Newspapers and global info (tv, radio, headlines..)

Last edited by Claudia on Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:43 pm; edited 3 times in total

Clocks of Life

Thought to have been stolen for their monetary value or for some satanic rituals, these 15 to 17th C. skulls of various cemeteries have gone missing and vandalism have been made into the crypts and other ossuaries. Cemeteries have been the target of vandalism for years (teens drinking beer, nazi tags, random tags....).

Drunk students

Drunk college students have been gone missing in the past few months after a night out, and their bodies have always been found in the Garonne (the river). They were heavily intoxicated and totally drunk, and their death is accidental to authorities. The city has decided to close down night shops who sell alcohol after 10pm to avoid it, but it's useless as most people buy their alcohol in the afternoon, drink it at home later, then go to clubs and bars already tipsy. Going sober to get drunk there is way expensive.
The students are related because they are students, and they are male, and actually, they were all students of Bordeaux 3, which contains arts and languages ; one can remember out of all of them, two were studying in cinema and documentary, three were in philosophy, two were in art history, and one was in communication. Bordeaux 3 is known to give lots of time to their students, which gives them a reputation of party-goers. Many drop out because they partied too much and didn't study enough. Three bodies have been found in the Garonne already, and they all went missing after going clubbing or going drinking ; they were all last seen completely drunk on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night.
Update on Sunday the 27th : Another body has been found on the river : Antonio Rivera, a spanish Erasmus (exchange) student in Bordeaux 4, the Law and Humanities university of Bordeaux.

Corpses and missing women in the suburbs

The poorest suburbs and social housings have seen their people gone missing and some bodies have been found in the rural or in dumpyards. Some were half to fully naked, and their murder was brutal. It seems it's been going on for a while now, but it's only now that the media are talking about it. Either it's too much to be kept secret, or someone is having trouble controlling their kind. They seem to be linked somehow with flesh trade (prostitution, snuff, drugs and else), and since they were romani, travellers, or other outcasts (poor families on welfare, of foreign origins...), nobody really cares.
It's normal, in a world of darkness, these murders, settling scores between rival bands and else, but it's much too "open" and known to be just the usual murder rates.
The bodies found in the roads and natural parts around the city were mostly outcasts, or soon-to-be outcasts. Some of these bodies were the women cited above, but not all of them. They could be normal murders, after all, it is the world of darkness, but no culprits were found. A couple of people were interrogated -some of the Travellers-, but eventually they were set free.
The poorest youngsters that have gone missing are all women from foreign origins, and all lived in the suburbs.

The Thursday night attacks

They are still rumors in the news papers, as official explanations have not been made (they are all waiting for a terrorist group to claim them as their doings). Because Saint Eloi was attacked, while some left wing papers think it was a mistake, an error, just an accident, more right wing papers and chains will say it was deliberate as they were attacking the church rumored to be linked with neo-nazism. Everybody has trouble with that church, somehow. The most favorable of the ideology say that the state isn't protecting their rights enough when they are tagged as being nazis, the others say they should be closed down due to their "denial" of the holocaust, others say they should burn the place..
The attacks on Theo's domain leave most people clueless, as there's nothing there, or so it seems. Some even say it's a way of attacking people of foreign origins, some "france is for french people" rumors, but they can't be sure.
Update on Sunday the 27th : Some extremists have voiced out barely hidden xenophobic and racist words, and started patrolling (vigilante). Muslim associations are very worried that they may take action against the first arab they may cross paths with, and they try to redirect the attention towards other possibilities (Basques or Corsicans that want independance, anarchists like in the 80's...).

Laure's workplace

An explosion has taken place in the notorious pas saint georges street, and while there are a few wounded persons due to the glass and other objects that exploded, there were no casualties. It seems like an odd spot for an attack, be it supernatural or an attack made to get insurance money, so right now, late friday night, the main idea is that it was an accident.
Update on Sunday the 27th : It seems the explosion was caused by the city gas (actual gas, not petrolum), coupled with poor electrical work. It was ought to boom with any electrical sparkle.

Arab Spring starts
A few rumors have been circulating about marches in several countries, some of which have strong tides to France : Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were part of France until recently after all. Ghadafi (Qaddafi, Khadafi, aka Libya guy) is starting repression, and the current French Minister of Foreign affairs, offered to send elite police officers to help him with the Rebellion (the Left quickly reacted to her words). She said so because Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, had hosted the dictator a few months earlier, hoping to make interesting and profitable contracts. Whatever is happening in Paris' Elysiums, it must be very fun to watch. Some ministers are going over and are encouraging the winning rebellion.
News also report widely the Arab Springs starting to get much attention ; there are rumors of the Tunisian and Algerian communities of France wanting to gather and support the revolt. Alliot-Marie, curent minister of foreign affairs (you can read it here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mich%C3%A8le_Alliot-Marie ) offered to Ben Ali (the Tunisian leader) to send in the French Elite Police to defend his regime, which of course is leading to real big social tensions, including in Bordeaux.
The Arab springs, who have spread to Egypt earlier during the year, causing Mubarak to resign, seems to give a general sense of hope to humanitarians. However some issues about how the elections are being held so soon make people fear of a rising islamic power, as the Brotherhood is the only viable option (there are no other strong parties that can be created in such a short time). However most news just report "hurray for freedom for the people" and that's about it.
There have been several marches in all French cities of the different communities asking for supporting the Revolutions in countries in which the power is holding in with more strength ; Morocco, on the other hand, decided to apply reforms, and Algeria's marches has managed to obtain some promises by the government. The Turks are having it hard, Libya is turning into a civil war and Syria is starting to look pretty bad.
It goes on as the days pass.

About Thursday attacks :
The news also reported the attacks as some sort of drug and poverty fights between certain groups ; blacks versus arab trafiquants trying to get more territory) and that the one entering the Saint Eloi Church was just a rogue who wanted to act against the very conservative, fairly racist and rumored neo-nazi Catholic Church's community (this rogue apparently was too drunk and killed himself in the process, which have people facepalming about it all over national news.

Alicia's ghoul attack :
Local news talked about a crazy person who had broken into the Theater and tried to rape the receptionist, but that she defended herself with a rifle the Theater is available to have and use at night (or so the TV said). The police closed the case without much further investigation, and the place was probabluy cleaned before 10am of Monday.

A strike against xenophobia (and against school)
The university of Bordeaux 3 is on strike for two days starting Monday morning, until Wednesday, to protest the insecurity and the xenophobia in town, but also protesting their own losses because of the River's drowning and the Binge Drinking. They are demanding better security precautions as well as sobering up buses. They of course do not protest against the partying... and it's probably just an excuse not to go to class.

Random news : the trial of a guru
There are also national complains in the papers about big issues of a very rich Bordeaux Family that was somehow held hostage by some guru, is being prosecuted (read here : http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/08/aristocrats-and-demons-201008 and here : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9674704/Oxford-guru-jailed-for-swindling-French-aristocrats.html and here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-aristocrats-break-free-from-sect-leader-1851468.html)

Safety and armed national forces in Bordeaux :
The Vigipirate plan has been slightly raised, and there is a slightly more important police presence in town ; commercial streets, the Theater, and probably in bars and crowded places. What is most noticable is that there are also a few soldiers in town, with the big guns and stuff (please clic : http://www.bienpublic.com/fr/images/F2187698-3F11-4E27-B828-3EC478E7F6AF/LBP_03/la-gare-de-bordeaux-etait-hier-sous-haute-surveillance-avec-le-passage-du-plan-vigipirate-au-rouge-renforce-photo-pqr-sud-ouest-laurent-theillet.jpg ) ; there's one patroling around the Theater, and according to TV and local free news papers, also in the train stations and watching over some gathering places.

Nuclear and Fukushima
There are also big and worrying news about the tsunami in Japan that happened about two weeks ago. (March 11th 2011).

Updated