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Bizarro Earth

Palestinian boy allegedly kidnapped, found drowned

Qais Abu Rmaileh drowned boy palestinian
© @SadaeMazlomeenQais Abu Rmaileh was found dead in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.
UPDATE: 26/01/2019

Despite reports and his family's initial fears that he might have been kidnapped by Israeli settlers, as happened to Abu Khdair years ago, police confirmed that Qais Abu Rmaileh drowned in an open cistern.

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An eight-year-old Palestinian boy who went missing in East Jerusalem Friday afternoon was found dead at the bottom of a cistern filled with rainwater after long hours of search efforts Saturday

Qais Abu Rmaileh was found in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina and was immediately taken to Hadassah hospital, where lifesaving attempts were unsuccessful.

Comment: Quds Network interviewed a diver, Khaled Olayyan, involved in the search for Qais Abu Rmaileh
"I heard that there was a child from Jerusalem, who had been kidnapped or lost since the afternoon and had not come back home until late at night. So, the search operations took off but that was in vain", said Khaled Olayyan.
Khaled Olayyan palestinian boy drowned
Diver Khaled Olayyan searches the culvert for a missing Palestinian boy, later found drowned.
The Palestinian former prisoner, Khaled Olayyan, told QNN that he went out with a group of young men from Jabal Al Mukabbir in southern Jerusalem at 9:00 pm towards Beit Hanina, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered to put a search plan, which may save the life of the then lost 8-year-old boy Qais Abu Rmeileh.

After several hours of search, the locals decided to empty a box culvert of rainwater using a vehicle owned by the Israeli rescue unit. At the same time, the locals found another box culvert and rushed to search for the boy inside it.

The Israeli police accompanied the locals but refused to cooperate or help them. It refused even to provide adequate lighting to help search for the boy. An Israeli lifeguard refused to dive inside the box culvert, claiming that "the water was too cold".

Although of the weather temperature, which approached freezing yesterday, Olayyan "removed his clothes and kept with others to search for the boy for half an hour".

After he and other young men left the water, everyone started to warm them. After an hour, their body temperature decreased and a medical intervention became necessary.

Olayyan stressed that the Israeli police did not cooperate with the Palestinians at all. It even started attacking the locals, who were searching for the boy, without providing any reasons. Stun and poisonous grenades in addition to Paton and rubber-coated metal bullets were used against the locals as if it was a confrontation, not a rescue operation
Quds Network also reported:
The body of Qais Abu Rmeileh was found inside a box culvert, in which he seemingly fell. Medical teams tried to revive him but he was already dead.

The Palestinian Red Crescent stated that its teams have dealt with nearly 19 injuries among locals, who were attacked by the Israelis during the search operations.

Two divers and three others were wounded as well due to the very cold water.

The National Social Movement held the occupation authorities responsible for the tragic incident because they left a dangerous watershed in a very vital area, which includes schools, markets, and playgrounds, untreated and uncovered without even warning locals.

"If the residents were Jewish, there would have been no such negligence", the statement added.



Car Black

GM to invest $2.2B in Detroit to build electric vehicles

General Motors
General Motors is spending $2.2 billion to refurbish an underused Detroit factory so it can build a series of electric and self-driving vehicles, eventually employing 2,200 people.

GM said in a statement Monday that the factory will start building the company's first electric pickup late in 2021, followed by a funky-looking self-driving shuttle for GM's Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.

The truck will be the first of several electric vehicles to be built at the plant, which straddles the border between Detroit and the enclave of Hamtramck. The company has plans to revive the Hummer nameplate for one of the vehicles.

In November of 2018 GM announced plans to close the factory along with three others in the U.S. But the company promised to reopen Detroit-Hamtramck to build electric vehicles during last fall's contentious contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union.

Comment: See also: Study shows electric cars become practically useless in cold weather


Pistol

Manhunt in France after fierce street shootout with 'Kalashnikovs' captured on video in city of Nimes

Kalashnikov assalt rifles
© Reuters / Arben CeliAK-47 Kalashnikov assalt rifles seized from crime gangs operating in Europe.
Police are reportedly on high alert in southern France after a violent shootout took place in the streets of the city of Nimes. Videos captured at the scene suggest that Kalashnikov-type assault rifles were used in the gunfight.

Repeated gunfire bursts were heard in the French city as at least two people "armed with Kalashnikovs" roamed the streets around 8:30pm local time, according to witnesses and videos they shared on social media.


There were no immediate reports of any casualties or injuries, although according to local newspaper Midi Libre there was some "material damage."


The shooting may have been related to turf wars between rival gangs operating in the Pissevin district of Nimes, locals have speculated in the absence of any official statement. Authorities have yet to comment on the incident.

Gold Coins

Embittered UK Remainers pledge to vandalize and SHUN commemorative Brexit coin

brexit coin britain boycott
© HO / HM TREASURY / AFPThe Brexit 50p caused quite a stir when it was officially launched on Sunday.
It was meant to be a token of 'peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations,' but the UK government's Brexit 50p has become another symbol of the disunity in Britain, as Remainers pledge to boycott the commemorative coin.

Around three million of the coins will enter banks, Post Offices and shops when the UK finally leaves the European Union on Friday 31 January, and a further seven million will enter circulation later this year.

The official launch of the new piece of change, which bears the words 'peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations,' sparked a hysterical reaction from prominent Remainers on Sunday, with many pledging that they would refuse to handle the coin.

Comment: The countdown has begun. Will any party pull a rabbit out of a hat to once again halt the UK's exit? Or will the final agreement with the EU be so toothless that Britain could have skipped all the drama of the last four years?


Bullseye

Greek police report seizure of nearly 1.2 tons of cocaine

Cocaine
Greek police say they seized nearly 1.2 tons of cocaine and arrested 8 alleged members of an international drug trafficking gang.

Almost all of the cocaine, 1.18 tons, was found during a Friday afternoon raid at a house in the western Greek port of Astakos, police spokesman Theodoros Chronopoulos said Saturday.

The drugs were carefully packaged in 1,040 nylon bags, ready to be distributed to intermediaries, Chronopoulos said.

Four more home raids in the Athens area yielded a small amount of cocaine, some cannabis, an AK-47 assault rifle and three pistols. Police also seized over 233,000 euros ($257,000) in cash and impounded five vehicles.

Target

The right to protest against Israel's policies threatened

Manchester HSBC
© PSCRight to protest threatened/ 30 HSBC bank branches picketed over Israeli apartheid.
In the summer of 2018, when the media was dominated by daily stories about Labour's anti-semitism crisis, Brian Klug, one of the world's foremost academic experts on anti-semitism, issued a plea for reasoned and informed thinking on the issue in place of the kind of moral panic which was ensuing.

At that time, the supposed touchstone of Labour's commitment to addressing anti-semitism was its willingness to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-semitism unamended and with no additional accompanying text.

Klug's forensic piece illustrated the illegitimacy of this argument, but ended with a heartfelt warning:
"Part of me feels the hopelessness of appealing to reason, a sense of swimming against a mighty and unmindful current of opinion... rallying around the IHRA text as if it were the eternal word of God."
Move forward 18 months and the headlong rush by all of Labour's candidates for leader to endorse the Board of Deputies 10 pledges for action on anti-semitism, showed the prescience of Klug's warning that appeals for reason would go unheeded.

Comment: See also:


Pistol

Commander of Iranian security forces murdered outside his home by masked gunmen

Mojaddami
© TwitterBasij commander Abdolhossein Mojaddami
Iranian Basij forces commander Abdolhossein Mojaddami was gunned down in front of his own home on Wednesday in the Khuzestan province of Iran, news agency IRNA reported.

The Basij forces, one of the five forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), are often used to suppress protests and demonstrations in the Islamic Republic. He was killed by two men who wore masks and were riding a motorcycle, Iranian media reported. Iranian security forces are investigating the matter.

The killing could possibly signal that the regime is unable to contain widespread discontent among the Iranian public. Mojaddami's murder follows the assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani earlier this month by US special forces.

Comment: More details from Iran News Update 22/1/2020:
Two gunmen on a motorcycle, armed with an assault rifle and a hunting rifle, ambushed Mojaddami, IRNA reported. Other Iranian media said the gunmen's faces were covered with masks and that four shots were fired.

The case is under investigation and a motive was not immediately clear, but Basij units had been involved in violent clashes with demonstrators in the area in November in which many protesters were injured and killed.

Mojaddami's killing is seen another blow to the Revolutionary Guard. Mojaddami was described by IRNA as an associate of Soleimani, who was the head of the Quds forces, the foreign wing of the Guard.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination nor has a motive been established.



Star of David

No reprieve! Israel continues flooding Gaza farmland to destroy Palestinian food supply

Gaza farmland destroyed
© Mohammed Asad/MEMOIsraeli forces opened rainwater stores allowing water to flood Gaza January 2020.
Israeli authorities have "for days now" been opening rainwater stores near the besieged Gaza Strip drowning Palestinian land, the enclave's agriculture ministry reported yesterday.

The ministry added that the occupation forces were "controlling the opening and closing of the rainwater stores in Gaza," noting that it had damaged Palestinian farmers' crops.

Two million Palestinians live in the enclave which has been under a strict Israeli-led siege for 13 years. As a result, unemployment has soared with the farming industries providing an income for thousands of Palestinians.

Poverty rates in Gaza reached 75 per cent in 2019, with 34 per cent of Gaza residents living in abject poverty, Deputy Welfare Ministry in Gaza Ghazi Hamad said in October last year.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Down

'So much for special relationship': US rejects extradition request for American agent's wife

Harry Dunn's mother
© Reuters/Dylan MartinezHarry Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles outside Buckingham Palace
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been ridiculed on social media for a weak response to Washington rejecting the extradition request for Anne Sacoolas, a US agent's spouse charged with teenager Harry Dunn's death.

Dunn was killed in a head-on crash with a car in August last year near to RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, England. Sacoolas, the driver of the vehicle, claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the US. Her husband is thought to be a US intelligence officer.

Following the US administration's decision, Raab took to Twitter on Friday to reveal that he had been in contact with the US ambassador to "express the [UK] Govt's disappointment," adding that they were "now urgently considering our options."

Comment: See also:


Stop

China temporarily bans wildlife trade in wake of outbreak

Dead animal market
Chinese authorities announced a temporary ban on the trade of wild animals Sunday following a viral outbreak in Wuhan, saying they will "severely investigate and punish" violators.

Local authorities will "strengthen inspections and severely investigate and punish those who are found in violation of the provisions of this announcement," read the the ban issued by three government agencies.

No wildlife can be transported or sold in any markets or online, according to text of the announcement in state media. Suspected violators will be sent to security services, and their will be properties closed and sealed. Legal breeding centers will be quarantined.

The ban will continue until "the epidemic situation is lifted nationwide" in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus and block potential sources of infection and transmission.

Comment: See also: New research casts doubt coronavirus epidemic started at Wuhan food market