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When asked for their John Hancock, future generations might print it in block letters or scrawl some scribbles across the page. But odds are, they won't sign their name in cursive. They might not even be able to read it. Cursive, with its graceful loops and perfectly joined letters, seems soon to join the typewriter, VCR player and flip-phone as relics of a past age. Keyboarding skills, not cursive, were included in the Common Core, a set of national academic standards adopted last year by more than 40 states, including Florida.

Twenty-six police officers hurt in clashes, with eight treated in hospital Scotland Yard still dealing with 'isolated pockets of crime' this morning Tottenham MP David Lammy appeals for calm and warns that there may be fatalities Mob of 500 people protest about death of father-of-four Mark Duggan who was shot by officers 100 riot police on the streets as Tottenham burns Fears that violence was fanned by Twitter as picture of burning police car was re-tweeted more than 100 times One eyewitness reports that trouble was ignited by police hitting a 16-year-old girl with batons Shop looted and youths storm...

A MOB went on a wave of random race violence on Temple Bar, which left five Dubliners with horrific injuries. One man -- a Dublin DJ -- was almost killed in the attack as he suffered serious head injuries when he was set upon by the gang. The level of violence has shocked gardai and the many witnesses to the race hate orgy -- believed to be the first of its kind in the city. One member of the African gang was arrested today in pre-dawn raids by detectives across the capital. Five Dubliners, all aged in their 20s, were...

With 16 surveillance cameras inside and out, he has the video to prove it. Last week, a mob of people descended on his store all at once after midnight . "They start trashing the store [and] eating," Farah said while watching surveillance video of the incident. "It's like they're robbing the store." While several paid, the rest ate, drink and stole before police could get there, Farah said. "We had to clean up for two hours," he said. "Plus, merchandise is gone. A bunch of merchandise is gone." ... Part of Farah's problem, officers said, is that three large apartment...

PEORIA — A "major incident" involving a large group of people shooting fireworks at police and firefighters occurred near the Taft Homes just before 10 p.m. Monday, about the same time the fireworks show on the riverfront was ending. Police had to briefly shut down Adams and Eaton streets, near Taft, as they dispersed the large crowds. No officers or firefighters were injured, dispatchers said on the radio. At one point, police were ordered to tell those in the crowd to go into their apartments, leave or be arrested for unlawful assembly.

More than a dozen young men attacked a person Saturday night outside a building on Northwestern University's downtown campus in the Streeterville neighborhood, according to an alert issued by the university. Seven people thought to be part of that group, mostly youths, were arrested on "mob action charges" when Chicago police and Northwestern police responded, according to police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer. About 8:30 p.m., the victim had parked his motor scooter outside the building on Chicago Avenue, a little west of Lake Shore Drive, when about 15 to 20 males -- believed to be in their mid-to-late teens...

Was it a flash mob that forced the closure of North Avenue beach on Memorial Day? Chicago Police News Affairs released a statement saying they had to close the beach for safety reasons, as people were suffering heat exhaustion and emergency vehicles couldn't get through to help. But, WLS listeners say there was what they called a "large gangbanger element" at the Oak Street and North Avenue beaches. READ: Emanuel: Police made right call in closing beach Listeners report being at the beach, and seeing dozens of gang bangers pushing people off their bikes. Another listener says those causing havoc...

It's like a flash mob gone bad. Security footage from a Manhattan Dunkin' Donuts shows a group of youths climbing on counters, throwing chairs and throwing tables in a violent attack on workers. It happened at the Dunkin' Donuts on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. A $2,000 hot chocolate machine was reportedly destroyed in the attack. Similar attacks have targeted other stores in the neighborhood in the previous weeks. The video shows one of the teens throwing a chair and then running up to grab a donut. A few of the attackers also grabbed drinks out of a refrigerator near...

MYFOXNY.COM - It's like a flash mob gone bad. Security footage from a Manhattan Dunkin' Donuts shows a group of youths climbing on counters, throwing chairs and throwing tables in a violent attack on workers. It happened at the Dunkin' Donuts on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. A $2,000 hot chocolate machine was reportedly destroyed in the attack. Similar attacks have targeted other stores in the neighborhood in the previous weeks. The video shows one of the teens throwing a chair and then running up to grab a donut. A few of the attackers also grabbed drinks out of a...

An air traffic controller has been found stabbed to death at the EuroAirport outside Mulhouse, France, near the Swiss and German borders. Police say the 34-year-old was found in a pool of blood in an office in the control tower that is accessible only with an identity badge. Prosecutors have opened a murder investigation, French reports say. The victim, a married father of one who has not been named, was a senior official at the airport. A spokesman for the civil aviation authority, the DGAC, said the victim, who had worked at the airport since leaving education in 1998, was...

The residents of this poor, multiracial Paris suburb say they have been abandoned. For 30 years, they say, the French authorities have written off Bondy and neighborhoods like it, treating their inhabitants as terminal delinquents and ignoring their potential. This, residents note, is not the approach taken by the United States Department of State. “We’re waiting for the president of the Republic, for his ministers,” said Gilbert Roger, the mayor of Bondy. “And we see the ambassador of the United States.” The United States Embassy in Paris has formed a network of partnerships with local governments, advocacy groups, entrepreneurs, students...

<p>A black Florida juvenile faces hate-crimes charges in a gang attack that police say he committed because the victim was listening to rap music and white people "shouldn't be listening to rap music."</p> <p>Palm Bay police said the suspect, a 14-year-old who was part of a group of black youths, assaulted 22-year-old David McKnight earlier this week after confronting him while he was sitting on a sidewalk listening to "Wasted" by rapper Gucci Mane on his boombox.</p>

GRENOBLE, France (AFP) - Rioters exchanged gunfire with police in the French city of Grenoble early Saturday, setting fire to shops and cars after police shot dead a man accused of robbing a casino. Youths torched between 50 and 60 cars in the southeastern French city, as well as construction equipment and two shops, while police said they made five arrests. Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was to visit the city Saturday afternoon, his ministry said. The rioting started after a memorial service for 27-year-old Karim Boudouda, who died 24 hours earlier in a shootout with police after allegedly holding up...

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 31 mins ago BERLIN – A Jewish dance group was attacked with stones by a group of children and teenagers during a performance at a street festival in the Germany city of Hannover, police said Thursday. One dancer suffered a leg injury and the group then canceled their performance. The teenagers also used a megaphone to shout anti-Semitic slurs during the Saturday afternoon attack, Hannover police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe said. Police said the incident is under investigation and that they do not have an exact number...

STOCKHOLM — Swedish dockworkers are set to launch a week-long boycott of Israeli ships and goods to protest Monday's takeover of a Gaza-destined aid flotilla, a union spokesman said Saturday. Nine activists died after IDF troops intercepted the convoy. Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence.

Via Ace, whose post you should read if only for the brilliance of his headline. Some of you will be tempted twice over to skip this: It’s long, and you’ve already seen the most dramatic bit. Don’t skip it. Force yourself through it, because it happens to be one of the most genuinely depressing clips ever posted on Hot Air. Everything about this is an utter, unmitigated disgrace — the attack on Vilks, the excruciating passivity of most of the crowd, the sheer thuggery of these shrieking, lunatic, barbarian bastards, and of course the killer moment at around 8:45 when...

Women screaming “Allahu Akbar” The "Religion of Peace" goes to church. [view video] But the video is remarkable in a different way: It shows dozens of Muslims repeatedly screaming “Allahu Ackbar” in what looks like religious ecstasy over violence committed in their name, and joy over witnessing an attempted murder as punishment for blasphemy. This happened today in Sweden, mind you, not during the Middle Ages nor even in 2001 in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Right now, in what is supposed to be the most liberal and progressive nation in the world.

Rioters in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, have burned down a school building and thrown stones at police in a second night of disturbances. The trouble began on Monday after a group of youths in a suburb with a mainly immigrant population were refused entry to a school dance. ... 'Little Mogadishu' Police said the rioters threw stones at the fire engines, preventing them from reaching the school building before it burned to the ground. The youths also attacked a police station. Rinkeby is home to a large number of first- and second-generation immigrants. Many of them are from Somalia, so...

Immigrant Youths Riot In Sweden, Burning Down School 9 June 2010 16:31 UK Youths rioted for a second night in Rinkeby, Stockholm Rioters in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, have burned down a school building and thrown stones at police in a second night of disturbances. The trouble began on Monday after a group of youths in a suburb with a mainly immigrant population were refused entry to a school dance. Police say up to 100 youths went on the rampage, throwing stones and setting several cars alight. Two people were detained but later released. 'Little Mogadishu' Police said the rioters...

Edgy Hub residents voiced outrage and resignation over the scourge of seemingly endless street violence yesterday as the city reeled from four murders in three days - including the slaughter Sunday of a 14-year-old boy whose only crime was taking his brother’s scooter for a spin around the block. “All these kids keep dying on street corners. Dorchester is not safe, not anymore. Every time I pass a lamppost, I see candles and teddy bears,” Jonelle Seigler, 21, a lab technician, said of the makeshift shrines that have become a frequent site in her neighborhood.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― Click to enlarge 1 of 1 Photo of an apparent "flash mob" involving approximately 100 teens causing chaos inside the Center City Macy's store. CBS Related Slideshows Openly Gay Celebrities Real Or Fake? The Tattooed Ladies Of Hollywood Celebrities Turning 40 In 2010 Caught Cheating: Celebrity Scandals What's My Name? Honeymoon Lingerie: Behind-The-Scenes 2010 Celebrity Deaths Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show 2010 2010 Vancouver Winter Games Investigators say a massive snowball fight outside City Hall between 100 teens spilled into a popular department store and ended with 14 arrests. The entire ordeal began when approximately 100...

Philadelphia police said a "flash mob" with thousands of teenagers and young adults swarmed South Street Saturday night causing businesses to close early and bringing law enforcement from across the city to control the crowd. --snip-- Mobs of teens have disrupted Center City three times in the last three months. On Dec. 18, students from several city high schools responded to a call via Facebook to participate in a massive gathering in response to fights at the Gallery food court. Some of the teens later randomly attacked pedestrians on nearby Center City streets

Business owners yesterday called on Mayor Nutter to stop "flash mobs" on South Street after patrons couldn't shop, dine or get home on Saturday night because of the hordes of teens roaming the neighborhood. Inspired by Twitter messages to "come to South Street," police say hundreds - business owners say thousands - of young teens stampeded down South Street in waves, jumping on top of cars, knocking over pedestrians and fighting and cursing. ..... About 11 p.m. a 27-year-old woman was walking on South near 15th when a large group of male and female juveniles ganged up on her, kicking...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A straw poll of US conservative activists saw Texas congressman Ron Paul emerge as the preferred Republican presidential candidate to run against President Barack Obama in 2012. Some 31 percent of the more than 2,000 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) attendees who participated in the poll voted for the outspoken libertarian. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate in 2008, came in third with 7.0 percent, some way behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (22 percent), who had won the CPAC poll for the last three years. There were boos among the crowd as the...

Youths burned 1,137 cars across France overnight as New Year's Eve celebrations once again turned violent, the French Interior Ministry said on Friday.

Hundreds of Cars Torched in France at New Year Fri Jan 1, 2010 PARIS (Reuters) - Youths burned 1,137 cars across France overnight as New Year's Eve celebrations once again turned violent, the French Interior Ministry said on Friday. Car burnings are regular occurrences in poor suburbs that ring France's big cities, but the arson is especially prevalent during New Year's Eve revelry. The number of vehicles torched was only 10 short of the record 1,147 burned this time last year, even though the Interior Ministry mobilized 45,000 police during the night -- 10,000 more than 12 months ago.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today announced more than $37 million in Recovery Act and Fiscal Year 2009 grants have been awarded to support organizations in developing, implementing and expanding youth mentoring activities. "These funds allow us to invest further in the future of today's youth by providing mentoring opportunities to help children reach their full potential," said Attorney General Holder. "These grants will help steer young people away from criminal activities by providing them with healthy life alternatives, positive role models, and direct contact with caring adults." The Recovery Act, signed into law by President Obama, provides the Office...

Much has been made about the possibility of "pulling the plug on grandma" in the current health care debate. But what of younger Americans, many of whom make up a large portion of America's uninsured? Young voters make up an important piece of Obama's electoral support. Exit polls last November consistently showed voters 18 to 29 breaking for Obama and Democratic candidates for the House by wide margins. It seemed as though young voters were now the Obama generation. But polls over the last few months have shown many voters -- including many young voters -- beginning to sour on...

Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google's online photo map service, police said. The pair stole the 14-year-old boy's mobile phone and 165 euros ($230) in cash last September. "The picture was taken just a moment before the crime," a police spokesman said. In March, the victim recognised himself and the two robbers while surfing Google Maps, which has a "Street View" feature allowing users to see images of buildings. The images are usually taken by a camera mounted on...

A double slaying east of Colorado Springs on Thursday was the result of a gang-related clash over a stolen iPod, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said. The suspect, 19-year-old Juan Vasquez, was arrested early Friday in the shooting deaths of two male high school students at a park in the Cimarron Hills area, sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Lari Sevene said. The victims were identified as 18-year-old Uriel Rascon and 17-year-old Luis Burciaga. Rascon attended Sierra High School, and Burciaga went to The New Horizons School, an alternative high school. Both schools are in Harrison School District 2. Vasquez is being...

Mob of young men attacks Man's skull fractured during beating; another attacked, robbed Police suspect a mob of 20 to 30 young men who brutally attacked a motorist in Mount Clemens on Saturday may also be responsible for at least two other violent crimes that took place the same night. Four people were taken into custody for questioning and police Sunday were hoping to interview a man who was beaten unconscious during the ordeal and was hospitalized with a fractured skull. "This certainly was a frightening incident," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said. The trouble began late Saturday and into...

A 15-STRONG gang attacked a young man after chasing him for almost half-a-mile. The 19-year-old was walking down Manchester Road, Thornton Lodge, at 9.30pm on Saturday to meet his girlfriend ... The gang cornered him in a garden there and beat him with baseball bats and pieces of wood. All the attackers are young Asian men ...

A car exploded Sunday evening while parked outside a block of flats in the Århus suburb of Åbyhøj, reports DR public broadcaster. The force of the explosion shattered six windows and one of the car doors was flung 15 metres from the car itself. Police are at a loss as to the motive of the bombing but have issued a warrant for a 25-35-year-old man seen leaving the scene of the crime. Two other cars were set on fire in the city of Århus, but police believe the episodes are unrelated. (LYT)

Unknown persons destroy ancient bronze coffin discovered recently [17 January 2008] IBB, Jan. 17 (Saba) - Unknown persons devastated early morning on Thursday an ancient bronze coffin and stole another one completely were in an archaeological location in al-Asibia area in Dhefar valley of Ibb province. The director general of Antiques and Cultural Properties Protection in the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums Hesham al-Thawr held the director general of the security office in the al-Saddah district responsible for destroying the location and disinterring the bronze coffin. Al-Thawr said that the security official has ordered the military patrols, which have...

A SCHOOLGIRL was raped by a gang who poured caustic soda over her body to destroy DNA evidence. The 16-year-old was left fighting for life with terrible burns from the drain-clearing chemical. She was under heavy sedation at a specialist burns unit last night as sickened police called the attack by five youths a new low. The gang beat the teenager before taking turns to rape her in an empty house in Tottenham, North London. One detective said: “After they had finished raping her, the gang poured caustic soda over the girl to try and get rid of DNA evidence....

The Oslo Police District is snowed under by the sheer number of criminal cases in the capital, and only 21 percent of reported offenses were handled last year. Investigators claim they don't have the time, staffing or resources to cope with their workload. More than 10,000 cases remained in the legal queue in Oslo when 2007 came to a close. "This is unfortunate for the credibility of and confidence in the police," said Oslo district chief public prosecutor Morten Yggeseth. He added that this trend has significance for the country’s security. Oslo Police District Union leader Jan Olav Frantsvold said...

IN retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home. Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed with baseball bats, iron bars and shotguns. What happened next has sickened the nation. As Illy tried to reassure the gang that there would be an investigation into the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike had just collided with a police car, he heard a voice shouting: “Somebody must pay for this. Some pigs...

Unidentified young people set another car on fire in the night from Thursday to Friday during the fourth consecutive night of riots in Amsterdam's Slotervaart neighbourhood... The unrest began after two violent incidents ... Both times young Moroccan Dutch were involved. In the latest incident on October 14, 22-year-old Bilal Bajaka attacked two police officers at a police station with a knife. One of them pulled her gun and shot her attacker, who died on the spot. Amsterdam police chief Bernard Welten said the problems in Slotervaart were caused by a "core group of no more than 35 youths aged...

LA COURNEUEVE, France, May 6, 2007 (AFP) - As news of rightwinger Nocolas Sarkozy's presidential victory flashed up on the television in the cafe, Gnyma Cisse buried her head in her hands in a mixture of frustration and fury. "I'm disgusted," said Cisse, 23, who had gathered to watch the election coverage in Le Metro cafe which caters to a largely immigrant and first generation French-born clientelle in the La Courneuve suburb of Paris. Cisse, of Sengalese origin, called her sister-in-law who lives here without French nationality. "Pack your bags. The planes are already on standby," she said, alluding to...

On Sunday France elected a pro-American, conservative named Nicolas Sarkozy as its new president. The 52-year-old who beat back by 10 percentage points his Socialist rival, promises an unabashed Thatcherite agenda for France. Sarkozy also replaces the embattled Jacques Chirac, a relic from an earlier age of French politics, who made anti-Americanism his hallmark. Sarkozy campaigned on a platform of sweeping reforms, pledging to dismantle large portions of the social welfare state and to make France competitive on world markets again. He also pledged to reduce taxes, shrink the size of government and shut down redundant government programs. Carrying out...

Riot police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters gathered in central Paris today to demonstrate against the presidential election victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy, an AFP journalist said. The clashes took place on the Place de la Bastille where about 5,000 supporters of the defeated Socialist candidate Segolene Royal had gone to await the election results. Up to 300 rioters, some of whom were masked, made running attacks on riot police who took up positions at the entrance to boulevards leading onto the square. Earlier a small crowd of protesters, brandishing black and red anarchist flags, set fire to an...

Riots at a train station in the French capital, Paris, have become an issue in the upcoming presidential election. The government's candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, said police were justified in arresting an alleged fare dodger - the action that sparked the riots. Socialist candidate Segolene Royal said the clashes resulted from Mr Sarkozy's failures as interior minister. About 100 youths clashed with police at the Gare du Nord station after a dispute over a train fare. Rioters smashed windows and attacked vending machines and shops, after objecting to the treatment of a man arrested for jumping a ticket barrier. Transport officials...

One of two Houston men accused of training to fight with the Taliban pleaded guilty this afternoon in federal court. Kobie Diallo Williams, 33, a U.S. citizen who was a student at the University of Houston Downtown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist a terrorist group. His help included withdrawing cash from an ATM to send to the Middle East. Another man, Adnan Babar Mirza, 29, a Pakistani national who was in the country on an expired student visa, faces a similar conspiracy charges as well as three federal weapons violations. Mirza appeared today before a U.S. magistrate judge. Mirza...

French police the target in urban guerrilla war By Jon Boyle Mon Nov 27, 11:29 AM ET PARIS (Reuters) - Stoned, beaten and insulted, their vehicles torched by crowds of hostile youths, French police say they face an urban guerrilla war when they enter the run-down neighborhoods that ring the major cities. "Our role is to guarantee the safety of people and property but the great difficulty today is that police are having problems ensuring their own safety," said Jerome Hanarte of the Alliance-Police Nationale union. Bedside television interviews with officers hospitalized after beatings in "les banlieues," or suburbs, support...

FIVE people were shot dead and one policeman was wounded in a string of drive-by shootings by suspected Islamic militants in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said. A 60-year-old Buddhist cattle raiser was gunned down while walking, before suspected insurgents burned his body and left it on the roadside in Yala, one of three violence-torn southern provinces bordering Malaysia. A 52-year-old Buddhist street ice cream seller was also shot dead on Friday by two suspected insurgents on a motorcycle in Yala where another Muslim villager, 27, was killed late on the same day while riding a motorcycle, police said. In...

OAXACA, Mexico - Four youths wearing masks tossed gasoline bombs at a McDonald's restaurant in the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca on Sunday, damaging the windows, seats and play area, police said. Security personnel at the shopping center where the McDonald's is located extinguished the blaze, police said. The restaurant was closed during the pre-dawn attack, and nobody was hurt. The shopping mall is near a university where leftist protesters set up their headquarters last month after police drove them out of city's main plaza, which they had occupied for five months in a bid to force the resignation of the...

MARSEILLE, France — France's interior minister sent extra riot police to patrol the southern port city of Marseille on Sunday after a group of marauding teenagers torched a bus, seriously burning a young passenger. French police have braced for a surge of violence this weekend, as Friday was the first anniversary of the start of riots in poor neighborhoods where many immigrants and their French-born children live. In scattered violence Saturday, 46 people were taken into custody, most of them in the suburbs around Paris, and two police officers were slightly injured. The most serious violence was the bus attack...

A woman in the southern city of Marseille suffered severe burns when vandals set fire to a bus she was traveling on, a police source said on Saturday. The attack occurred as France marked the first anniversary of riots that scarred the country's poor suburbs, inhabited largely by immigrants. Vandals have set at least six buses on fire in suburbs around Paris this week in an upsurge of violence ahead of the anniversary, but there have been no injuries. The police source said an unknown number of people forced their way on to the bus in Marseille at about 9.00...

CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France -- Police deployed 4,000 reinforcements as marauding youths torched at least two public buses Friday, the anniversary of the deaths of two teenagers that ignited weeks of riots in largely immigrant housing projects across France. After the buses were burned, Paris' transport authority curtailed bus service in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of the capital, which is home to thousands of immigrants and their French-born children. Thierre Ange, a 19-year-old witness, said four men attacked the bus, "made everyone get off, then they hit a woman and dragged out the bus driver by his tie" and torched the bus...

PARIS, France -- Mixing rap music with memories of France's revolutionary past, youths from poor neighborhoods of largely Muslim and African descent marched through Paris on Wednesday to present a collection of 20,000 complaints to lawmakers. The march by several hundred people came ahead of Friday's first anniversary of the riots involving disaffected youths from immigrant Parisian suburbs. Many in France fear new violence, with tensions rising in recent weeks. "The context is still the same, nothing has changed. So the situation is propitious for other events like last year," said Samir Mihi, co-founder of the AC-Le Feu group that...