Society's ChildS


X

Yoshiki Sasai suicide: Japanese stem cell scientist found dead in Kobe facility

Philip Ross
International Business Times
Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:16 UTC
Image
© ReutersYoshiki Sasai, deputy director of the Riken's Center for Developmental Biology in Japan, attends a news conference in Tokyo April 16, 2014. Sasai, a Japanese researcher at the center of discredited research that was initially hailed as a potential breakthrough for stem cell treatment, killed himself after months of stress and exhaustion, officials said on Tuesday.
A Japanese scientist who was among a team of researchers accused of falsifying the results of two stem cell studies committed suicide Tuesday at a government science institute in western Japan. Yoshiki Sasai, deputy director of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology, was found by a security guard at the Kobe facility with a rope around his neck, the Associated Press reports. Authorities said he had suffered from cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead two hours later.

Sasai, 52, was considered an expert in embryonic stem cell research and co-authored two research papers published in January in the journal Nature that detailed a seemingly groundbreaking method of harvesting stem cells to grow new human tissue. Sasai and lead author Haruko Obokata reported having successfully altered ordinary mouse cells into versatile stem cells by immersing them in a mildly acidic solution. The resulting cells were named stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells.
Read More...
Airplane

Expensive sanctions: Western airlines could be banned from overflying Siberia in tit-for-tat measure over sanctions


The Siberian Times
Tue, 05 Aug 2014 04:31 UTC
Senior government official issues warning over possible curb which could hit major air carriers.
Image
© Virgin AtlanticExamples of Western airlines overflying Siberia are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
Russian lawmakers are considering limiting or banning transit flights across Siberia on the Europe-Asia route, according to a high-ranking government official.

A report was carried on Tuesday by Vedomosti newspaper and cited by other major Russian media including RIA Novosti.

Consultations are believed to have been held by the Transport Ministry and Foreign Ministry over curbs on Western airlines which have dozens of flights daily using Siberian airspace.

'Any unfriendly measures taken by the EU, including that concerning air transportation, will be considered and not left without the response,' a diplomatic source told Vedomosti. 'To fly to Asia European airlines presently use the shortest Trans-Siberian route and pay for it to Russian Aeroflot. According to the source close to the company, Aeroflot receives less than $300 million annually from foreign airlines,' reported RIA Novosti.
Read More...
Display

Italian online petition urges 'Nuremberg for Israel' over Palestinian genocide


RT
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 01:46 UTC
Italians protest Israel
© rt.comItalians petition for a Nuremberg trial for Israel.
Hundreds of Italians have signed an online petition slamming Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip as a "slow genocide" of the Palestinians and demanding a "Nuremberg trial" for Israel over the "destruction" of Palestine.

The petition was signed by 525 Italians, mainly academics, Haaretz reported. The signees say they are dismayed by the events in Gaza and accuse Israel of pursuing colonial policies and "ethnic cleansing" of the Palestinians.
The document calls for Israel to face an international tribunal, a Nuremberg-like trial, for its war crimes and the "slow genocide" of the Palestinian people. Italian activists believe that not only the Israeli military and the government, but also the entire state of Israel and "its accomplices" should be brought to trial over current events, as well as those in the past and "the foreseeable future."
The online document also blames the US for supporting Israel, and the EU for "active or passive complicity" in Israel's actions against the Palestinian people. The petition signees also accuse the United Nations of its failure to stop Israel. The Western media, according to activists, paints the events in the wrong light, justifying the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a self-defense operation.

Called 'Noi Accusiamo' (We Accuse), the petition was initially published on an academic website, Historia Magistra, but has gone viral after being re-posted on the website of left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto.

Comment: An old man in Gaza held a placard that said: "You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all, humiliate us all but I am to blame: I shot a rocket back."

Since inception in 1948, Israel has systematically become a terrorist state. Its hypocrisy, disinformation and subterfuge authorize self-permission for genocide, destruction, ruthless brutality--including using extreme methods against itself in order to further an agenda (as in the murders of three Israeli teens blamed on Hamas and the killing of its own IDF soldier in order to violate the recent ceasefire). It has purposefully and willfully brought Gaza to the brink of collapse while, without mercy, the death toll of innocent civilians keeps rising. Who will stop this massacre? Who will hold Israel (and accomplices) accountable? And, what is taking so long?

Read More...
Bizarro Earth

'This is devastation': Toxic British Columbia mine spill compared to Exxon Valdez disaster

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 22:27 UTC
BC Disaster
A ruptured dam in a Canadian mine released 4.5 million cubic meters of toxic silt and 10 million cubic meters of water into a nearby lake on Monday, with local First Nations activists already comparing the incident to other disasters, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

"Like the Exxon Valdez, Mount Polley will be synonymous with one of the most disastrous environmental events in British Columbia," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said in a statement. "The frightening fact is both environmental disasters could have been prevented by vigorous government oversight by an effectively resourced agency bound by robust legislative and environmental safeguards."
Read More...
Heart - Black

Six youths were taken to a bathroom in a house in Khuzaa and executed by Israeli forces


Al Jazeera
Fri, 01 Aug 2014 08:38 UTC
khuzaa
People and destroyed buildings in Khuza'a, southern Gaza
Israel and Palestinian groups are blaming each other for violating a 72-hour truce that broke down just hours after coming into effect on Friday.

An Al Jazeera team arrived at Khuzaa in Khan Younis to find people retrieving decomposing bodies from homes.

Witnesses said six youths had been taken to a house and executed by Israeli forces. The bodies were left there for several days.

One man said: "It is a mass execution of six Palestinian youths who were brought to this bathroom. Look at the gunshots on the wall."
Read More...
Heart - Black

Pastor John Hagee: God thinks 'nasty' welfare recipients should get a job or starve

Tom Boggioni
The Raw Story
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:38 UTC
John Hagee
© Unknown
In his Sunday sermon at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Pastor John Hagee explained that it is "God's position" that welfare recipients should get a job or expect to starve, according to Right Wing Watch.

Stating that America has an underclass of citizens dependent upon help from the government equal to the population of Spain, Hagee asserted that there is a division in America, "Those who pay double through taxes, and those who get a free ride. This is not justice, and this is not the American way."

While admitting that there are some unfortunate Americans who need help, Hagee admonished others to get off the couch and get a job.

"To those of you who are sick, to those of you who are elderly, to those of you who are disabled, we gladly support you," he said as his voice began to rise. "To the healthy who can work but won't work, get your nasty self off the couch and go get a job!"

Hagee went on to say that "America has rewarded laziness and we've called it welfare," before adding "The Bible says 'The man who does not work, should not eat.' I know the liberals hate that verse, but read it and weep! It's God's position."

The video does not show Hagee reading Matthew 25:35 where occasionally-employed itinerant carpenter Jesus Christ reportedly said, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
Read More...
Dominoes

Latest Gallup poll shows young Americans overwhelmingly support Palestine


Middle East Monitor
Sun, 03 Aug 2014 08:23 UTC
protests wdc
Protestors at Washington DC
Large demonstrations against Israel's assault on Palestinians in Gaza were staged across the US on Saturday. The public outpouring of support for Palestinians in US streets suggests that Washington's pro-Israel policies are becoming increasingly unpopular, a trend supported by a recent poll on Israel's latest aggression, which finds that young Americans are twice as likely to support Palestinian rights than Israeli occupation.

Tens of thousands of Americans held a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, DC. Protestors travelled in buses from around the country to join the national rally, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "free Palestine" in the US capital.

On the other side of the country, thousands of Americans staged a protest in Austin, Texas while a plane flew in the skies with the message "save Gaza free Palestine".
Read More...
Wine

Snowden finds new home in hospitable Russia


RT
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 07:54 UTC
snowden
© Agence France-Presse/Frederick FlorinEdward Snowden
Edward Snowden has received a residence permit in Russia, which is valid for three years, starting on August 1, the former NSA contractor's lawyer announced.

"On the first of August he received a three-year residence permit," lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters.

He added that Snowden had not asked for political asylum.

"He will be able to travel freely within the country and go abroad. He'll be able to stay abroad for not longer than three months," Kucherena said.
Read More...
Stormtrooper

Israel's military policy sparks dissent among troops


RT
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 23:42 UTC
Palestinian man carries his belongings
© Reuters / Suhaib SalemA after returning to his destroyed house in Beit Hanoun town, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during the Israeli offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip August 5, 2014
Dissenting voices are being heard among the Israeli military, as the IDF withdraws its forces from Gaza. Over 1,800 Palestinians - the vast majority of them civilians - were killed in the almost month-long operation.

The week has brought what relentless rallies around the globe have been continuously demanding. On Tuesday, Israel declared that its mission in the Gaza Strip had been accomplished; Hamas tunnels and hideouts were destroyed and troops could finally withdraw. As of Wednesday, over 1,800 Palestinians had been killed - most of them civilians, including hundreds of women and children, according to the UN.

Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the Israel Defense Forces as a "moral" army, some within the military disagree.

Yehuda Shaul, co-founder of Breaking the Silence - an organization of veteran Israeli combatants - told RT's Paula Slier that many soldiers are questioning Israel's actions.

"There are a lot of soldiers who come back and say to themselves, 'What the hell are we doing here? Why are we using so much force? Why are we treating them this way?'" he said.

The UN said Wednesday that it "understands the legitimate security right to defend Israeli citizens from the threat of rocket attacks by Hamas." Three civilians in Israel were also killed, as well as 64 Israeli soldiers.
Read More...
War Whore

4 Million Ukrainians in war zone on the verge of humanitarian crisis


RIA Novosti
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:32 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti. Valery Melnikov People after Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Luhansk
Four million people are in the combat area in eastern Ukraine, and 200,000 of them are deprived of water, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said Tuesday at an emergency UN Security Council session on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

"About four million people are in the war zone [in Ukraine.] Over 200,000 of them are deprived of potable water. Sanitary and epidemiological situation is critical in Luhansk," Churkin said.

According to Russia's UN envoy, residential houses have no electricity or water supply, water is not decontaminated, landline and mobile communications are cut, refuse is not removed.

"Ukrainian nationals are leaving the country in masses," Churkin said and precised that since the start of the crisis almost 800,000 people have crossed the border with Russia and have stayed there. "The number of people who applied to the migration services to legalize their stay is up to 170,000."
Read More...