Turkey's main union federation has launched a two-day strike to protest against the violent police crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK), which represents some 240,000 workers, started a two-day strike from Tuesday in support of the protests.

The left-wing union has accused the government of committing "state terror."

"The state terror implemented against entirely peaceful protests is continuing in a way that threatens civilians' life safety," the KESK said in a statement, adding that the crackdown shows the government's "enmity to democracy."

The action will likely affect schools, universities and public offices across Turkey.

Artist is told 'there can be no doubt' of his sexual interest in children as he is sentenced for offences against former models

An internationally renowned artist has been given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after being found guilty of a string of sexual offences against former child models.

Sentencing Graham Ovenden at Plymouth crown court, Judge Graham Cottle told Ovenden: "There can be no doubt that at that time you had a sexual interest in children."

Ovenden, 70, who studied under the pop artist Sir Peter Blake, was convicted of six charges of indecency with girls and one allegation of indecent assault.

During his trial earlier this year Ovenden fiercely denied a sexual interest in children and claimed his images of naked girls were all about celebrating the innocence of childhood.

This is the controversial Luton Irishman behind the far right English Defence League who have been protesting against ethnic groups on Britain's streets in the aftermath of last month's Woolwich terrorist attack in London.

Founder Stephen Lennon has mobilised EDL members in violent anti-Islamic protests across the country, which has seen mosques and Muslim communities targeted, in the two weeks since Soldier Lee Rigby was killed.

Lennon had taken to Twitter to threaten to take on 'plastic paddies' at Wembley's England verses Ireland football friendly last Wednesday.

However, the threat was not followed through.

Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, was born to a Dublin mother and Scottish father in Luton, where he formed the extremist group in 2009.

Although he classes himself as an Englishman, he has publicly claimed to be 'proud' of his Irish heritage, but messages on his Twitter feed reveal the opposite.

Posts found on Lennon's social networking account, show the second-generation Irishman regularly refutes his heritage and abuses those who claim he is Irish.

He has also posted a string of anti-Irish slurs and remarks.

Rates of thyroid problems in children near the nuclear plant are highLike most fathers, Yoji Fujimoto frets about the health of his young children. In addition to normal parental concerns about the food they eat, the air they breathe and the environment they will inherit, however, he must add one more: the radioactive fallout from a nuclear disaster.

Three days after meltdown began at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on 11 March 2011, Mr Fujimoto moved his two daughters, then aged four and three, to safety hundreds of kilometres away. Last December, the eldest of the two was diagnosed with adenoidal cysts, the prelude to a type of cancer that often strikes the salivary glands. "I was told by the doctor that it's very rare," he says.

Although Mr Fujimoto and his family were in Chiba Prefecture, over 60 miles (100km) from the plant and in the opposite direction from the worst of the fallout, he believes his daughter inhaled enough radiation to cause her illness. "I'm convinced this is because of the Fukushima accident."

The United Nations said last week it did not expect to see elevated rates of cancer from Fukushima, but recommended continued monitoring. The report by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said prompt evacuation meant the dose inhaled by most people was low. Tokyo Electric Power Co, operator of the Daiichi plant, estimates the final tally for escaped radiation at 900,000 terabecquerels, about one-fifth the amount released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Most was vented in the first three weeks.

The precise impact of this radiation is bitterly contested, but at least one finding from Chernobyl seems consistent - elevated rates of thyroid cancer in children. The Chernobyl Forum, a 2003-05 UN-led study, cited close to 5,000 cases of thyroid cancers among those exposed under the age of 18 in the most affected areas, probably from drinking contaminated milk. Many scientists believe it takes four to five years for the cancers to develop.

Photos taken across the globe by Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti put life in the modern world into perspective, showing children across the globe with their most beloved toys and other items - the variation of which is truly shocking.

When I saw these photos from Galimberti's 'Toy Stories' project, I felt it was important to share with readers of NaturalSociety for a few very important reasons. It's important to remember that, even with our major struggles against corporate corruption and a food system under attack, the level of comfort that we enjoy in the United States and other first world nations is something that many children (most, in fact) around the world dream of. Children like the ones you will see in the photos below, such as Tangawizi from Kenya, literally live in a clay and wood shelter with a few blankets and a stuffed animal.

What's also interesting is the fact that photographer Galimberti says that there was an extreme difference when it came to sharing and openness. In fact, Galimberti says that poor children were quite open to sharing their toys and allowing him to play with them before the shoot. Richer children, however, were possessive of their toys and were unwilling to share them for quite some time before Galimberti was able to convince them to do so.

Cape Town - A comparison between a basket of goods by sister publication City Press on how food prices have increased over five years shows that seven basic items alone have increased by an accumulative 49% from January 2008 to April 2013.

The cost of bread, meat, milk, cheese, vegetables, sugar and cooking oil among others in January 2008 were compared with prices for the same products in April 2013. Where consumers had to pay R189.94 in January 2008 for these products, they now had to fork out R283.09 for the same items, a 49% increase from five years ago.

Other items in the basket that were compared, included luxury, "sin" goods chocolates, coffee, beer, wine and cigarettes, which also showed an accumulative 49% increase in the review period.

The price of bread alone skyrocketed 69% in the 5-year period, while meat went up 40%.

'Social media is the worst menace to society,' says Recep Erdogan after thousands take control of Istanbul's main square

Thousands of protesters have controlled Istanbul's main square once more after two days of violent clashes with rampaging riot police, as Turkey's prime minister vowed to press on with the controversial redevelopment that provoked the clashes.

Calling the protesters an "extremist fringe", Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the opposition Republican People's party for provoking the protests.

"We think that the main opposition party, which is making resistance calls on every street, is provoking these protests," Erdogan said on Turkish television, as an estimated 10,000 demonstrators streamed into the area waving flags and calling on the government to resign.

Thousands of protesters pack Istanbul's Taksim Square, over 900 arrested across Turkey


Police in Istanbul have withdrawn from Taksim Square, allowing the mass protest to continue unabated, Turkish media report. Istanbul and Ankara are entering the third day of violent protests, with tear gas and water cannon deployed and over 900 arrested.

Minor scuffles broke out after protesters lobbed fireworks at officers as they were drawing back, the state-run Anadolu Agency reports. Police removed barricades around the square, located in the heart of the city, which had previously been erected to prevent the anti-government protests, Private Dogan news agency said.

Despite the authorities decision to allow tens of thousands to flood onto the square, the main subway gateway to Taksim, the central station in the city's metro network, has reportedly been shut down in an effort to keep more people from reaching the ongoing protests.

Outrage over plans to replace a park in Istanbul's Taksim Square with a shopping mall became a flashpoint sparking anger in cities across Turkey over the policies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Source: CBS News

A fire at a poultry processing plant in China has killed at least 119 people, officials say.

The fire broke out at a slaughterhouse in Dehui in Jilin province early on Monday.

Accounts speak of explosions prior to the fire, which caused panic and a crush of workers trying to escape. Some exits were said to be locked.

The fire is now said to have been mostly put out and bodies are being recovered.

Sources including the provincial fire department suggest there may have been an ammonia leak which either caused the fire or made fighting the blaze more hazardous.

Other reports speak of an electrical fault.

An injured woman lies on a bed at a hospital in Changchun, after fire broke out at a poultry slaughterhouse in Dehui, Jilin province, on Monday Dozens of injured have been sent to hospital

It is China's deadliest fire since 2000, when 309 people died in a blaze in a dance hall in Luoyang, in Henan province. A labour activist told the BBC it was the worst factory fire in living memory.

About 100 workers had managed to escape from the Baoyuan plant, Xinhua said, adding that the "complicated interior structure" of the building and narrow exits had made rescue work more difficult.

It said the plant's front gate was locked when the blaze began.