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Massive blast rocks another chemical plant in China's Hunan province


RT
Sat, 09 Jan 2016 17:57 UTC
Lengshuijiang China
A massive fire broke out after a chemical plant exploded in the city of Lengshuijiang, in China's southeastern Hunan province, local media reports.

Firefighters managed to contain the blaze, local media reported, adding that there were no casualties as a result of the incident.

While there is no information available about the cause of the explosion, specialists are monitoring the air near the plant to check whether there has been any chemical contamination.

Last year, China was hit by a wave of explosions rocking its industrial facilities.

In December, a blast was reported at a pesticide plant in the city of Jilin in northeastern China. Authorities were forced to issue a warning to locals not to approach the plant.

In November, an explosion was reported at a chemical factory in Fushun, also in northeastern China. While no casualties were reported during this incident, a previous blast in October at a civilian-use explosives factory in eastern China left two people injured and nine were reported missing.


Comment: There have been an extraordinary number of explosions at chemical plants in China recently. There were also the explosions that rocked the Chinese city of Tianjin in August of last year:

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Quenelle - Golden

'I will not be silenced by fear' - Jewish student faces legal action for being pro-Palestinian


Sputnik
Sun, 10 Jan 2016 01:09 UTC
Bethany Koval
© Flickr/ woodleywonderworks
New Jersey high school student Bethany Koval has gained thousands of followers in social media overnight following accusations of bullying over her pro-Palestine messages.

The 16-year Israeli-American high school student with Jewish roots prompted public interest earlier this week after her anti-Israel tweets where she railed against the Netanyahu government's treatment with Palestine. Legality of her brave actions have been, however, put under consideration by Fair Lawn High School which she is attending after an alleged complaint by a classmate over the Christmas holiday.

On Wednesday, school officials called Koval down to discuss her activity on the internet, she live tweeted updates to her account, later making it private.

#IStand WithBenny went viral on Twitter as Koval's followers blamed the school administration and the large Jewish lobby in the US for reportedly calling her a terrorist sympathizer.

Comment: What an inspiring example of speaking truth to power, and what a fearless child - hopefully she'll receive the support she deserves. After all, what happens to this girl could happen to us all.

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Post-It Note

Note to America: When corruption is rampant, empires fall


WashingtonsBlog
Thu, 07 Jan 2016 21:39 UTC
empire over a cliff
Widespread corruption destroys empires.

By way of example, corruption was one of the main causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire:
The Praetorian Guard—the emperor's personal bodyguards—assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder [and see this]. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership.
The Ottoman Empire started its decline when the sale of offices, bribery and corruption became widespread. Indeed:
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Hourglass

Anti-government protesters set fire to Kosovo government HQ over EU-mediated deal with Serbia


RT
Sat, 09 Jan 2016 16:24 UTC
Kosovo government headquarters
© Agron Beqiri/Reuters
A police vehicle is set on fire by protesters during clashes in Pristina, Kosovo January 9, 2016.
Kosovo's government HQ has caught fire after anti-government protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the building. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters, who rallied against the government's EU-mediated agreements with Serbia.


A fire broke out at the Kosovo government building in Pristina after angered protesters pelted it with petrol bombs, according to photos and reports from the scene. Firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire while police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, according to Balkans-based reporters' Twitter accounts. Protesters, in turn, pelted stones and bottles at security forces.
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Binoculars

Rape culture is deeply rooted in Germany, not an imported phenomenon

Stefanie Lohaus and Anne Wizorek
Vice
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 20:31 UTC
main station of Cologne
© AP/Hermann J. Knippertz
A huge number of police officers patrol in front of the main station of Cologne, Germany, on Wednesday
Ever since New Year's Eve, German media have largely been discussing the violence at Cologne's central train station in terms of a rape culture that was imported into Germany - simply because the perpetrators in this case looked "Arab" or "North African",according to witnesses. The only point being, of course, that the men weren't white.

That's an idea that renders sexualised violence and theft harmless by trivialising and exorcising both notions. The fact that our society and its institutions aren't in any position to protect those affected by the violence and identify its culprits doesn't in any way mean that there's never been sexualised violence in Germany before. In fact, Germany's rape culture is deeply rooted in our collective psyche.

Sexual assaults and even rape happen every year at big events like Oktoberfest. "The way to the toilet alone is like running the gauntlet: within 50 feet, you can be sure to tally three hugs from drunken strangers, two pats on the ass, someone looking up your dirndl and some beer purposely splashed right down your cleavage," wrote Karoline Beisel and Beate Wild in 2011, in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. An average of 10 reported rapes take place each year at Oktoberfest. The estimated number of unreported cases is 200.

A 2004 study on the living conditions, security and health of women in Germany, showed that 13 percent of German women have experienced a form of criminal sexualised violence. The scandal is that only 8 percent of these women filed a complaint with the police. If you include multiple complaints, then the figure decreases to 5 percent. That means that an incredible 95 percent of women in Germany who experience sexual violence don't report it to the police.

Comment: The rape of any woman can never be excused or forgiven. But before even knowing what had happened that night in Cologne, the international media began to beat the drums of racism and Islamophobia from the minute the story broke. The only beneficiaries of this manufactured crisis were the neonazis and the powers that be that want to see Europe - and especially Germany - fall to pieces so that it can become easier to control. Using the refugee crisis to fulfill this strategy of division is only part of a bigger plan.

Read also: Mayor of German city where women were sexually assaulted during New Year's celebrations blames women for attacks

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Heart - Black

Price gouging continues unabated as Pfizer raises prices on over 100 medicines

Sarah Lazare
Common Dreams
Sat, 09 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
drug prices
Pfizer kicked off the New Year by quietly jacking up the costs of over 100 drugs

Pfizer's drug hike is consistent with broad industry trends. (Photo: A./flickr/cc)

Former pharma CEO Martin Shkreli, widely reviled for dramatically hiking the price of a life-saving drug used by HIV and cancer patients, is in good company.

Starting at the beginning of 2016, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. quietly jacked up the U.S. prices of over 100 of its drugs, some by nearly a fifth.

Reuters reported the findings on Friday, citing statistics from the information services company Wolters Kluwer that were included in a research note from by UBS Securities.

Comment: The pharmaceutical industry, like most psychopathic corporate entities exists merely for profit, despite the suffering of millions. The industry defends the high drug prices as a means of funding research to develop new drugs. But a close look at the finances of more than a dozen public drug companies illustrates research and development expenses are routinely smaller than company overheads, including marketing costs. And often after-tax profits still greatly exceed those R&D expenses that the companies say are so high.

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Cardboard Box

The longest depression: U.S. has never recovered from the 'great malaise' that begin in 2007


Washington's Blog
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
economic collapse
Sure, last year was the first pre-election year stock market loss since the Great Depression. And admittedly, this week was the worst opening week of any year ... EVER.

But that's not the big news.

The big news is that a prominent economist - University of California economics prof Brad DeLong - wrote today:
Economist Joe Stiglitz warned back in 2010 that the world risked sliding into a "Great Malaise." This week, he followed up on that grim prediction, saying, "We didn't do what was needed, and we have ended up precisely where I feared we would."

Joe Stiglitz is right.

In the aftermath of 2008, Stiglitz was indeed one of those warning that I and economists like me were wrong. Without extraordinary, sustained and aggressive policies to rebalance the economy, he said, we would never get back to what before 2008 we had thought was normal.

I was wrong. He was right.

Future economic historians may not call the period that began in 2007 the "Greatest Depression." But as of now, it is highly and increasingly probable that they will call it the "Longest Depression."

Comment:

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Arrow Down

The changing face of the homeless: Elderly, sick and disabled are increasingly finding themselves on the streets

Margot Kushel
The Conversation
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 06:19 UTC
homeless
© Sharon Stapleton / Reuters
Sheltering from the cold in Brooklyn
On any given night in the United States, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, over half a million people are without a home. That number may have decreased nationwide in the past few years, but California remains on the forefront of the problem, accounting for 20 percent of the country's homeless in 2014.

With the winter's freezing temperatures and El Niño's massive rainstorms, what to do about the thousands living in our city streets has been making headlines on both the East and West coasts.

What policymakers and the general public need to recognize is that the homeless are aging faster than the general population in the U.S. This shift in the demographics has major implications for how municipalities and health care providers deal with homeless populations.

In the early 1990s, only 11 percent of the adult homeless population was aged 50 and over. That percentage was up to 37 by 2003. Today half of America's homeless are over 50.

In fact, people born in the second half of the baby boom (1955-1964) have had an elevated risk of homelessness compared to other age groups throughout their lives.

Comment: There is nothing 'exceptional' (other than being exceptionally cruel and inhuman) about a government that is capable of funding military conflicts around the globe while choosing to ignore the desperate plight of those who have worked hard throughout their lives and in old age find themselves without any means of support.

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Brick Wall

Embezzlers, Hosni Mubarak and sons, lose appeal


Press TV
Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:31 UTC
mubarak, sons
© www.reuters.com
Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters with his sons Gamal (L) and Alaa (R) inside a cage in a courtroom during the trial.
Egypt's deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak and his sons lose an appeal against a three-year prison sentence handed down to them for corruption. The three-year sentence was issued on May 9, 2015. Egypt's top court of appeals rejected the request on Saturday.

The court found Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, guilty of embezzling public funds earmarked for the maintenance of Egypt's presidential palaces. The funds amounted to 125 million Egyptian pounds (USD 16 million, 14.7 million euros). The three individuals were fined the same amount and an extra 21 million pounds.

The length of Mubarak's detention is still not clear. The two sons were released in October last year with time served taken into account.

The former Egyptian dictator also faced other charges than the embezzlement, including ordering the deadly crackdown on the popular uprising of 2011 that led to his ouster. That charge was dropped in a separate trial. Seven of Mubarak's commanders were also exonerated in relation to the deaths of some of the roughly 800 demonstrators killed during the uprising.

Egypt has been struck by violence ever since Mohamed Morsi, the country's first democratically-elected president, was toppled by the military under the leadership of then head of the armed forces Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July 2013.

Comment: See also: Egypt: Hosni Mubarak and sons to be tried over deaths

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Propaganda

Be afraid, ISIS is coming! Philadelphia cop ambushed, shot 'in the name of Islam'

Justin Finch, Rahel Solomon, Walt Hunter and Natasha Brown
CBS News - Philadelphia
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:20 UTC
Philly cop shot
Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer is recovering after he was shot several times during an ambush late Thursday night in West Philadelphia.

Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross says the officer, identified as 33-year-old Jesse Hartnett, was sitting in his patrol car around 11:30 p.m. at 60th and Spruce Streets when a gunman fired nearly a dozen shots through the driver's side of the car.

"Shots fired! I'm shot! I'm bleeding heavily!" Officer Hartnett was heard yelling on police radio. Police are calling it an "attempted assassination." During a press conference, Commissioner Ross said the gun used in the attack was a stolen police firearm. "It was stolen back in October of 2013. It was reported, and that is one of the things you regret the most when an officer's gun is stolen, when it is used against one of your own."

Commissioner Ross says the suspect has given a full confession, saying he did it in the name of Islam. "According to him, police bend laws that are contrary to the teachings of the Quran." Sources say the suspect's full confession of the alleged attack was written down and recorded on video. Police identify the suspect as 30-year-old Edward Archer, of Yeadon.

"When you look at the video, this is one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Commissioner Ross said. "This guy tried to execute the police officer. The police officer had no idea he was coming. It's amazing he's alive." "We're thankful to God he's here today because it easily could've been a police funeral."


Comment: Will US-manufactured ISIS attack Americans on US soil?

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