship.

Speaking of Ms Mathurasingh Judge Pontius said she was someone "who would not want in any way to hurt his feelings and was very concerned to let him down gently".

The victims mother Indra said that justice had been served for her daughter. She said, "She was snatched from us and we are empty without her. However, we can now try to heal our lives."

 

All Voices

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