Society's ChildS


Eye 2

Turning children into monsters: Mosul's lost generation of ISIS fighters

ISIS video children young lions kids
© ScreengrabAn IS video of children from its 'young lions' division
Iraqi soldiers have fought boys as young as 10 in Mosul. But being used by IS to kill is only one of many grim fates awaiting city's youth

Hasan thought he had seen everything after fighting Islamic State in Fallujah in Tikrit. Then he came to Mosul, and a boy no older then 10 tried to kill him.

"It was utterly shocking," says the 40-year-old soldier, dragging nervously on a cigarette as he remembers the child among a group of young IS suicide bombers.

Snowflake

Avalanche kills 8, injures 30 on high school trip in Japan

Rescue workers carry victims near a ski resort in Nasu town, north of Tokyo, Japan, March 27, 2017
© Kyodo / ReutersRescue workers carry victims near a ski resort in Nasu town, north of Tokyo, Japan, March 27, 2017.
An avalanche has killed eight people, including at least seven students, and injured more than 30 on a mountain-climbing trip in Japan.

The group of 52 students and 11 teachers from seven high schools were on the last day of a three-day mountaineering trip when the avalanche struck in the town of Nasu, some 120km (75 miles) north of Tokyo Monday, reports Japan Times.

More than 100 troops were deployed to assist emergency services in a major rescue effort.

A weather warning for heavy snow and avalanches was issued for Sunday and Monday in the region by the Meteorological Agency. Some 33cm (13 inches) of snow fell in Nasu over an eight-hour period on Monday.

Most of the students killed were from Otawara High School in the Tochigi prefecture, according to AFP.

Caesar

Martin McGuinness: IRA commander, peacemaker

Martin McGuinness never went to war. The war came to him. It came to his street, to his city.

~ Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin President
Martin McGuinness was a coward and a murderer.

~ Norman Tebbitt, former British Conservative Party government minister
What made Martin McGuinness a formidable foe also made him a formidable peacemaker.

~ Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister
martin mcguinness
Martin McGuinness, left, at a press conference in the 1990s with Jeremy Corbyn
From the moment the death of Martin McGuinness was announced, it was a given certainty that the eulogies - in the widest possible sense of that word - would range from descriptions of his having been among the fiercest of the modern Irish Republican freedom fighters to that of a common terrorist-murderer.

But to friend, foe and neutral must have been unanimity in acknowledging an aura and legend surrounding the man. This after all was a person who rose to the ranks of the Irish Republican Army at a very young age. He was apparently a man of great charm and ruthless cunning. And his levels of personal discipline, organisational resourcefulness and ability to command loyalty did not escape the attention of the British intelligence services; his MI5 file recording the view that his talents as a strategic thinker made him "officer material".

Comment: Gerry Adams Full Speech at Martin McGuinness's Burial:




Magnify

Police discover 7 kilos of cocaine hidden inside fake bananas

cocaine in bananas
© Ruptly
Spanish police have found 57 pieces of artificial fruit containing seven kilograms of cocaine mixed among real bananas, with another 10 kilos packed in cardboard boxes.

The video obtained by Ruptly video agency shows how officers smash the bananas open using screwdrivers and hammers.

One banana is cracked open to reveal the white powder "filling" it.

The fake bananas were found during an operation in the coastal cities of Malaga and Valencia on Sunday. The footage of the haul was shot in Valencia, the Ruptly news agency said.

Two people were detained on charges of drug trafficking, and a third person is now under investigation as a result of the operation, according to the police.


Life Preserver

Russia distributes 1.7 metric tons of aid to Syrians past 24 hours

Russian aid to Syria
© Sputnik/ Andrey Stenin
Russian center for Syrian reconciliation carried out six humanitarian events in Aleppo and Latakia Province, distributing 1.7 metric tons of humanitarian aid to civilians, the statement released by the Center said on Monday.

"Within last 24 hours, 2,850 citizens have received humanitarian aid. Total weight of humanitarian aid provided to the Syrian population has reached 1.7 [metric] tons," the statement reads, adding that a total of five humanitarian events were held in Aleppo and one more in Darmina settlement in the Latakia province.

Apple Red

Manbij crossfire: Liberated from IS, Kurdish-controlled city now fears Turkish invasion

Manbij refugees
© Lizzie Phelan‏ / Twitter
Months after Kurdish-led forces kicked Islamic State out of Syria's Manbij, change is in the air with IS-imposed burqas replaced by a women's council. Now, however, the city finds itself on the edge of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, RT's Lizzie Phelan reports.

The US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Manbij, some 135 kilometers (84 miles) from the Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) stronghold of Raqqa in August 2016. While many of the buildings still lie in ruins, the city's bustling hum is apparent, Phelan reports from Manbij.

Comment: It's great that the US-backed Kurdish fighters have brought relief and normalcy to the region, but they have to know that it comes with the price of doing Uncle Sam's bidding: Plan B, the creation of a Kurdish state in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq. If they settle for loyalty to Syrian (and Iraqi) state sovereignty, then great, but if they are goaded into making a break for independence, then we're likely looking at another round of violence in Syria and Iraq (and possibly Turkey and Iran).


Bullseye

US-Palestinian 'terrorist' who led Women's March is stripped of US citizenship

Ex-terrorist  Rasmea Odeh
© Image source: YouTubeRasmea Odeh is losing her U.S. citizenship and is being deported to Jordan after lying about her criminal record upon immigrating to the U.S.
A convicted Palestinian terrorist who served as a key figure in the recent Women's March on Washington is set to be deported to the country of Jordan and stripped of her United States citizenship.

According to Heat Street, Rasmea Odeh's deportation and loss of U.S. citizenship comes after a multi-year investigation into her failure to disclose to immigration authorities that she had been imprisoned for a decade after committing two terror attacks in Israel.

Odeh recently accepted a plea bargain that allowed her to avoid prison time only if she gave up her U.S. citizenship and agreed to go back to Jordan. Thanks to the plea bargain, Odeh will forgo any additional prison time.

Comment: See also: Meet the terrorist behind the next "Day without a Woman" march


Target

Politicized bureaucracy: Vietnam War veteran fights to get Trump portrait put up at Florida VA hospital

vet Trump picture
© You Tube
In every Veterans Affairs hospital in the country, there is supposed to be a portrait of the current U.S. president and VA secretary. That wasn't the case in a VA facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida—until a dedicated veteran fought back.

The Florida hospital, whose sole mission is to serve injured and sick veterans, refused to hang a picture of President Donald Trump and VA Sec. David Shulkin. Instead, the hospital had an empty picture frame hanging beside a portrait of a former Obama-era VA secretary. Sitting in front of the empty frame where the president's portrait would ordinarily hang was a large plant.

After witnessing this "very disrespectful" scene, Vietnam War veteran Joe Carollo demanded the facility's receptionist hang the proper photos. The receptionist's response is both incredible and outrageous.


Heart - Black

Jordanian imam's call for Jews to be killed at Montreal mosque draws police complaint

imam Jew Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr mosque
© YoutubeThe controversial imam is Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr who was the invited guest of a Saint-Michel mosque.
A Montreal mosque is facing a police complaint and rebukes from the larger Muslim community after a video of an imam delivering a sermon in which he asks for Jews to be killed surfaced online.

The sermon took place at the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque in the city's Saint-Michel neighbourhood on Dec. 23, 2016.

The video was posted to the mosque's YouTube channel three days later. The imam in the video is Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr — he was reportedly an invited guest of the mosque.

In the video, the imam recites in Arabic the verse: "O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

Star of David

Israeli army's statement on the killing of a Palestinian teen, wounding 4, contradicted by evidence

Funeral
© Mondoweiss/Sheren KhalelThousands of mourners make their way to the burial site, thousands more observe from afar.
Five teenagers were on their way back from Ramallah city last Thursday evening, heading home to al-Jalazone refugee camp, when Israeli forces opened fire at the teens on the main road that separates the camp from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El.

One teen, Mohammed Mahmoud Ibrahim Hatab, 17, was shot dead by Israeli forces. Two others were critically injured, eighteen-year-olds Jassem Muhammed Nakhla, and Mohammed Hatab (a cousin sharing the same name of the young man who was killed), while a fourth youth suffered bullet wounds but is in stable condition, a medical source at the Ramallah government hospital told Mondoweiss. The driver, the oldest of the five at 19, suffered from light shrapnel wounds.

Beit El is an Israeli settlement that has gotten direct support from Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and from the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

An Israeli army spokesperson said:
"Three suspects exited a vehicle adjacent to the community of Beit El, where suspects threw firebombs at the community. In response to the threat, Israeli forces in the area fired towards the suspects, and several hits were confirmed. The suspects then fled the scene."
Evidence of the scene directly contradicts the army's statement. The car the teens were driving was riddled with bullet holes and the seats and floor of the car saturated with blood, indicating that forces shot at the teens when they were seated in the car, not standing on the side of the road. When asked about the discrepancy, the spokesperson could not comment.

Comment: The undeniable slaughtering of Palestinians, especially the youth, continues unabated. Justice, 50 years overdue, doesn't happen. There is no excuse whatsoever to look away and let this go on.