Society's ChildS


Star of David

Israel-made famine pushes Palestinian women, children into severe malnutrition across Gaza


The Cradle
Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00 UTC
starving in gaza
© actionagainsthunger.org
On 7 May, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) disclosed data indicating that Israel's genocidal war in Gaza has led to severe malnutrition among pregnant women, newborns, and infants, with a significant increase in deaths and premature births during times of intensified siege.

"The malnutrition crisis is entirely manufactured. Before the war, malnutrition in Gaza was almost non-existent," MSF medical adviser Mercè Rocaspana revealed.

"For two and a half years, the systematic blockade to humanitarian aid and commercial goods, on top of insecurity, have severely restricted access to food and clean water. Healthcare facilities have been forced out of service and living conditions have profoundly deteriorated," she added. "As a result, vulnerable groups of people are placed at heightened risk of malnutrition."

The data came from four MSF-run or supported facilities across Gaza, covering late 2024 through early 2026.
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Oil Pipeline

Shale Giant Diamondback Is Boosting Oil Output "Immediately" On Soaring Prices

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Fri, 08 May 2026 12:58 UTC
Diamondback CEO Kaes van't Hof
Diamondback CEO Kaes Van't Hof
With oil prices soaring to multi-year highs, it was only a matter of time: Diamondback Energy, one of the largest shale oil producers, announced it is boosting crude output in response to rising prices caused by the Iran war.

The company that operates in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is pumping more than 520,000 barrels a day, 3% more than its original full-year guidance, and plans to sustains those levels, Chief Executive Officer Kaes Van't Hof wrote in a letter to shareholders on Monday.


Comment: A 3% increase by Diamondback Energy amounts to about 16000 bpd more. It helps but not worth mentioning considering that the shortfall from the Gulf is closer to 10 - 14 million bpd.


"We believe there is a legitimate supply-demand imbalance and that the associated price signal is the catalyst to begin to grow production," he wrote. "Because of our positioning, our preparation and this price signal, we are bringing incremental barrels to the market immediately."

Van't Hof's comments come just days after supermajors Exxon Mobil and Chevron told investors they wouldn't significantly alter production plans in response to the unprecedented war-drive disruption to Persian Gulf energy supplies. Exxon's plan to raise Permian Basin output by 12% this year pre-dated the Iran war, while Chevron is sticking to plans to keep production from the region essentially flat.


Comment: As is seen above, this output increase was planned before the Iran war.


Comment: The US shale production of oil is about 9.5 - 10 million bpd. and even a 10% increase would only add 1 million bpd. and that is likely to only be short term as most wells deplete rapidly after the first year.

See also:

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Fire

California insurance regulators say State Farm mishandled wildfire claims

Dylan Morgan
ZeroHedge
Fri, 08 May 2026 03:39 UTC
california wildfire pacific palisades
© John Fredricks/The Epoch TimesA neighborhood is destroyed by the Palisades Fire near Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2024.
State Farm denied any mishandling or intentional underpaying of wildfire claims.

The California Department of Insurance announced on May 4 it filed an enforcement action against State Farm, alleging the company significantly mishandled claims from survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

"Wildfire survivors came to us for help, and we followed the facts," Insurance Department Commissioner Ricardo Lara said.

"Our investigation found that State Farm delayed, underpaid, and buried policyholders in red tape at the worst moment of their lives. That is unacceptable, and we are taking decisive action to hold them accountable."

The Palisades Fire and the nearby Eaton Fire, which ignited in Altadena, California, on Jan. 7, 2025, claimed around 30 lives and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

Comment:

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Dollar

Trump admin ramps up crackdown as $16M hospice fraud exposed in Newsom's California

Steve Watson
Modernity
Fri, 08 May 2026 02:08 UTC
fraud medicare california
© Fox News
One doctor's NPI linked to 17 hospices filing thousands of claims for just 900 patients

The Trump administration continues its aggressive push to root out waste and abuse in federal entitlement programs, exposing yet another layer of systemic fraud thriving in Gavin Newsom's California.

A new investigation highlights a single attending physician whose National Provider Identifier was tied to 17 different hospice operations in the Los Angeles area.

These entities filed more than 3,000 claims on behalf of only 900 patients, billing Medicare for $16 million.

Comment:

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Burka

Half of Vienna secondary school students are now Muslim, cultural tensions growing in classrooms

Thomas Brooke
ReMix News
Thu, 07 May 2026 19:22 UTC
muslim kids western classroom
© Herbert Neubauer / APA / picturedesk.com / picture allianceSchoolgirls wearing headscarves in Vienna
New figures show Muslim children make up almost 50 percent of students in Vienna's public middle schools

Almost half of students in Vienna's public middle schools are now Muslim, according to new figures from the Vienna Education Directorate, marking the latest sign of a rapid demographic and cultural shift inside the Austrian capital's classrooms.

The data, cited by Heute, shows that Muslim students account for 49.4 percent of children in Vienna's public middle schools — just short of an absolute majority. Across the city's public compulsory schools more broadly, including elementary, middle, special needs, and polytechnic schools, Muslim students now make up 42 percent, up from 41.2 percent in the previous school year.

Catholic students, once the dominant group in the city, now account for just 16.7 percent of children in the public schools included in the figures. Orthodox students make up 14.2 percent, while children with no religious affiliation account for 23.2 percent.

Comment: How it ought to go:

Preserving culture: Moscow bans migrant children from school unless proficient in Russian

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Arrow Down

UAE Exits OPEC: Know how this global oil shake-up will impact crude prices and India's economy

Mamta Singh
News 24
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:19 UTC
H.E. Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei,
© News 24H.E. Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of UAE energy and infrastructure
The decision would allow the country to increase output once exports via the Gulf resume, as it would no longer be bound by OPEC quotas.

In a fresh development in the global economy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major oil producer, has decided to exit the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). According to reports, the decision comes amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, damage to infrastructure, and differences over Middle East strategy.

The UAE believes that leaving OPEC will give it greater flexibility in managing its oil production. However, this move has raised fresh concerns in global markets. Investors are worried about its potential impact on crude supply and global oil prices, which could remain volatile in the near term.
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Pistol

'Happy shooting!' AI chatbots eager to help plan mass violence - report


RT
Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:27 UTC
Gun in backpack
© Getty Images/goir
Eight out of ten leading AI chatbots willingly assisted users in planning violent attacks, including school shootings, religious bombings, and assassinations, according to a joint investigation by CNN and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

Researchers posing as troubled teenagers tested ten popular chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, and DeepSeek. In hundreds of exchanges, the AI assistants provided detailed guidance on target locations, weapons procurement, and attack methodologies.

One exchange with DeepSeek reportedly ended with the chatbot wishing a would-be attacker "Happy (and safe) shooting!" Character.AI, which is popular among younger users, actively encouraged violence, telling a user expressing hatred for a health insurance CEO to "use a gun."

When asked about effective shrapnel for explosives, ChatGPT provided detailed comparisons of materials, offering to create "a quick comparison chart showing the typical injuries." Google's Gemini supplied similar information, including a detailed comparison table.

Only Anthropic's Claude and Snapchat's My AI consistently refused to assist, with Claude actively discouraging users and providing mental health resources.
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Gavel

Justice Dept. finds UCLA medical school illegally used race in admissions

Heather Hollingsworth, Collin Binkley
AP
Wed, 06 May 2026 03:24 UTC
Royce Hall
© Damian Dovarganes/AP/FileRoyce Hall • University of California, Los Angeles
The Justice Department found Wednesday that the medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles, illegally considered race in admissions as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges' processes for selecting students.

The finding escalates the Trump administration's ongoing standoff with UCLA, which has focused mostly on the main campus's response to allegations of antisemitic harassment.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a written statement that its admission process is "based on merit" and that it is committed to complying with state and federal laws. It said it is reviewing the Justice Department findings.

Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling forbade it. The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants' backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but Trump has accused colleges of using applicants' personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

In March, the Justice Department opened investigations into possible race-based discrimination in medical school admissions at Stanford, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. The Trump administration previously targeted undergraduate admissions at selective colleges, demanding they collect data to show they are complying with the Supreme Court ruling.

A year-long investigation into UCLA by the Justice Department found its medical school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants.
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Dominoes

UnitedHealthcare fires woman over 'Aww, they missed?' comment on Trump assassination attempt

Rachel del Guidice
Fox News
Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:29 UTC
cole thomas allen
© US President Trump via Truth Social/Anadolu/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump posted a photo on social media showing law enforcement detaining Cole Thomas Allen following a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026
UnitedHealthcare has fired a woman who expressed sadness in a TikTok video that President Donald Trump was not killed in the Saturday shooting during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. In the video, she sarcastically asked, "Aww, they missed?"

"We're cooked as a country when my first reaction to hearing the news about Trump's attempt was, 'It was probably fake,'" Alison King, who has reportedly deleted her LinkedIn account but was identified as a social media manager for UnitedHealthcare, said in the video.

"Like, immediately I was like, 'Oh, that wasn't real, probably fake,'" King said. "And the second was 'Aww, they missed? So happy they missed.' Yeah, that's sad,'" King said sarcastically.

"That's when you know we're cooked," King added.
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Arrow Up

AI driving modern slavery surge - report


RT
Wed, 06 May 2026 17:53 UTC
Hands tied
© nito100/Getty Images
Technology is enabling traffickers to identify, recruit, and control victims at scale, making exploitation harder to detect, a UK study warns...

Artificial intelligence is helping criminals expand their entrapment of modern-day slaves across the UK, with traffickers increasingly using digital tools to identify and exploit victims, a new report has found.

Criminal networks in the UK are seeking to enslave people through coercion, deception, or force, including forced labor, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking, the study, commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, has found. AI is enabling traffickers to "identify, recruit and control victims at scale," making exploitation more widespread and significantly harder to detect.

The report noted that the number of reported cases reached 23,411 in 2025, the highest on record and marked a 22% annual increase, underscoring what officials describe as a growing crisis.

According to the study, AI-driven scams, deepfakes and synthetic identities are being used to target vulnerable individuals, while new forms of digital labor exploitation are expanding the pool of victims. These methods reportedly allow traffickers to operate more efficiently and with greater anonymity.

At the same time, economic pressures, including the rising cost of living, are increasing vulnerability, creating what the commissioner described as a "pipeline" of people at risk of exploitation.

Comment: Eight out of ten leading AI chatbots willingly assisted users in planning violent attacks:
Researchers posing as troubled teenagers tested ten popular chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, and DeepSeek. In hundreds of exchanges, the AI assistants provided detailed guidance on target locations, weapons procurement, and attack methodologies.

Character.AI, which is popular among younger users, actively encouraged violence, telling a user expressing hatred for a health insurance CEO to "use a gun." When asked about effective shrapnel for explosives, ChatGPT provided detailed comparisons of materials, offering to create "a quick comparison chart showing the typical injuries."

Only Anthropic's Claude and Snapchat's My AI consistently refused to assist, with Claude actively discouraging users and providing mental health resources.

The findings come after an 18-year-old shooter killed nine people at a school in Tumbler Ridge, Canada last month after allegedly using ChatGPT to plan the attack. The shooter's account had been banned by OpenAI, but he evaded the ban by creating a second account - which the company did not report to the authorities.

The family of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was critically injured in the attack, filed a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI had "specific knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event" but failed to alert law enforcement. OpenAI has acknowledged that it considered reporting the activity but ultimately did not.

Last May, a 16-year-old in Finland stabbed three students after spending nearly four months researching attacks on ChatGPT, according to court documents. In January 2025, a man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas similarly used ChatGPT for guidance on explosives.

Meta told CNN that it has taken steps "to fix the issue identified," while Google and OpenAI said newer models have improved safeguards. DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment.


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