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Over 30% Israelis close to poverty line


A new report shows that over one third of Israelis are at risk of falling below the poverty line, almost twice the rate of poverty risk in the European Union, itself plagued by a financial crisis.

According to a report released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Wednesday, about 31 percent of Israelis are close to the poverty line. The current figure is up from 26 percent in 2001.

The report also indicates that some 40 percent of Israeli children are facing the risk of poverty, which is also double the rate in Europe.

The rate in 2011, the same as this year's, was even higher than in debt-ridden Spain and Greece, where 20 percent of the population was at risk of poverty.

Momi Dahan, an official at Hebrew University in al-Quds (Jerusalem), said the high poverty rate is due to Israel's constant cuts in welfare benefits over the past 30 years.

He added that the 2013 Israeli austerity budget "continues the current policy of cutting welfare spending, mainly through cuts in children benefits, which now became even lower."

Phoenix

I'm Daisy Coleman, the teenager at the center of the Maryville rape media storm, and this is what really happened

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You may have heard my story, thanks to Anonymous who trended #justice4daisy. I'm not done fighting yet.

Winter: cold, bleak, bitter, ugly. Almost like summer has taken off its mask and shown its true colors. Everyone is forced to see how ugly life can truly be. Others get a season of beauty: summer.

My whole life since January 8, 2012, has been a long, reckless winter.

The night everything changed I was having an old friend over to catch up and have fun. Her name is Paige, and she is a year younger than I am. At the time, she was 13, and I was 14.

We had been best friends since we were both very young, and continued to be best friends, even though I had moved from Albany to Maryville. She was in the eighth grade, and I was in the midst of my freshman year.

Life, overall, was great.

I was on the varsity cheer squad, a competitive dance team and had a lot of friends.

Handcuffs

Federal air marshal arrested, accused of taking pictures up women's skirts

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© Nashville/Davidson County Police DepartmentAdam Joseph Bartsch was removed from duty as a federal air marshal Thursday after he was taken off a Southwest Airlines flight at the Nashville airport.
A U.S. air marshal was arrested Thursday and charged with using a cellphone to take photographs up women's skirts at the Nashville, Tenn., airport, police said.

The Transportation Security Administration said Adam Joseph Bartsch, 28, of Rockville, Md., had been removed from active duty and was "in the process" of being suspended or fired.

Bartsch was on duty when he was arrested after boarding Southwest Flight 3132 from Nashville to Tampa, Fla. A fellow passenger who allegedly saw Bartsch taking the pictures notified a flight attendant.

Bizarro Earth

Walmart employee fired after trying to help assault victim in store parking lot

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© screengrab via WXYZ
"The last thing I expected was to not have a job," said Kristopher Oswald, 30, who was fired from Walmart this week after he intervened to help a woman who was apparently being assaulted in the parking lot of the store.

It happened around 2:30 a.m. outside the Walmart store in the Livingston County town of Hartland.

Oswald, who worked stocking pet food on the overnight shift at Walmart, was spending his lunch break in his car when he heard a woman screaming and a man hanging onto the hood of her car.

At first, Oswald wondered if it was just people horsing around recklessly, but when he walked over to see if the woman was really in danger, he says the man began to attack him, punching him in the head while yelling "I'm going to kill you".

Question

Why are an increasing number of roadside deer carcasses found decapitated in New Jersey?

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© Martin Griff/The Times of TrentonDOT workers say an increasing number of roadside deer carcasses are discovered decapitated.
Fair Lawn - An increasing number of roadside deer carcasses are being discovered decapitated, authorities told News 12 New Jersey.

Department of Transportation workers tell News 12 that many are taking the heads for show.

George Dante, the owner of a taxidermy shop in Woodland Park, told News 12 that "When they (sportsmen) see an animal by the side of the road with this magnificent headgear on it, you can't help but stop and take it home."

Police want residents to know that taking deer heads is against the law, and those who are caught can be fined $500 the first time and up to $1,000 for a second offense, the report said.

Residents in New Jersey are allowed to keep roadkill to eat, the report said, as long as they have a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

"We would love to be able to pick up a roadkill and recycle it and turn it into a beautiful mount, give it to an environmental center," Dante told News 12. "Unfortunately, we're not allowed to recycle our wildlife."

Arrow Down

30 Million people worldwide living as slaves: Report

Slavery
© AAMS Blog
An estimated 30 million people worldwide are currently living as slaves, according to the inaugural Global Slavery Index published Thursday, with India said to have the largest number of enslaved people, though African countries still had the highest proportional figure based on population.

The index, compiled by the Walk Free Foundation (WFF), defined modern slavery to comprise of human trafficking, forced labour, and practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage, and the sale or exploitation of children; and found that slaves existed in all of the 162 countries surveyed.

"Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia," the report said, as cited by Reuters.
"Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through 'marriage', unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education," the report added.
The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery were Mauritania (0.4 percent), Haiti (0.2 percent), Pakistan (0.012 percent), India (0.012 percent), Nepal (0.01 percent), Moldova (0.01 percent), Benin (0.01 percent), Ivory Coast (0.01 percent), Gambia (0.01 percent) and Gabon (0.01 percent).

In terms of total numbers, the countries with the most people in modern slavery were estimated to be India (13.95 million), followed by China (2.95 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).

Bomb

Puerto Rico might need a federal bailout because it can't declare bankruptcy

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© REUTERS/Alvin BaezA pedestrian passes a closed shop with a for sale sign outside, along Paseo de Diego in San Juan's Rio Piedras district, September 3, 2013.
Things are bad in Detroit.

But they're even worse in Puerto Rico.

The island's economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, has been hammered by the drop-off in U.S. discretionary spending in the post-financial crisis era.

We recently told you how residents have been leaving the country in droves. The territory's unemployment rate is more than 13%.

Now, the yield on the Puerto Rican 5-year note has climbed to a staggering 9.4%.

As the New York Times' Mary Williams Walsh notes, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy - just like a state.

The pension fund of the Northern Mariana Islands tried this last year - and failed. A judge ruled that as a "governmental unit" it was explicitly barred from filing for protection under Chapter 11, which applies to corporations. (The NMI's lawyers themselves decided the territory was not eligible for Chapter 9, the bankruptcy statute Detroit and all cities and counties fall under.)

So some kind of bailout may be imminent, the president of the Puerto Rican Senate, Eduardo Bhatia, told her:
"[The administration is] wondering how they can help Puerto Rico send a very strong signal of stability right now...We are waiting for some sort of an announcement from the Treasury and the White House," Bhatia said without clarification.

Bizarro Earth

Substitute teacher admits to heroin use after passing out in front of class

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Pittsburgh, PA police found four baggies of heroin on a 26-year-old substitute art teacher and marijuana in his car after he passed out in front of a roomful of high school students on Wednesday. According to KDKA CBS Channel 2, Christopher Chiappetta admitted that he had used heroin in the morning before reporting to work at Pittsburgh's Northgate High School.

KDKA spoke with Northgate school resource officer Sgt. Mike Hudson about the incident, who was on patrol in the school hallway when he heard a commotion. He found Chiappetta slumped unconscious in a classroom with 11 students.

"Unfortunately, it was a very realistic show and tell where you can preach the message to students, but they got to see live, firsthand the effects of a drug addiction problem," Hudson said.

Heart - Black

Man confesses to killing moments before his execution

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In May of 1986, a 21-year-old woman, Angie Crowley, was kidnapped, raped, beaten and then murdered while on a road trip in Florida. Tuesday evening, 27 years later, her killer was set to be executed by lethal injection in the small northern Florida town of Starke.

Seventeen of the victim's loved ones were in attendance and sat shoulder to shoulder to witness the execution of William Frederick Happ at the Florida State Prison. Two brothers, two sisters, a nephew and an aunt waited in silence. Nobody said a word...except William Frederick Happ:

"For 27 years, the horrible murder of Angela Crowley has been clouded by circumstantial evidence and uncertainty," Happ said. "For the sake of her family, loved ones and all concerned, it is to my agonizing shame that I must confess to this terrible crime."

Heart - Black

15-year-old girl attacked by group of teens In Delaware County


Speaking exclusively to CBS 3, a 15-year-old high school student, whose identity we are concealing, described a terrifying attack by a gang of at least nine teenage boys as she was leaving an Interboro High School football game Monday night.

The teenage victim described first being taunted by the attackers, who followed her down a neighborhood street, cursing and spitting at her, before she was repeatedly kicked and punched, suffering at least one blow to her head.

"It was scary, just horrible, just the worst feeling in the world," she said. "He punched me in my back and then kicked me in the back, and then punched me in the back of my head. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, I couldn't talk. I was just straight crying."