Society's ChildS


Red Flag

Cocaine use in London highest in Europe for 2nd year running, according to sewage analysis


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 14:27 UTC
cocaine
© US DEA / Reuters
Londoners' cocaine use is the highest in Europe for the second year in a row, an analysis of the city's sewage by the EU's drug monitoring agency has revealed.

The research, which examined wastewater samples in more than 60 European cities, showed that average daily concentration of cocaine in London's wastewater was 909mg per 1,000 people last year - up from 737mg in 2014.

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Heart - Black

New report says 11,700 slaves are trapped in modern Britain's 'shadow economy'


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 14:24 UTC
prostitute
© Reuters
Slavery is rampant in modern Britain, with an estimated 11,700 people in enforced servitude, according to a new report.

While The Global Slavery Index applauded the UK for having "led the world" with its Modern Slavery Act, the organization highlights the plight of thousands of immigrants who live as forced workers in the shadow economy.

Many are trapped in debt bondage, forced to work in low or semi-skilled jobs, while others are locked in apartments where they produce drugs or work in the sex industry.

Vietnamese children have been discovered held against their will, made to cultivate cannabis in Manchester apartments.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Refugees detained in Greece go on hunger strike due to 'unsanitary and filthy' conditions


Sputnik
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 11:57 UTC
refugee family hunger strike
© Wassim Omar
Refugees on the Greek island of Chios have told Sputnik they are "desperate and disappointed" following a visit from a representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) who gave them "the same answers".

Wassim Omar and his wife and three children left Syria on 10 March 2016 and traveled to Greece from Turkey where they remain in limbo on the island of Chios.

Following a visit from an UNHCR representative and a translator, Omar told Sputnik that the refugees still have no idea what is going on.

​Omar and a group of parents have been on hunger strike for two weeks to highlight their plight.

Comment: For more on what awaits refugees in Turkey, check out:

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V

Belgium at a standstill as anti-austerity protest rocks the country


Sputnik
Tue, 31 May 2016 22:44 UTC
Belgian protester wearing mask
© AP Photo/ Virginia Mayo
Large parts of Belgium came to a standstill on Tuesday as a series of transport and anti-austerity strikes caused serious disruptions in the country, while also highlighting the political and ethnic divides within Belgium.

Most transport services in Belgium's French-speaking regions were halted as train drivers went on strike for the sixth consecutive day, protesting against a proposed reduction in overtime pay.

The effects were also felt in Brussels, which experienced severe delays to public transport, while some postal workers and rubbish collectors also took industrial action.

Comment: Belgium is sharing the same unrest as France is experiencing.

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Handcuffs

Indefinite detention: Abolished IPP law is keeping thousands of UK prisoners incarcerated until they can prove they are not dangerous


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 12:21 UTC
UK jail
© Paul Hackett / Reuters
Thousands of UK prisoners are being held with no release date despite serving their minimum sentence, because of an "absurd" law which has since been repealed by Parliament.

In the case of James Ward, now 31, he was initially sentenced to a 10-month term, but is still in prison almost 10 years later due to the now-defunct Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) law.

More than 4,000 inmates, some with mental health problems, are routinely denied release from prison by parole boards because they cannot prove they are not a danger to the public.

Former Justice Minister Ken Clarke branded the situation "ridiculous" because it is impossible for a prisoner to prove he/she is of no danger to the public.

Comment: Yet sex offenders are routinely given a free pass by British judges despite committing "abhorrent" crimes against children and high-ranking pedophiles are protected by the UK government.

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Attention

Entrance to apartment building in Siberia collapses, killing 1, injuring 3 with unknown number of others possibly trapped in debris


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 14:43 UTC
apartment building collapse siberia
One of the entrance halls has collapsed in a five-story apartment block in Mezhdurechensk, a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.

At least one person has died and three have been injured in the collapse, RIA quoted a source in the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying.

"Four people have been affected, one of them died. Those who are injured are in a moderate condition," the source told RIA.
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Stormtrooper

UK 'Prevent' legislation creates environment of extremist anti-extremists


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 15:52 UTC
not terrorist
Figures like Jesus, Charles Darwin and Karl Marx would all be banned from British universities today due to the rise of counter-extremism legislation and US-style 'safe spaces,' an Oxford professor has claimed. Oxford Professor of European Studies Timothy Garton Ash told an audience at the Hay literary festival on Monday that pressure groups and the state are carrying out a double-pronged attack on free speech.

As well as Marx, Darwin and Jesus, he warned that philosophers like Rousseau and Hegel would today be banned from campuses. Referring to the UK government-led Prevent scheme, intended to keep extremism out of educational institutions, Garton Ash warned that "securocrats in the Home Office" are imposing bans which would "prevent even non-violent extremists speaking on campus."


"Now non-violent extremists? That's Karl Marx, Rousseau, Charles Darwin, Hegel, and most clearly Jesus Christ, who was definitely a non-violent extremist," the academic said. The Home Office "wouldn't want him preaching on campus," he added.
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Attention

Huge fire breaks out at gas cylinder warehouse near Moscow


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 15:37 UTC
fire moscow gas cylinder warehouse
© mari_rakitina / Instagram
A blaze flared up in a storing facility to the northwest of Moscow that reportedly stores cylinders with gas. An area of some 1,200 square meters is on fire.

According to footage posted on social media, a huge pile of smoke can be seen rising from the warehouse in the town of Zelenograd.
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Arrow Up

6,000 EU terrorists invade Syria, says human rights watch report


Fars News Agency
Sun, 29 May 2016 15:22 UTC
terrorist
New documents by a human rights watch disclosed that a Syrian-Saudi man has been the mastermind behind the infiltration of over 6,000 terrorists from the European countries into Syria.

"Tarrad Mohammad al-Jarba, originally a Syrian who later obtained Saudi nationality, has been an ISIL commander in charge of recruitment of fresh forces from the European countries and transferring them to the battlefields in Syria," documents by the watch said. "Tarrad was in Saudi jails for at least four years. He further scaped the jail and went to Syria to join the ISIL," the documents went on to say.

Al-Watan paper, meantime, has claimed that al-Jarba is not the real family name of Tarrad. Tarrad is the relative of Hareth al-Zari, the ex-secretary general of the Iraqi Muslim Ullema, who was killed in Jordan last year.
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Fire

Explosion and fire at India's largest ammunition warehouse kills 15 soldiers, forces mass evacuation of village residents


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 05:26 UTC
Fire india ammunition warehouse
© Reweyou / Facebook
A fire that broke at India's largest ammunition warehouse killed at least 15 members of the Indian Defense Security Corps (DSC) and injured 19 on Monday night. About 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.

The blast at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) took place in the city of Pulgaon, located in the Maharashtra region in India's west, at around 1:30 am local time. The resulting fire spread immediately and killed at least 15 soldiers and two officers tasked with protecting India's ministry of defense sites, NDTV reported.

Although, the fire was soon contained, several other explosions followed, prompting a mass evacuation of the residents living in the village near the site, NewsXBureau reported.
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