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Former Norwegian PM held at Dulles for questioning over a prior trip to Iran


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 20:57 UTC
Kjell Magne Bondevik

Kjell Magne Bondevik
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was held and questioned at a US airport because of a stamp in his diplomatic passport stemming from a 2014 visit to Iran. The hold-up, which he says has nothing to do with Trump's travel ban, had him "provoked".

Bondevik, who twice served as a Prime Minister of Norway and is still eligible to a diplomatic travel document, was held earlier this week at a Dulles air hub outside Washington DC.

He was travelling to the US to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, a string of high-profile gatherings attended by international guests and religious leaders following the inauguration of the new US President.

However, Bondevik was taken aside by the US airport staff and unceremoniously bundled into a room with people from the Middle East who were also subjected to checks. After waiting for over half an hour, he was questioned for 20 minutes over his visit to Iran, before being allowed in.

"They began to ask me why I had been in Iran and what I was going to do in the US," he told the Norwegian TV2. Bondevik, who currently serves as President of the The Oslo Centre human rights organization, was in Iran in 2014 to deliver a speech.

Comment: What progress is he referring to?

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Clipboard

Facebook, Google and other tech giants pen an open letter to Trump opposing travel ban

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 02 Feb 2017 20:14 UTC
facebook google
In the backlash over Trump's executive order on immigration, Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, Uber, Stripe, CPG and various manufacturing companies have penned a letter opposing U.S. President Trump's travel ban, ReCode reported overnight.

The letter stresses that the executive order's blanket "suspension" - it avoids the word "ban" - is "not the right approach" to strengthening national security. The letter also argues in favor of supporting the DACA program. The goal is to publish the open letter this week, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Changes are still being made to the document, and it's possible it may not be released.

"We share your goal of ensuring that our immigration system meets today's security needs and keeps our country safe," said a draft of the letter. "We are concerned, however, that your recent Executive Order will affect many visa holders who work hard here in the United States and contribute to our country's success." The draft, noted by Bloomberg, also states that "our nation's compassion is part of what makes it exceptional," and continues by offering to help the administration come up with ways to set up thorough screening while avoiding a complete suspension to U.S. refugee programs. The companies also offer aid in resolving the status of the 750,000 so-called "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and governed by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program, created by former President Barack Obama in 2012, has allowed more than 700,000 people to obtain renewable two-year work permits.

Comment: See also:

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Pocket Knife

UK tattoo artist 'Dr Evil' accused of GBH after removing customer's ear and slicing off someone's nipple

Lucy Gardner
The Express
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 14:27 UTC
tattoo wolverhampton
© SWNS
The owner of 'Dr Evils Body Modification Emporium' has appeared in court today accused of mutilating his clients.

Brendan McCarthy or self proclaimed 'Mac 'Dr Evil' McCarthy' faces three counts of causing serious injury relating to consensual piercing and body modifying at his shop in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.

The charges relate to the removal of a client's ear, removal of a client's nipple and tongue splitting procedures.

McCarthy of Morton Road, Bushbury, appeared before magistrates in Walsall only to confirm his name, age and address.
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Bullseye

'Display of hate': Montreal mosque target of vandals days after Quebec gun attack


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 14:30 UTC
Montreal mosque
© Craig Sauvé / Facebook
A mosque in Quebec was vandalized with graffiti and had its windows smashed on Thursday, the same day thousands of Canadians attended the funerals of Sunday's gun attack victims. Six people were killed and 19 injured in the shooting.

Police said the Khadijah Masjid Islamic Center in Montreal had been the target of vandals and were investigating the motive as a possible hate crime.

The defacing attack comes days after gunman Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire on worshippers attending evening prayers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Qué​bec in Quebec City

Comment: See also:

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Heart - Black

Members of high school football team used forced sex acts in hazing rituals

John Keilman
Chicago Tribune
Thu, 02 Feb 2017 16:58 UTC
lake zurich football team
Members of the Lake Zurich High School football team routinely used sexual assault and acts of degradation to haze teammates while coaches and administrators ignored the abuse, according to a federal lawsuit filed by two alleged victims.

Antonio Romanucci, a Chicago attorney representing two former members of the 2016 football team, said the hazing goes back at least 20 years and remained hidden because of " 'Lord of the Flies'-type tactics" that kept participants and victims quiet.

"They were brutally mocked, teased, humiliated, embarrassed and emotionally harmed, all in the name of team bonding," Romanucci said at a Wednesday news conference.

The lawsuit adds another act to a drama that has played out since two Lake Zurich football coaches were placed on administrative leave for unstated reasons before a November playoff game.

Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 soon revealed it was looking into "inappropriate activity" that happened in the locker room after a football team dinner in late October. Lake Zurich police and the Lake County State's Attorney's office also investigated but declined to bring charges. A probe by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is ongoing.
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War Whore

San Francisco police suspending cooperation with controversial FBI terrorism task force


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 09:45 UTC
Police
© Noah Berger / Reuters
San Francisco Police
The San Francisco Police Department is suspending cooperation with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, or JTTFs, that have been accused by civil liberties activists of specifically targeting Arabs and Muslims, and violating their First Amendment rights.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the move, which comes amid mounting concerns that law enforcers could be used to spy on Muslims and critics of the Trump administration.

"Ending SF's relationship with the JTTF is instrumental in fighting against the targeting of Arabs and Muslims through local and federal law enforcement, particularly in this moment," Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) Executive Director Lara Kiswani said in a statement.

"Joint Terrorism Task Forces have had a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of Arab and Muslim communities throughout the country," President of the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild Nina Farnia added.

"The Task Forces have led raids of activists' homes and offices for merely engaging in the right to dissent. In the face of ever-increasing repression by the federal government, we applaud local agencies' decision to suspend participation in the JTTF," she stressed.

Comment: See also: Judge, jury, and executioner: Have the police become a law unto themselves?

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V

'Fancy Bears' hackers leak IOC letter showing McLaren report lacked evidence of Russian doping


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:15 UTC
ioc hacked fancy bear
© Sputnik/ Grigoriy Sisoev
In an exclusive leak to RT, hacktivist group 'Fancy bears' revealed documents showing the International Olympics Committee (IOC) was not satisfied with the proof in McLaren's reports on Russian doping and asked over 50 questions about 16 of those accused.

The group called 'Fancy Bear,' which is known for their hacks of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s medical data on international athletes, has now come by a letter from the IOC to Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren - the author of the infamous WADA-commissioned report on allegedly widespread state-sponsored doping practices in Russia.

In the letter, the IOC demands that McLaren provide evidence to support his allegations that Russian Sports authorities and FSB officers were in on the doping plot. The letter provides an 11-page table with 16 names and entities that are mentioned in the reports, each followed by a lengthy number of questions regarding the person's alleged links to the doping case.
ioc letter maclaren
The report, which was published in two parts in mid-July and December of last year, alleges that the Russian Ministry of Sport and the Center of Sports Preparation of the National Teams of Russia took part in swapping test samples at a WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow, while also claiming that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) had assisted in the alleged plot. However, it failed to say how the FSB allegedly managed to open the bottles containing the samples. McLaren claimed that the entire network had "operated for the protection of doped Russian athletes" within a "state-directed failsafe system" using "the disappearing positive [test] methodology."

Comment: As more evidence comes out, it's being made starkly clear that the Russia doping scandal is a witch hunt against meant to demonize Russia in the eyes of the Western public. See also:

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Bomb

'Become a suicide bomber!': Whistleblower says artist's spoof Navy ads are accurate


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:39 UTC
Royal Navy recruitment posters
© darren_cullen / Twitter
Spoof Royal Navy recruitment posters, which claim sailors on board Britain's nuclear submarines are effectively suicide bombers, have won the approval of Trident safety and security whistleblower William McNeilly.

The posters point out that if a Trident submarine actually launched its nuclear missiles it would very likely be destroyed in a counterattack.

This, they claim, makes nuclear submariners little more than suicide bombers, whose job is to kill millions of civilians.

The satirical posters have appeared at bus stops across London.
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Heart - Black

Iranian woman to be blinded in 'eye-for-an-eye' retribution punishment


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:22 UTC
Iranian women
© Raheb Homavandi / Reuters
Iranian women
An Iranian woman is to be blinded in one eye as punishment for an acid attack that left her victim without sight, the country's Supreme Court has ruled, local Tasnim agency has reported, as cited by Reuters.

The unidentified convicted woman allegedly threw acid in the face of her victim, Sima, in the city of Dehdasht two years ago.

"The sentence to blindness in one eye, payment of blood money [compensation], and seven years [of] imprisonment have been confirmed by the highest court," said the head of judiciary, Majid Karami, as cited by Reuters.
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Blackbox

Dakota Access LLC wants judge to seal information from public


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 16:03 UTC
Dakota Access Pipeline protesters
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
The company developing the Dakota Access Pipeline has filed a motion to seal or redact certain "sensitive information" from the public, saying they believe terrorists could use it to cause damage to the pipeline.

In a motion filed late on Wednesday, Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, asked Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia to enter a protective order that would keep 11 documents containing confidential information from the public, Buzzfeed reports.

Dakota Access argues that the information could be useful to "terrorists or others with the malicious intent to damage the pipeline in a way that maximizes harm to the environment."
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