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'A hit on free speech': Director of film about Korean sex slaves during WWII faces lawsuit


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 20:13 UTC
comfort woman statue
© Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji
A statue symbolizing "comfort women" is seen during a weekly anti-Japan rally in front of Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea. December 2015.
A director who is being sued after making a film about the sexual slavery of Korean women by the Japanese Army during WWII told RT that these attacks damage free speech and muzzle discussion about this sensitive issue.

The lawsuit is a clear example of attacking freedom of speech, filmmaker Miki Dezaki told RT.
My film - if it gets silenced or taken down, or they prevent [its] bigger distribution, this [will be] another hit at freedom of expression in Japan.
"These little digs at the freedom of expression make it really hard for the media and people in general to talk" about sensitive historical topics, the director said.

A recent graduate of Sophia University in Tokyo, Dezaki made a film exploring different views on the 'comfort women' who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese military during WWII. Up to 200,000 women are believed to have been rounded up and placed in army-run brothels to serve Japanese soldiers. Most victims came from Korea, which was a Japanese colony at the time.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Power play: Israel's electric company cuts service to parts of the occupied West Bank


Middle East Monitor
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 11:47 UTC
Electricity cut
© JINI/Dror Arzi
The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) declared yesterday that it would be cutting power to parts of the occupied West Bank, citing "outstanding payments amounting to nearly $483 million", reported AFP.

Claiming it was owed "1.7 billion shekels in debts from the main Palestinian power distributor for the West Bank, which is based in East Jerusalem", the IEC said that from today, the company "will reduce the current in some areas of the West Bank".

The Palestinian Authority (PA) denounced the move as "blackmail" by Israeli occupation authorities. "The [Israeli] occupation government is seeking, through these sanctions and the exploitation of electricity debts, to put pressure on the Palestinian government to accept an agreement that does not respect the rights of the Palestinians," said Palestinian energy authority head Zafer Melhem.

As reported by AFP, the PA said "in the past two months it has repaid nearly $100 million in debts accumulated by the east Jerusalem-based distributor of Palestinian municipalities". The PA also warned that the power cuts could affect hospitals and medical facilities.

Comment: From Middle East Eye, 22/9/2019: Israel cutting power in parts of West Bank
The chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority, Zafer Melhem, said the Palestinian electric company had recently paid 374 million shekels and that the debt was only 700 million shekels, according to Haaretz.

Residents said that the electricity was indeed cut between noon and 2pm local time in some spots in the Jericho and Jordan Valley areas, and in villages around Ramallah. PA officials said the power cut constituted collective punishment and would deal a serious blow to the Palestinian economy, as well as to its health and education systems. They added that the Palestinian government was asking officials in the international community to protest the decision.

[S]upplying electricity to the Palestinians was not just a commercial issue for the IEC, but a strategic and diplomatic one for Israel, and that limiting power would be seen as an Israeli punishment against the civilian population.


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Attention

'Julian Assange's life is at risk': Pamela Anderson urges UK to free WikiLeaks co-founder


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 15:40 UTC
(L) Pamela Anderson Reuters / Eric Gaillard (R) WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange
© Reuters / Henry Nicholls
(L) Pamela Anderson Reuters / Eric Gaillard (R) WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange
Pamela Anderson has urged UK authorities to release WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, claiming she fears for his life and that he has been "psychologically tortured."

Assange was due to be released from Belmarsh maximum security prison in London on Sunday, but a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court told the 48-year-old on Friday there are "substantial grounds" to believe he would "abscond again."

Anderson, the former playboy model turned activist, who has been a long term advocate for Assange's release, told ITV's Good Morning Britain show on Monday that her "dear friend" was right to seek asylum because his "life is at risk."
I visited him in Belmarsh and it's not a place you want to go visit... I care a great deal about Julian and he's been psychologically tortured, that's been talked about in the UN.
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Star of David

Palestinian NGO for prisoners' rights aren't giving up after third Israeli raid


PressTV
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 16:28 UTC
IDF raid prisoner support group office Addameer
© Agence France-Presse
The file photo shows the aftermath of an Israeli military raid on the offices of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, in 2012.
The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, which advocates the rights of Palestinian inmates, has strongly condemned the recent raid by Israeli forces on its offices in the occupied West Bank, emphasizing that such acts of aggression will not prevent it from performing its primary duties.

"The organization will continue to support Palestinian prisoners, and to flight all human rights violations they suffer from, including torture, arbitrary detention and unfair trials," Addameer said in a statement released on Thursday.
"Addameer sees this (early Thursday) raid as a part of ongoing and systematic attacks against the Palestinian civil society organization. Those attacks are targeting the organizations that have a role in exposing the Occupation's (Israel's) violations and demanding accountability for those violations. This is, additionally, part of the Occupation's campaign to reduce the scope, de-legitimize and de-fund those human rights and civil society organizations," the Ramallah-based group pointed out.
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Cult

'Cancel culture' bites the NY Times again: Editor under fire after questionable old tweets resurface


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 16:11 UTC
new york times nyt opinion pages logo
© New York Times
As the New York Times continues its pivot to race-focused coverage, more arguably racist and anti-Semitic tweets by an editor have come to light — just weeks after another employee apologized for "offensive" past comments.

Breitbart uncovered the "racially offensive" tweets blasting "dumb white people" which were posted between 2014 and 2017 by Jazmine Hughes, an associate editor of the New York Times Magazine.

In one of the tweets, Hughes jokes that she might tell a store cashier to have a nice day "even though you white." In another, she attributes decreased stress in her life to a decision she made to stop "paying attention to dumb white people."
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Info

Europe's largest Buddha statue unveiled in Russia


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 12:15 UTC
Buddha
© Instagram / @dargyeling_lagan_khurul
The largest Buddha statue in Europe, sitting at a whopping 12.5 meters high, has been unveiled in Kalmykia, western Russia.

The 'Golden Abode of the Buddha-Shakyamuni' weighs 30 tons and is the largest statue of the Maitreya Buddha (Buddha of the Coming) in Europe, according to TASS.
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Brick Wall

Busted! Syrian refugees try to sneak into Greece masquerading as Ukrainian volleyball team


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 15:39 UTC
syrian refugees fake ukraine volley ball team
© Hellenic Police / astynomia.gr
Greek police have caught a group of migrants from Syria attempting to fool migration control by posing as a volleyball team from Ukraine.

Ten Syrian refugees were arrested at Athens International Airport over the weekend, police said. In an attempt to fool migration control, they all dressed in identical uniforms, brought a number of similar sports bags, and two volleyball balls.
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Arrow Up

Chick-fil-A sales have more than doubled since LGBT boycott began


RT
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:35 UTC
Chick-Fil-A
© AFP / Andrew Renneisen
The exterior of Chick-Fil-A in New York City
The third largest US fast food restaurant chain, Chick-fil-A, has more than doubled its annual sales since the company was boycotted by gay rights activists for donating to organizations that opposed same-sex marriage in 2012.

In 2018, the chain had $10.5 billion in total sales, which amounts to a 16.7% increase in a year, according to the Journal & Courier outlet. It makes the increase in Chick-fil-A's annual sales bigger than that of Starbucks, which is America's second largest restaurant chain behind McDonald's.

The exponential growth of Chick-fil-A's profits and the chain's expansion, by nearly 700 restaurants, remained unhindered despite the company facing a massive backlash in 2012 when sales totaled $4.6 billion. Back then CEO Dan T. Cathy, the son of founder and devout Baptist S. Truett Cathy, said that he supported traditional families.

Earlier, the firm found itself in hot water after supporting Christian organizations, including those that opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage and promoted gay conversion therapy.
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Green Light

DC climate change protesters disrupt morning commute by blocking key intersections

Will Vitka
WTOP
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:48 UTC
climate protesters
© Twitter/Unicorn Riot
People chained themselves to ladders at Massachusetts Avenue at 18th Street as part of the climate protests Sept. 23, 2019.
D.C. police arrested at least 26 climate protesters who used a sailboat, vans, cars and sit-ins Monday to block key intersections around the District.

Chances are likely that, if you're driving, you're going to see some kind of delay.

"If you're coming in anywhere near the National Mall, you're going to be impacted by this," NBC4's Adam Tuss told WTOP.

Drivers heading into D.C. from Virginia have been hit the hardest.

Protesters are blocking or impeding traffic at 14th and C streets SW, 16th and I streets, 18th and Massachusetts Avenue and the 700 Block of New Jersey Avenue. New York Avenue remains blocked at North Capitol Street, Florida Avenue and 4th Street.

Comment: Such a great way to win people over to your (false) cause -- tick them off and make them late for work.

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2 + 2 = 4

Children as young as six are to be given compulsory self-touching lessons that critics say are sexualising youngsters

Sanchez Manning and Mark Hookham
Daily Mail
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 10:54 UTC
children going to school
© Shutterstock/Morenko Andrey
Children as young as six are being taught about touching or ‘stimulating’ their own genitals in lesson that are part of a controversial new sex and relationships teaching programme called All About Me (stock image)
Children as young as six are being taught about touching or 'stimulating' their own genitals as part of classes that will become compulsory in hundreds of primary schools.

Some parents believe the lessons - part of a controversial new sex and relationships teaching programme called All About Me - are 'sexualising' their young children.

One couple told last night how they were so disturbed they withdrew their sons from lessons at a school where the programme is already being taught.

All About Me is being rolled out across 241 primaries by Warwickshire County Council and could be adopted by other local authorities next year as part of the Government's overhaul of Relationship and Sex Education (RSE).

Family campaigners and religious groups warned that vague guidelines issued by the Department for Education meant schools could soon be providing sexual material to young children that many parents would consider inappropriate.

Comment: A disturbing over-reach of government and school authority. Six-year-olds do not need this information. They should be taught how to be a good person, not the best ways and places to touch themselves. This 'All About Me' program, which is an odd name for a children's sex education program, sounds like a bad Cosmo magazine article about masturbation geared towards children and is likely to only make life more difficult for everyone involved.

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