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Cristiano Ronaldo allegedly used 'fixers' to obstruct investigation into rape allegations made against him [Update]


RT
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:37 UTC
ronaldo
© Alberto Lingria / Reuters
Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of using a team of 'fixers' to obstruct a criminal investigation into allegations he raped a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room and coerced the victim into accepting $375,000 hush money.

Football icon Ronaldo is being sued by Kathryn Mayorga, 34, over the incident which allegedly took place in a Vegas penthouse suit in 2009, after a night of partying.

Las Vegas police confirmed that a they have reopened a sexual assault case from the same year, as per the request of the woman named in the suit made last month, AP reports.

Comment: According to RT Ronaldo continues to firmly deny the charges:
Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has tweeted his 'firm denial' of the accusations of rape of an American woman, saying that the 'abominal crime' goes against 'everything I am'.

Ronaldo tweeted on Wednesday: "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense."

The player then followed that tweet with a further post referencing the situation: "My clear conscious will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations," he wrote.


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Star of David

The last six months in Gaza have been like another war

Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb
Aljazeera
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Gaza medic
© Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Medics carry a wounded man during a protest, demanding Palestinians' right to return to their homeland, at the fence between Israel and Gaza on August 31, 2018.
As a doctor living and working in Gaza all my life, I thought I had seen it all. I felt I knew the limits of what Gaza can endure

But the last six months have been the most difficult I have experienced in my 15 years with MSF in Gaza. And I have lived and worked through three wars: in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

The human suffering and devastation I saw over the past few months have reached another height. The shocking volume of wounded has been overwhelming.

I will never forget Monday, May 14. In the span of 24 hours, the local health authorities recorded a total of 2,271 wounded, including 1,359 people injured by live ammunition. I was on shift that day with the surgical team of al-Aqsa hospital, one of the main hospitals in Gaza.

At 3pm we started receiving the first wounded from the demonstration. More than 300 arrived though the doors in less than four hours. I had never seen so many patients in my life.

Hundreds were lining up to get into the operating theatre; the corridors were full; everyone was crying, shouting and bleeding.

No matter how hard we worked, we could not cope with the huge number of injured. It was too much. Gunshot after gunshot, our team worked for 50 hours straight trying to save lives.

It brought back the memories of the 2014 war. But really, nothing could have prepared us for what we saw on May 14. And what we are still seeing today.
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Bizarro Earth

Moving to higher ground: Flooding along the US' coastal areas is fueling a mass migration inland

Oliver Milman
The Guardian
Mon, 24 Sep 2018 21:00 UTC
climate migrants

Comment: The following article is awash in global warming hysteria and its predicted catastrophes. Just remember when reading this that although sea levels have been slightly rising, that trend may be reversing. Ice is now growing at both poles (except for areas such as West Antarctica, where undersea volcanoes are providing a heat source) and scientists have noted that the earth is undergoing a major cooling event; many are warning that we are facing an impending ice age. Yes, coastal areas are flooding (and so are other areas). These 'once in a lifetime' floods that are becoming increasingly common along with other extreme weather patterns have nothing to do with rising CO2 levels or man-made global warming, but are part of a natural cyclical pattern. For a much more comprehensive explanation of these changes, read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection - a review can be found here.


After her house flooded for the third year in a row, Elizabeth Boineau was ready to flee. She packed her possessions into dozens of boxes, tried not to think of the mold and mildew-covered furniture and retreated to a second-floor condo that should be beyond the reach of pounding rains and swelling seas.

Boineau is leaving behind a handsome, early 20th-century house in Charleston, South Carolina, the shutters painted in the city's eponymous shade of deep green. Last year, after Hurricane Irma introduced 8in of water into a home Boineau was still patching up from the last flood, local authorities agreed this historic slice of Charleston could be torn down.

"I was sloshing through the water with my puppy dog, debris was everywhere," she said. "I feel completely sunken. It would cost me around $500,000 to raise the house, demolish the first floor. I'm going to rent a place instead, on higher ground."

Millions of Americans will confront similarly hard choices as climate change conjures up brutal storms, flooding rains, receding coastlines and punishing heat. Many are already opting to shift to less perilous areas of the same city, or to havens in other states. Whole towns from Alaska to Louisiana are looking to relocate, in their entirety, to safer ground.

Comment: People might want to consider moving away from low-lying coastal areas due to the threat of extreme storms, but as mentioned above there is no evidence to suggest that 'global warming' is behind these weather patterns. Extremes of both heat and cold have been witnessed and are all part of a natural process that cannot be halted by ludicrous schemes to reduce greenhouse gasses.

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Flashlight

'Loud boom' heard near California's Defense Language Institute being investigated

Amy Larson
KSBW
Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:06 UTC
Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA
© KSBW
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center briefly went on lockdown Friday morning because of a loud noise heard near the U.S. Army Presidio of Monterey.

Presidio officials said they are investigating what caused the noise, and have determined that there is no threat.

One witness described the sound to KSBW as a "loud boom," and said it sounded like a bomb went off.

Presidio spokesman Steven Shepard said the noise was reported from the vicinity of the Presidio's Tin Barn building. But investigators determined the noise came from somewhere off base.

Monterey police are taking over the investigation. It's still unclear what caused the noise.
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Donut

Dunkin' Donuts employees dump water on homeless schizophrenic; internet raises over $18K to help him out

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:00 UTC
homeless go fund me
Jeremy Dufresne - a mentally ill homeless man who suffers from schizophrenia - was in a Dunkin' Donuts last week charging his phone so he could call his mom to tell her good night. While sitting there, harming no one, two employees filled a pitcher with cold water and dumped it on his head. One dumped the water while the other filmed it. The video went viral and and the internet reacted with outrage.

As the video shows, Dufresne has his head on the table as the two employees sneak up behind him and then pour the water out. Dufresne immediately jumps up and looks back at the two bullies laughing at him.

"How many times I've got to tell you to stop sleeping in here?" the employee tells Dufresne in the video as the pair laughs. "You're here all day."

The video was uploaded to Facebook and subsequently went viral, receiving over 4.5 million views.
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Heart - Black

UK police rescue 58yo man 'kept as slave' living in shed for 40yrs


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 18:58 UTC
UK man slave
© Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority
Authorities say the man lived in "shocking conditions" in this shed for decades
A potential victim of modern slavery has been rescued from a six-foot shed, where it's believed he has been kept in captivity for the past four decades.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) in conjunction with Cumbria Police rescued the 58-year-old man on October 3 after receiving an anonymous tip via a confidential helpline.

"The information that was given to us was that he had been kept in the shed for a period of 40 years. When we found him he was like a rabbit in headlights and very confused," Martin Plimmer from the GLAA said, as quoted by The Metro UK.
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X

China completely stops buying oil from US amid trade war tensions


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 18:53 UTC
oil pipeline china
© Stringer Shanghai / Reuters
America's second-largest oil client, China, has completely stopped buying crude from the United States as trade tensions between the world's two largest economies continue to grow.

While oil has not been included on the list of bilateral tariffs, Chinese refiners have been staying away from buying crude from the US.

"We are one of the major carriers for crude oil from the US to China. Before [the trade war] we had a nice business, but now it's totally stopped," Xie Chunlin, the president of CMES, said on the sidelines of the Global Maritime Forum's Annual Summit in Hong Kong, as quoted by Reuters.
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Eye 1

Neo-nazi who shot 6 African migrants in Italy says he was 'wrong' and is 'sorry'


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 18:01 UTC
Luca Traini
© Reuters
Luca Traini
A neo-nazi extremist who randomly shot six Africans in a rampage in an Italian town thinking it would avenge the brutal murder of a young woman, now faces 12 years in jail. Luca Traini told the court he was "wrong" and is "sorry."

Traini, who is now 29, spent the morning of February 3 cruising around the town of Macerata for about two hours, firing at African migrants from the window of his car with a pistol. Six people were injured.

As he faces justice over the brutal shooting spree, prosecutors have called for a 12-year jail term for Traini - just under half of the maximum 22-year penalty for his offences. Prosecutors accepted Traini's guilty plea and requested a simplified court procedure.

Comment: It's pretty unlikely that Traini is actually a 'changed man' when he's blaming 'a difficult childhood' for his actions.

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USA

Sad statistic: Only 1-in-3 pass 'US citizenship test,' just 19% for Americans 45 and younger

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:56 UTC
US citizenship pledge
© Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
Just a third of Americans can pass a multiple choice "U.S. Citizenship Test," fumbling over such simple questions as the cause of the Cold War or naming just one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for.

And of Americans 45 and younger, the passing rate is a tiny 19 percent, according to a survey done for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Worse: The actual test only requires that 60 percent of the answers be correct. In the survey, just 36 percent passed.

Comment: RT adds
An overwhelming majority of Americans have no clue about their history or civic culture, with only 36 percent of natives able to pass the US Citizenship Civics Test taken by foreigners, a new study has shown.

Surprisingly enough, those born with the inherent right to be called Americans failed to answer even the basic questions about their history and culture, a national survey released by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation revealed.

There are 100 civics questions on the naturalization test, which immigrants must answer to gain US citizenship. Candidates are asked 10 questions from the entire list, and are required to answer six of them correctly in order to become eligible for a US passport.

Just one-in-three Americans passed the multiple choice exam that is undertaken by foreigners. Shockingly, 87 percent of respondents did not know that the US Constitution was ratified in 1787, while 60 percent of respondents couldn't identify which countries fought in World War II against the US and its allies.

While many Americans aren't shy when it comes to expressing their opinion regarding the controversy surrounding US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, only 43 percent knew the actual number of justices (nine) that protect the nation's constitution.

Some 72 percent failed to correctly identify the 13 original states from a list of options offered to them in the multiple-choice questions.

The problem with basic civic knowledge seems to be more acute for those aged 45 and under, with only 19 percent passing the mock test. Those 65 years and older, however, managed to answer the questions with 74-percent success rate.

While the results might seem surprising to some, the US public education system lags behind most developing nations. According to the 2015 International Student Assessment (PISA), which was conducted to measure pupils' reading ability, as well as math and science literacy, the US ranked 38th out of 71 countries that opt to take the exam every three years.

"Unfortunately, this study found the average American to be woefully uninformed regarding America's history and incapable of passing the US Citizenship Test," Woodrow Wilson Foundation President Arthur Levine said.

"It would be an error to view these findings as merely an embarrassment. Knowledge of the history of our country is fundamental to maintaining a democratic society, which is imperiled today."


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Heart - Black

Nestlé corporate greed deprives Canadian indigenous community of drinking water

Alexandra Shimo
The Guardian
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 16:36 UTC
Nestlé
© Corbis / Agence France-Presse / RT
While Nestlé extracts millions of litres from their land, residents have no drinking water

Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land

The mysterious rash on the arm of six-year-old Theron wouldn't heal. For almost a year, his mother, Iokarenhtha Thomas, who lives in the Six Nations of the Grand River indigenous reserve in Ontario, went to the local doctor for lotions for the boy. It worked, for a time. But the itchy red rash always returned. Thomas came to suspect the culprit behind the rash: water - or, rather, the lack of it.

Thomas, a university student and mother of five, has lived without running tap water since the age of 16. Her children lack access to things commonplace elsewhere, like toilets, showers and baths. For washing and toilet usage, they use a bucket.

Comment:

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