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18 May 2010 22:13

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U.S.: The sad tale of Aiyana Jones: From tragedy to lawsuits in three days

  • sunday The Detroit police breaks into a home searching for a murder suspect and accidentally kills the 7-year-old girl.
  • monday People hear about what happened, and get angry and upset about the tragic circumstances. It’s a very sad story.
  • tuesdayTwo lawsuits are filed on behalf of the family, who is now represented by Jack Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger. source

11 May 2010 10:50

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World: Russia’s deadly mine blast a major, unfortunate tragedy

  • 52 have died and 38 are still missing after the blasts source

07 May 2010 12:04

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U.S.: Scary: Chicago Metra’s director has Metra enact his final directive

  • He threw himself in front of a train and was killed. The commuter rail system’s executive director, Phil Pagano, killed himself near Crystal Lake, Ill. earlier this morning. Pagano, who had been in the position since 1990, was put on paid administrative leave last month after he gave himself an unauthorized $56,000 bonus last year. Wow. source

26 Apr 2010 10:44

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World: Poland, reeling from a lost president, could get his twin

  • Poland is our great shared obligation. We are required to overcome our personal pain and to take on this mission despite the personal tragedy. That’s why I have taken the decision to run for the presidency of Poland.
  • Jaroslaw Kaczynski • Regarding his decision to run for Polish president. Polls will open for the country in June, and Jaroslaw will run for the presidency that his brother Lech held until this month’s plane crash. He’s qualified for the job – along with Lech, he started up the far-right Law and Justice party. But he may not have a shot. Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski, a centrist, is currently polling far above Jaroslaw, despite sympathy for the Kaczynski family coming into play. source

14 Jan 2010 09:58

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World: Putting photos to places: The Haiti Quake, explained in map form

The destruction in Haiti is nothing short of massive. The New York Times put up a map this morning to explain the context of the tragedy. source

21 Apr 2009 23:44

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U.S.: Massive debt leads to a family’s murder-suicide tragedy

  • $460,000 Amount Christopher Wood of Middletown, Md. owed on credit card debt and mortgages source

15 Feb 2009 16:20

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U.S.: The plane in the Buffalo crash was on autopilot

  • A big no-no With the conditions outside pretty cruddy, pilots flying to Buffalo needed to take extra care about ice on their planes’ wings. The National Transportation Safety Board tells them not to fly their planes on autopilot in such a situation. But the plane that crashed and killed 50 people was on autopilot, possibly violating federal safety recommendations. source
  • A big no-no With the conditions outside pretty cruddy, pilots flying to Buffalo needed to take extra care about ice on their planes’ wings. The National Transportation Safety Board tells them not to fly their planes on autopilot in such a situation. But the plane that crashed and killed 50 people was on autopilot, possibly violating federal safety recommendations.
  • “Significant” ice buildup The pilots of the plane, who also died in the crash, were aware of the ice on the plane and discussed it shortly before the crash. Colgan Air, the operators of the plane, had installed deicing systems specifically for this purpose, but it’s unknown when the pilots chose to turn them on. In unrelated news, this guy is lucky he wasn’t on the plane. source