Society's ChildS


Briefcase

Brussels imposed sanctions against Russia have cost Hungary nearly $8B

Budapest Hungary
© Bernd Tschakert / Global Look Press
The Hungarian economy has lost nearly $8 billion due to restrictions on exports to Russia imposed by Brussels as part of the sanctions against Moscow, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

The minister said that members of the bloc need to hold consultations on how successful the punitive measures, introduced against Moscow as early as in 2014, have been.

It is a legitimate question, as the sanctions have inflicted substantial damage to the Hungarian economy, he said in an interview with Russia-24 news channel.

Szijjarto stressed that Hungary was previously Russia's second largest trade partner, but has dropped to 12th. In fact, Hungarian companies have lost nearly $8 billion amid the export restrictions.

Comment: While Russia has been adroit at managing to contain the damage and prosper despite sanctions, EU economies have been hit much harder. Along with economic woes and the migration crisis, it's little wonder there's growing disenchantment with EU bureaucrats.


Wine n Glass

Tragic spillage: Prosecco explosion at Italian reservoir leaves drinkers wine-ing

Wine vats
© L'enoteca Zanardo Giussano / Facebook
Sparkling wine lovers have declared a day of mourning after video footage emerged showing 30 thousand liters of prosecco being unceremoniously wasted after a tank exploded at an Italian reservoir.

The tragic spillage was filmed on Tuesday in Conegliano Veneto, in the province of Treviso, after the pressurized tank exploded because it was overfilled by staff, in what has proven the ideal fodder for gif-makers seeking the perfect perpetual clip.

Laptop

Hacked: Facebook admits security breach affecting 50 million accounts

Facebook hacked
© Jaap Arriens / Global Look Press (file photo)
Facebook has admitted having a "security issue" with nearly 50 million accounts which had their "access tokens" compromised. The social media giant has reset tokens for another 40 million accounts as a "precaution."

The issue affected nearly 50 million accounts, which would require users to re-enter their passwords. The security issue was discovered by the company's engineers on Tuesday. Hackers have been apparently able to fetch the so-called "access tokens" - digital keys, which allow a user to stay logged into Facebook and to not re-enter their passwords each time they use the application.

"Our investigation is still in its early stages. But it's clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook's code that impacted "View As", a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else," the tech giant said in a statement.

Airplane

Marine F-35 jet crashes near Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station in South Carolina

A U.S.Marine Corps F-35B
© Reuters (file photo)A U.S.Marine Corps F-35B
A F-35B has crashed in South Carolina, just five miles outside the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), local authorities have confirmed. The pilot reportedly survived.

Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said that the crash occurred around 11:45 am local time, in the Grays Hill area. Emergency crews are responding to the incident.

The pilot "safely ejected" and is being evaluated for injuries, the authorities said.

The location of the crash was pinpointed to the northwestern tip of the island archipelago that hosts the Beaufort MCAS. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island is on the southern end, about 15 miles away.

Newspaper

Protesting 'journalist' forcibly removed during Erdogan-Merkel joint press conference

Protesting ‘journalist’ removed during conference
© RT
A man believed to be a journalist and wearing a t-shirt with a protest message was forcibly removed from a joint press conference held by German leader Angela Merkel and her Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The man in question is German-Turkish and wore a shirt calling for "freedom for journalists." A short video clip of the incident shows Erdogan smiling at Merkel as the man is hauled away by security.

Erdogan's Friday visit to Berlin has stirred considerable controversy in Germany, with many criticizing Merkel for hosting a leader which some in the country accuse of being increasingly authoritarian.

Relations between the two nations have deteriorated over allegations of serious human rights abuses committed by Ankara in the wake of a failed coup attempt in 2016.


Sheriff

Cop arrested for shooting a man in the back as he ran away

police shooting
A disturbing trend seems to be happening among police in America in which they are shooting people in the back as they run away. One of the latest victims to be publicly executed for running from police is 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick of Nashville. His execution by officer Andrew Delke was caught on a graphic video. Now, in an unprecedented move, the officer was actually charged with homicide.

Prosecutors on Thursday filed a criminal homicide charge against a white police officer who shot and killed a black man, securing approval from a judge after a setback earlier in the day, according to the Tennessean.

Delke becomes the first officer in the entire Metropolitan Nashville Police Department's history to be charged for shooting someone while on duty. He surrendered himself to be booked into jail, quickly paid his $25,000 bond and was released by Thursday afternoon.

"In August, I spoke with Daniel Hambrick's mother to express my condolences for her loss. I assured her that we would show respect for the life of her son, because his life mattered," Mayor David Briley said. "At that time, Ms. Hambrick asked for justice for Daniel. The District Attorney's decision to file charges in this case is a necessary step toward that end."

Eye 2

120 children of French jihadists detained in Kurdish camps in Syria - media

Man with child
© Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
At least 120 minors, children of French nationals who joined terrorist groups, have reportedly been detained in Syria, with Paris planning to review their fate on a case-by-case basis.

The children are held in Kurdish camps in Syria, TV channel France 3 reported on Thursday. According to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll, the minors "have not yet made any demands".

The authorities will "have to look at their case with the best interests of [these children]," she told the channel.

Paris will reportedly decide the fate of each child case by case. Teens who took part in the fighting alongside terrorists will not be repatriated. Data from the channel says that, all in all, some 400 French nationals are fighting in Syria.

Info

Elon Musk gets sued by the SEC for misleading investors

Elon Musk
© Patrick T. Fallon / Reuters
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of conning investors through his "misleading" posts on Twitter, in which he claimed that he had secured funding for taking his company private.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the embattled tech entrepreneur on Thursday, asking the court to order Musk to repay any "ill-gotten gains he received as a result" of the series of tweets, in which he claimed that he had secured the funding for Tesla going private at $420 per share. Musk alleged then that the only issue in the way was that "it's contingent on a shareholder vote."

The tweet sent Tesla's stock surging by more than 10 percent. However, several weeks after the nothing-short-of-scandalous announcement, Musk backed down, saying that he agreed with the existing shareholders to keep the company public.

Newspaper

'Misleading and inaccurate reporting': Report slams establishment media over Labour anti-semitism coverage

Jeremy Corbyn
© REUTERS/Yves Herman
The British media establishment has been damned in a new report over their coverage of the Labour anti-Semitism row. Media Reform accused all sides of the media of a "myriad of inaccuracies and distortions."

The report by the Media Reform Coalition, an independent group set up to defend ethical journalism, claims that there are "95 clear cut examples of misleading or inaccurate reporting on mainstream television and online news platforms."

The bad practices include "marked skews in sourcing, omission of essential context or right of reply, misquotation, and false assertions made either by journalists themselves or sources whose contentious claims were neither challenged nor countered."

Comment:


Cult

'We were poor kids, we didn't understand': RT sheds light on casual child abuse by Indonesian shamanic cult

Indonesian man
RT Documentary traveled to Indonesia to speak to both waroks, and their gemblaks.

"Once you gain the magic power and knowledge, should you become fond of a female being, your power shall dwindle or be gone. To prevent this from happening we prefer the masculine love of a gemblak," says Saadi, a warok, who currently has a pre-teen boy, Kadam, living in his house, who shows the crew his room, right next to his master's from which he can be called at any time of day or night.

"As a compensation a warok gets an assistant - a beloved assistant. Why is he beloved? Because it's a boy who understands a warok without words, they complete each other perfectly," says Jemarin, a warok from West Java.

The practice predates the spread of Islam, and Dirman, a former gemblak who now speaks out against the tradition, never questioned it at the time.