Ms Dhu was a 22-year-old Australian Aboriginal woman who died in police
custody in Western Australia on August 4, 2014. Dhu had been arrested
two days earlier for unpaid fines, and was required to serve four days
in custody to clear part of the debt. While detained, Dhu complained of
pain and was taken to hospital. Police accused her of faking her
condition, and medical staff believed her complaints were exaggerated
and suspected drug withdrawal. Dhu died shortly after arriving on her
third visit to hospital. The cause of death was an infection due to
three-month-old rib fractures caused by her partner. An internal police
investigation found 11 officers had not complied with regulations or
were guilty of misconduct. A coronial inquest found that she suffered
"unprofessional and inhumane" handling by police and "deficient"
treatment from hospital staff. The inquest recommended not imprisoning
people for unpaid fines and introducing a Custody Notification Scheme.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ms_Dhu>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
A climactic eruption of Mount Asama, one of the most active
volcanoes in Japan, killed roughly 1,400 people and exacerbated a
famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Asama>
1914:
World War I: Adhering to the terms in the 1839 Treaty of
London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the
latter's invasion of Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Belgium>
1964:
The National Security Agency falsely claimed that a U.S. Navy
destroyer was attacked a second time by North Vietnam in the Gulf of
Tonkin, leading Congress to authorize the use of military force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident>
2007:
An airport police officer discovered a suitcase containing
US$800,000 as it went through security at Jorge Newbery Airfield,
sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_del_Luj%C3%A1n_Telpuk>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Spidey-sense:
(humorous) An intuitive feeling, usually of something being dangerous or
risky; (more generally) instinct, intuition.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Spidey-sense>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We are
distracted from our real failures and told to blame the other party, or
gay people, or immigrants, and as people have looked away in frustration
and disillusionment, we know who has filled the void. The cynics, the
lobbyists, the special interests, who've turned government into only a
game they can afford to play.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
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