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Brutal ritual: 'Breast ironing' ritual may be on rise in Britain, campaigners warn


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:47 UTC
breast ironing
© Gary Cameron / Reuters
A brutal ritual where girls as young as 10 are forced to have their breasts pounded and burned with hot stones to disguise signs of pubescent development could be on the rise in Britain, campaigners warn.

Breast ironing, a process which involves using stones, hammers or hot spatulas to mutilate breast tissue, is often performed by mothers intending to prevent their daughters from being sexually harassed or raped.

It is mostly practiced in Western and Central African countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria, where many boys and men believe girls whose breasts have grown are ready to have sex.


The ritual, which experts say can lead to breast cancer, is growing at an alarming rate and has affected more than 3.8 million women across the world, according to a UN report.

There could be many more cases of this horrifying breast flattening technique in Britain.

'Thousands of UK girls may be at risk'

Speaking to the Independent, the UK National Committee for UN Women's London branch said breast ironing happens "under misguided intention to 'protect' women and girls from men."
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Stormtrooper

Israel fires tear gas at Palestinian protesters armed with slingshots


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 18:34 UTC

A Palestinian throws back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem October 14, 2015. © Mussa Qawasma / Reutersasdf


Israeli authorities have fired tear gas at Palestinian protesters in Bethlehem, with a young boy being injured in the clashes. The unrest comes as thousands gather in the city for the funeral of Mutaz Zawahreh, who was killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday.

Video footage shows tanks firing tear gas while armed soldiers stand guard. Palestinian protesters can be seen throwing stones as clouds of smoke rise from the pavement.

It's the latest set of clashes between Palestinian civilians and Israeli forces, following similar unrest, which has been an almost daily occurrence near the separation wall in Bethlehem over the past week, Ma'an news agency reported.

Ongoing clashes have also been taking place throughout the rest of the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
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Handcuffs

FBI arrests 153 pimps, rescues 149 children in operation targeting sex-traffickers


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 18:14 UTC
Image
© Reuters
Working with state and local authorities, the FBI has rescued 149 sexually exploited children and arrested 153 pimps and sex traffickers in a coordinated action across 135 US cities dubbed 'Operation Cross Country IX.'

The ninth Operation Cross Country effort took place from October 6-10, and was the largest such coordinated action against sex trafficking to date, the FBI said. The operation, part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative, was aided by other federal law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

More than 500 law enforcement agents took part in the operation, which targeted frequent spots for child trafficking dealings, including casinos, hotels, and truck stops. The youngest of the 149 victims recovered was 12 years old. Three victims were transgender, and three were male.

Comment: More articles:
  • Sickening: Another ponerized Catholic priest defends pedophilia, blames the victims
  • Pastor hired by church after he's charged with 29 counts of child sex abuse at another church

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Red Flag

Apathetic Ohio cop accidently shoots 4-year-old girl instead of family dog, walks back to his patrol car

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Mon, 12 Oct 2015 23:15 UTC
Image
© Via Facebook
A newly-released audio illustrates a Columbus, Ohio family's confusion and terror after a local police officer accidentally shot a then-4-year-old girl while being asked to help the girl's mother.

The audio, aired on Inside Edition, depicts the June 19 incident involving the officer to a plea for help from Brandie Kelly.

Kelly had flagged the officer down after her sister, Andrea Ellis, cut herself badly on a piece of glass. Kelly can be heard telling the officer, "Sir, can you get me a paramedic? I need a paramedic here" while on the phone with emergency dispatchers.

Police said at the time of the incident that Ellis' dog charged at the officer, forcing him to fire at it. But instead of hitting the dog, the officer hit the girl, Ava Ellis, in the leg, causing a bone to shatter.

"She asked me several times, 'Mommy, am I gonna die?'" Andrea Ellis said.

The Inquisitr reported that Ellis later identified the officer in a Facebook post as Jonathan Thomas, saying that when Kelly rejected his argument that the dog charged at him, Thomas "told [Kelly] to stop yelling at him and walked back to his vehicle."

"Officer Thomas never said sorry," Ellis wrote. "Never said it was an accident, never said that he called for help or was going to call for help, never asked if Ava was ok, and never asked if he could check on Ava."


Comment: What a terrifying experience for a little girl to go through.

See also: How do you prepare a child for life in the American police state?

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Apple Red

Apple facing hefty damages to University of Wisconsin in patent lawsuit

Andrew Chung
Reuters
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:45 UTC
Apple Inc could be facing up to $862
dog/apple
© diveright.ru
"Aw, crap!"
million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

The jury in Madison, Wisconsin also said the patent, which improves processor efficiency, was valid. The trial will now move on to determine how much Apple owes in damages. Representatives for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent for improving chip efficiency. The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violate the patent.

Cupertino, California-based Apple denied any infringement and argued the patent is invalid, according to court papers. Apple previously tried to convince the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent's validity, but in April the agency rejected the bid.

According to a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge William Conley, who is presiding over the case, Apple could be liable for up to $862.4 million in damages. He scheduled the trial to proceed in three phases: liability, damages, and finally, whether Apple infringed the patent willfully, which could lead to enhanced penalties.

WARF used the patent to sue Intel Corp in 2008, but the case was settled the following year on the eve of trial. Last month, WARF launched a second lawsuit against Apple, this time targeting the company's newest chips, the A9 and A9X, used in the just-released iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, as well as the iPad Pro.

Comment: The chips are down. Looks like the University of Wisconsin's Alumni Research Foundation is about to take a big bite out of Apple, maybe two!

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Brick Wall

Chris Hedges: 'A pipeline straight to jail'

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
Sun, 11 Oct 2015 17:22 UTC
Image
© Michael Nigro
Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the university’s Mountainview Program.
The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life of suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after innocent life.

Comment: 'There are people who think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see libraries in some cells.' Read more about inmates dedicated to seeking knowledge behind bars:

Killers win academic contest of wit?



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Heart - Black

"Go back to Africa or go to prison': Israel labels asylum seekers as infiltrators

Kit O'Connell
Mint Press News
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:35 UTC
African prisoners Israel
© AP Photo/Oded Balilty
African migrants stands inside Holot detention center as others protest outside against the detention center near Ktsiot the Negev Desert in southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2014.
The recent release of 1,200 prisoners from a detention center in the Negev Desert is not a signal that Israel is rethinking its harsh treatment of refugees. Thousands of immigrants still face a choice between imprisonment and repatriation to their war-torn countries.

Some 65,000 African refugees are believed to currently live in Israel. In May, The Washington Post reported that Israel sent letters to 45,000 refugees from Sudan and Eritrea, offering them a choice: They could accept accept a cash payment and a one-way ticket back to Africa, or they could go to prison. Israel also began construction of a massive fence to prevent the entry of more refugees this year.

In February, Amnesty International strongly objected to the treatment of African refugees in Israel, both in and out of detention:

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Public support for fracking shows significant drop as perception of risks beginning to outweigh benefits

Charlotte Anscombe
Phys.org
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
fracking
© REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
A new survey shows that public support for the extraction and use of shale gas has dropped significantly over the last year with concerns about the potential impact on the environment beginning to outweigh the possible economic benefits.

The University of Nottingham Shale Gas Survey has been tracking the public perception of shale gas extraction in the UK since March 2012. The survey has tracked changes in awareness of shale gas, and what the public believe to be the environmental impact of its extraction and use, as well as its acceptability as an energy source.

The 11th survey, with over 6,700 respondents, was conducted between the 23 and 28 September 2015.

Comment: It's heartening to know that people are now questioning the propaganda regarding the safety of hydraulic fracturing and are willing to take a public stand against the practice. However, the O&G industry and their bought and paid-for political shills will not give up the fight so easily, despite the well-documented negative consequences on health and the environment.

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Stock Down

Stock giftcards: Just in time for Christmas shopping

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:24 UTC
netflix stock
© lifehacker
As we noted this morning, in the New Normal world, the only marginal buyer of Index futures are central banks [and] when it comes to individual stocks, the biggest buyer is the company itself.

The retail "dumb money" abandoned ship long ago after watching 40% of their 401ks go up in smoke on the heels of a meltdown catalyzed by the implosion of the American homeownership dream which, thanks to the Fed and Wall Street, had been supercharged and securitized. To the extent the turmoil in September and October of 2008 didn't drive the individual investor permanently onto the sidelines, the subsequent realization that the entire "market" is nothing but a giant casino being manipulated at every turn by greedy cabals with names like "The Cartel" finished the job.

The world got wise to the central banker bid a long time ago and now, with Cheryl Davis Hillary Clinton's push to bring an end to the "tyranny of the next earnings report" and thus to the practice of leveraging the balance sheet and employing financial engineering to inflate the bottom line, the buyback bid may soon be in jeopardy as well.

Comment: Now the average Joe can join the stock market casino. Just don't expect to come out on top.

12 signs that an imminent global financial crash is continuing

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Mr. Potato

Hillary Clinton emerges as the "winner" in the vomit-inducing Democratic debate

Melissa Dykes
The Daily Sheeple
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:55 UTC
clinton and sanders
Last night, Hillary Clinton and four other people who are only there to make it look like she has actual competition took the stage for the first Dem debate. I write "debate," but really it was just an excuse to give Hillary presidential candidate airtime while four other guys stood around at podiums.

This morning, news outlet talking heads are sucking up to her as if they didn't just spend the last six months nailing her butt to the wall over her email server scandal (as if that's even the worst thing the woman has ever done).

From NYT Columnist Frank Bruni's "I never doubted that Hillary Clinton had many talents. I just didn't know that seamstress was among them... she threaded the needle as delicately and perfectly as a politician could" to Van Jones on CNN with "Hillary Clinton was Beyonce. She was flawless," it's enough to make anyone paying attention sick how contrived this whole thing is.

Comment: Despite being corrupt to her very core, it's obvious that Hillary is being groomed to be the next frontrunner in the race for Tyrant-in-Chief of the United States. In fact, her absolute corruption makes her the perfect candidate! Not that it matters one whit. It's all theater.

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