Swiss Bank Fires 10,000 Members of Staff

A Swiss Bank called UBS is firing 16% of its staff. Which comes out to just about 10,000 people. The reason for this is because during the European financial crisis the bank lost $42 billion. This employ cut will save the bank about $7.5 billion.
One bank executive had this to say, "They will receive full pay and benefits for the next three weeks in lieu of notice."

Also, the bank does not know where all of these employees will find their next jobs and they are currently not supporting the laid off employees. 

Polish Catholic Church in Halloween Warning

Polish Catholic Church in Halloween Warning

On the Polish Catholic Church’s website, it said that celebrating Halloween could contradict Church teachings and Christianity. One archbishop said the 31 October celebrations were promoting paganism to young people. Archbishop Andzej Dziega warned that Halloween was behind a "culture of death". "This kind of fun, tempting children like candy, also poses the real possibility of great spiritual damage, even destroying spiritual life," the archbishop of Szczecin-Kamien wrote in a letter to be read out at Sunday sermons, according to the Polish Press Agency.
He wrote that "irresponsible and anti-Christian fun" introduced young people to a "world of darkness, including devils, vampires and demons" in the name of "fun". The archbishop's statement echoes that of the Catholic Church in Poland, which warned that the "occult rituals" contradicted Church teachings and Christianity. The All Saints religious feast is widely celebrated in the largely Catholic nation on 1 November, with relatives often travelling across the country to tend to the graves of late relatives, decorating them with lanterns and wreaths. But the American-style practice of carving pumpkins and dressing up as monsters, ghouls and devils the night before has also become increasingly popular.

Nikusha Beatty

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20131808

Renowned Paintings Stolen

Renowned Paintings Stolen

By: Jonathan Hays, European Tribune, October 29, 2012

Picasso's Painting That Was Stolen

At an art museum in Neanderthals, seven valuable paintings were stolen, including works from Picasso, Monet, and Matisse. The museum was celebrating it’s 20th birthday shortly after the paintings were stolen in the morning. When the theft was discovered, the doors were shut down to the public, but the stripped walls were visible through the glass windows.

Europe has become more prone to art thefts over the recent years. In 2012, five paintings were stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. The paintings were valued as 130 million dollars total, and are still missing.

When the alarm went off from the recent theft, police arrived and watched surveillance videos and scanned the area for hints as to who stole the paintings. The theft occurred at 3 am and only took a short amount of time for the art to be stolen. The art belonged to a collection gathered by Willem Cordia, a Dutch investor, who died in 2011. Charles Hill, a detective of art theft, was quoted to say that the theft “was carefully thought out, cleverly conceived and it was quickly executed, so that suggests professionals...My best guess is that someone doesn’t have the cash to repay a loan,” he said. All police know now is that it sure will be a paint in the arse to get the paintings back.

Sources:
“A Picasso and a Gauguin Are Among 7 Works Stolen From a Dutch Museum,” last modified October 16, 2012, last accessed October 29, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/world/europe/Picasso-and-Monets-Are-Stolen-From-Dutch-Museum.html.

“Picasso, Matisse, Monet paintings stolen from Dutch museum,” MSNBC, last modified October 16, 2012, last accessed October 29, 2012, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49429139/ns/world_news-europe/t/picasso-matisse-monet-paintings-stolen-dutch-museum/#.UI9GW8XA-So.

I must be dreaming.

By: William Fox.

Thirsty train travelers in Belgium got more than they expected. When a passenger would buy a coke at a nearby vending machine. After receiving the soda they were prompted with a question “Would you like a chance to win free Skyfall tickets?” most agreed with it. After filling in their name a message popped up on the screen “Go to platform 6. You have 70 to unlock the 007 in you”.  The violinist next to the machine would then start playing the James Bond theme song to set the mood as the participant would dart away. It seems a little too easy to get to a platform in 70 seconds. They thought of that, they added in a multitude of obstacles to make it challenging to participant. These obstacles included people blocking the escalators, a women walking many dogs on the stairs, a Bond Girl pretending to know the participant. During the challenge there were reminders of the time and musicians playing the theme song. More challenging obstacles consisted of a man dumping many oranges off his cart, and an actor dumping a dozen of luggage boxes on the ground at the top of the escalator, which happened to trip a bystander not doing the challenge. The final obstacle was more of a fun one, you had to sing the James Bond Theme Song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RDiZOnzajNU

http://www.metro.co.uk

French Citizens Reported Missing in Caribbean due to Hurricane Sandy

It looks like Hurricane Sandy is not just affecting the Eastern United states anymore; Officials say at least six French citizens boating in the Caribbean are missing after they disappeared during Hurricane

Sandy's storm swell.

The French Transportation Ministry told the Sipa news agency on Monday that the group of six was believed to have disappeared on Sunday while between the islands of Martinique and Dominica.

Sebastien Roux of the Antilles-Guyane rescue service says the group left in a motorboat on Sunday for a music festival in Dominica and was supposed to return on Monday.

Roux says "people close to them grew worried when they didn't show up". An aeroplane and helicopter have joined the search for those missing, but Roux says it is also possible the group took shelter in a port.

Martinique was under an alert for rough seas as Hurricane Sandy continued wreak havoc in the ocean. The storm caused widespread flooding and wind damage in the Caribbean and is blamed for at least 69 deaths.



Carrigan Davis

Controversial Car Crash Killing Unveiled

Pearse Jordan

Controversial killing of IRA member is just now being brought to the judicial system.

        In 1992 a supposed IRA member, Peirce Jordan was shot dead by a police officer right after a car crash. 20 years later, people are still unclear of what happened during the true events. Recentley a spike in dissagreement has occured and officials offer several different stories on what actually happened.
        The shootings occured Belfast's Falls Road in Ireland. One report states that Jordan was running from the police in a stolen car when he crashed into another car. Jordan proceeded to bolt from the car as fast as he could when the pursuing officer shot him.Their were many other deaths that occored in a similar fassion, but this case was very diffinative. Many people believe that this was an act of unessecary measures brought on by the "shoot-to-kill" policy.
         Evidence had been brought up that there were exactly three bulletwounds in the mans body, however the order of the shots was unknown. Some controversy has spread through the fact that the man may haven given up running but was still shot to death, and that the police officer tried to cover up the scene. The jury however, has not come to a decision whether this was a neccesary effort or a random act of uneeded violence.

-Sean Jarrell-Hurtado

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20128693

Who turned the lights out?

Street lights are to be turned on after 4 years of not being used.

             In 2008 the city council of Powys, Wales voted to turn it's street lights off in an attempt to cut some of the city's electricity budget and to reduce its environmental impact. Many people were upset about the fact that their roads were going dark. Although there were a few instances of exception to the blackout, some people actually had to pay the city to keep on any particular street lights. Citizens had finally began to adjust to the darkness when a proposition to turn the lights back on was put on the table this week. The proposition plans to turn back on all of the street lights and replace the bulbs with LEDs, as well as thousands of other city light sources. More logistics on the turning back on of the lights will be discussed in the Cabinet such as, how long the lights should stay on during the night. The LED and possible variations of time that the lights can be on is expected to save a lot more money and make a big  difference on the environmental impact compared to 4 years ago, all the while making citizens happy. Officials say that the council should have an answer to the proposition in only a few days. As a protester of the blackout, Jonathan Greatorex once said, "I guess the council must have finally seen the light."

     -Sean Jarrell-Hurtado

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-20029122

Protests in Greece Caused by Austerity Measures

On Thursday, tens of thousands of people rallied in Greece to protest austerity measures, which essentially shut down the country's transportation network. Protesters threw stones and bottles at police while shouting they had no peaceful place to demonstrate. The rough austerity measures has angered many people who live in Greece, who is in it's fifth year of recession and the unemployment rate has soared to more than 25%. The anger leads to violent acts. 

Two months have gone by since the protest first started, though the violence itself lasted only about 90 minutes. A 65-year old man died from fainting during the rally. Sources say the death was not related to the violence. About 30,000 people have taken part in the demonstration on Thursday. The rally took place in multiple cities, such as Thessaloniki and Patras. 

Shops closed down on Thursday because of the strike, while hospitals ran on skeleton staffing and the transport was also badly affected. Some of the protesters in the crowd waved flags of Spain and Portugal alongside the flag of Greece to show solidarity with other nations that are also under tough austerity programs. Greece is struggling to get the 20 billion of spending cuts to be able to get enough money for bailout.

Nikusha Beatty

sources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/18/world/europe/greece-strike-austerity/index.html?hpt=ieu_c2

World's Oldest Survivor of Auschwitz Dies at 108

Antoni Dobrowolski died at the age of 108 in Debno, Poland according to Jaroslaw Mensfelt, a spokesman for the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum said on Sunday. He was a teacher during the Nazi invasion in Poland, Dobrowolski was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz in 1942 for holding underground lessons.. After the Nazi's invaded Poland in 1939, the Germans banned anything beyond four years of elementary education to crush Polish culture and to dumb down the inhabitants. "The Germans considered the Poles inferior beings, and the education policy was part of a plan to use Poles as a 'slave race.'" Dobrowolski was later moved to concentrations camps in Gross-Rosen and Sachsenhause, where he was released in 1945. After he was released, Dobrowolski moved to Debno, where he continued to work as a Polish-language teacher and as an elementary school teacher and later as a high school teacher. During the time Dobrowolski was at Auschwitz, the Germans killed over at least 1.1 million people, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Doborwolski will be buried in Debno on Wednesday. 

by: Carrigan Davis

Crime Rate Dropped Incredibly, But Why?

      With a recent drop with crimes in Europe. European citizens have no idea how such a sudden drop has occurred  But, here at Channel 69 News we have been given an exclusive chart showing the real reason for such a large drop in organized crime. 

       As you can see the chart clearly shows that since the masked vigilante known as "Batman" arrived in Europe the rate of crime has dropped incredibly low. The rate has dropped over 99% since it was a few weeks ago.

       While most Europeans are perfectly happy with the recent drop in crime, some policemen are not too happy with it. “He took my job!” Said former police Mc. Grooverstan. With almost no crime happening in Europe, policemen have nothing to stop so their pay is increased incredibly low or just fired. Some cities in Europe have decided to remove their police departments all together. For example, the mayor of Le Vellajua Pare stated, “Since Batman arrived we haven’t had any problems with illegal activities so we believe that it is useless to have a police department.”

      While the crime rate is incredibly low now. We do not know how long Batman will stay in Europe and if/when he leaves how it will effect Europe. Thank you for reading, this has been Channel 69 News.

How Much Does a Polar Bear Weigh?

 
By: William Fox

A German man had a very original way of promoting his new band. In the video the cameraman shows that there is “Ice everywhere” and told him to jump in “the middle, optimally”. Another person behind the camera asked “ Don’t you prefer to watch out if it’s too hard?”. The jumper ignored his remark and asked if the camera was on, said cursed and said his new band was “Siskyo”. He leaped into the air and smashed into the solid ice with his butt. The cameraman and the man out of the shot both started laughing. The man who smashed into the ice said “Ah my Ass”. The cameraman then commented “ Look at there, it doesn't break.” The man now in pain said “perfect, wasn't it?”. He slowly starts sliding back over to where he jumped from. Before the jump he was very confident that he was going to break the ice, he denied giving a speech and was intent on getting out of the water as soon as he broke the ice. The video was uploaded on September 28th and has already gotten 15.4 million views on You Tube.

Metro.co.uk

Extremist Goes on Rampage in France

Extremist Goes on Rampage in France

By: Jonathan Hays, Europe News, October 22, 2012

Mohamed Merah in his car taping himself

France’s intelligence services ended the supervision of Islamic extremist Mohamed Merah merely a few months before before he gunned down Toulouse. Seven people were killed and five brutally injured with gunshot wounds. Merah was finally killed by police officers after a 30 hour standoff.

Merah was under intense surveillance in 2011, but France’s DCRI (domestic intelligence service) decided to reduce monitoring. Merah started being tracked back in 2006. He was reported to not have any computers in his home and had no mobile cell phone. He only used public telephone booths when he had to because he was always paranoid. He used to travel frequently to the Middle East, where he reportedly was trained to kill. He also wrote songs about glorifying “western infidels” and was caught in pictures with a Koran and a knife. He could not explain a trip to Pakistan when asked by the DCRI in 2011, but was still allowed to be taken off of watch.

Merah then went on a rampage from March 11th to March 19th, which victimized three Jewish children, murdered seven civilians, and wounded five more. This rampage was completely avoidable, and is still causing controversy around Europe and France today.

Sources:
“Toulouse : Le tueur au scooter s'appelle Mohamed Merah,” last modified March 21, 2012, last accessed October 20, 2012, http://www.lorfm.fr/actualite/toulouse-le-tueur-au-scooter-s-appelle-mohamed-merah.html.

BBC News. “Toulouse gunman: French 'stopped tracking' Mohamed Merah,” last modified October 19, 2012, last accessed October 20, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20003470.

Second News Report

Victims to pick offenders' punishment, Home Secretary says

Victims of crime will be able to  decide how offenders are punished, under new proposals outlined by Home Secretary Theresa May today. May said that her plans were to allow the victims to choose the punishment of their offenders, whether that be replacing damaged property, paying compensation or simply saying sorry. May stated that she does not want home owners to feel “powerless” against offenders, and she promised to “put the victim first.” In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said the new powers, would be used for low-level crimes to give victims a “say.”

 She added they could also stipulate the perpetrators repaired property they had broken, or carried out work in the community.

If criminals refuse to accept the conditions, they will be subject to normal court proceedings.

It is understood the options for punishments, called the “community remedy” will be laid out in a menu-style list for police commissioners to work from.

Mrs May added:“It’s about putting the victim first. They’ve suffered and they should have a say in what happens.”

A Deer Trying to Have a Little Fawn.

By: William Fox

A man in London Bushy Park, had a very interesting experience during his stroll in the park. He had walked too close near two male deer about to fight. One of the deer recognized him as a lesser threat and decided to chase after the man. The man could be heard shouting “I need some help here!” as he was trying to escape the stag. A witness described the incident as “There were two stags parallel and going to have a fight and all of a sudden a man got too close and was chased by a staged that was all hyped up. He was just walking along the path and stopped, but the stag took his choice and went after the bloke instead.” The man proceeded to play cat and mouse with the deer by hiding behind a fence as the deer was charging. The man was rescued after a witness called the police for help. Last year the Royal Parks issued a warning about the dangers of rutting stags after attacks in London Parks. I would personally describe this incident as funny and completely unnatural. Maybe the deer was trying to have a little fawn?

www.metro.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KujZ5VaWHY

Global Bacon Shortage Is Not What You Think It Is

With recent rumors going around about a Bacon shortage people have gotten worried. It was first reported in England that there were going to be a huge Bacon shortage in 2013. Well it turns out that the shortage is not entirely true.

In a recent interview; "Pork supplies will decrease slightly as we go into 2013," Farm Bureau economist John Anderson said. "But the idea that there'll be widespread shortages, that we'll run out of pork, that's really overblown."

There has been a slight drop in pork since last year of around 1%. This number has been a drop since the recent report of pork in 2012 of 67.5 million. The numbers are likely to drop slightly next year, but farmers say we have nothing to worry about. "If we run out today, we'll have more tomorrow," Plain said. "And we're not going to run out, because if we start to get low inventory, the price steps up. Bellies are selling for $1.13 a pound today -- and if we run out, they'll get more expensive. Packers will be happy to charge you $5 a pound if you want to pay it, and they'll make sure we don't run out."

This confirms that prices of pork and bacon in Europe will likely rise next year.

Human Hamster Malfunction Postpones Irish Sea Adventure

The amazing Tredalo in action

A malfunction in the, "Human Hamster Ball" causes Irish sea crossing to be Postponed.

                  They told this man that he could do whatever he wanted to do and be whoever he wanted to be, so he became a hamster.
                  On Monday October 8, 2012 35-year old Chris Todd set out on an adventure of a lifetime. He planned on driving, or rather rolling a giant steel contraption built like a hamster ball that he made in his backyard across the Irish sea. He estimated the trip to take a little less then 48 hours (2 Days), he described the event to come as, "spending 48 hours on a stepping machine in the gym without getting any sleep." The stretch of ocean between the two landmasses is about 66 miles wide.
                Chris Todd departed Monday on the the trip from Trearddur Bay near Holyhead and planned to land in Greystone, Ireland near Dublin on his home-made machine that he calls the, "Tredalo." About nine hours into the trip, one of the rotors on the contraption began to malfunction and forced Chris to turn around. Although the trip had to be postponed, there also was some positive news pointed out by Chris' event co-ordinator, Annie Davis, "He went a good distance in nine hours and he's shown it can be done." Todd achieved more than just good distance, he ended up crossing half of the total distance in just nine hours and was much faster than he estimated.

Chris Todd and his, "Tredalo"

                 Although it is a dream come true to be able to do such an amazing thing, Chris has other reasons for taking on the massive challenge. He hopes to raise £20,000 for both the Wiltshire Blind Association and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He hopes that the money raised for the blind institution will go into programs that help people adjust to loss of sight, and that the money going to the Lifeboat Institution will go towards buying new equipment or even a new boat. Chris Todd is such a imaginative person, it will be great to see what he rolls into next.

-Sean Jarrell-Hurtado








http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-19870649

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh8MiSmk-to

John Gordon and Shinya Yamanaka Receive Nobel Prize

John Gordon and Shinya Yamanaka Receive Nobel Prize

By: Jonathan Hays, Europe News, October 9, 2012

Gordon and Yamanaka share their Nobel Prize

     European stem cell researcher John Gurdon and japanese stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka recently share a Noble Prize for their work. They have discovered how alter adult cells into stem cells, which can be used for any other parts in the body.

     In 1962, John Gurdon originally discovered that specialized cells could be changed into unspecialized cells, which could further develop into any other tissue in the body. He solved this by taking a matured cell nucleus from a frog intestine and replacing the nucleus of a frog egg with it. This altered egg then fully developed into a tadpole. This proved his theory, which was initially declared preposterous by his biology teacher.

     Forty-four years later, Shinya Yamanaka discovered how specialized cells in mice could be altered to become unspecialized cells, or stem cells. By involving only a few new genes, he could reprogram these matured cells to become stem cells.

     Their discoveries have been referred to as “revolutionary” by the Nobel Prize committee, and have defined that matured cells are not confined to their original specialized state. Their discoveries have caused textbooks to be rewritten and have lead to new research over the years. Because of this revolutionary information, humans could eventually discover how to create new limbs for people rather than prosthetics,  or could create blood cells for blood transfusions.

Sources:
“Gurdon and Yamanaka share Nobel prize for stem cell work,” BBC News, last modified October 8, 2012, accessed October 9, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19869673.

“Nobel prize goes to Briton, Japanese for stem cell work,” last modified October 8, 2012, accessed October 9, 2012, http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/55042970-68/cells-nobel-prize-yamanaka.html.csp.

First News Report