Nicole Hughes
June 6, 2008 | 1:40 pm EST
Paris was gripped with a bomb scare in the midst of the holiday shopping season after police found dynamite in a department store there yesterday. What police described as 5 old sticks of dynamite were found in the Men’s section of a branch of the Printemps department store. The explosives were not attached to any sort of detonation device and thus did not pose any imminent danger.
The Printemps store had been evacuated of all its customers around 11 AM yesterday morning as a result of a letter sent to a French press organization warning that a bomb was in a bathroom of the building. Bomb sniffing dogs were brought in which found the dynamite sticks.
The warning letter was signed by a previously unheard of group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front. The news agency which received the letter reported it demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan as part of the joint NATO actions there. Threats were issued toward France’s “big capitalist stores” if withdrawal of troops was not complete by February of next year. However French officials said the type of explosive found at the Printemps store and the language in the letter were inconsistent with known Islamic extremist groups in France.
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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie Halper:
Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water
Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time
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Nicole Hughes:
Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career
Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California
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Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens
Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input
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Jon Popham:
Megabus Expanding to the East Coast
Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison
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Giulia Rozzi:
Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution
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Gina Telaroli:
Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker
KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)
Good news! Last week over 100 nations formally agreed in Dublin to ban the use of cluster bombs. However some countries declined to participate in the ban, including the United States! Yup the USA finds air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions (a cluster of bomblets) totally cool. (Don’t be fooled, although the word bomblet is adorable these nasty killers which release many small unexploded bomblets over a wide area can remain dangerous for many months or years. Cluster munitions can cause fatal or serious injury to local populations long after the end of the conflict.)
Most NATO countries have backed the pact. Opponents say the bombs cause indiscriminate injury,
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Andy Kondrat:
