Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

UK prisons like death traps, government policy the cause for rising suicide rates sez Chief Inspector


RT
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:50 UTC
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© Reuters / Paul HackettStaff shortages and overcrowding in Britain’s prisons are so serious, they are fuelling a rise in suicides amongst UK inmates, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warns.
Staff shortages and acute overcrowding in Britain's prisons are so serious they are fuelling a rise in suicides amongst UK inmates, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warns.

Chief Inspector Nick Hardwick told the Independent on Tuesday it was simply "not credible" for the coalition government to refute a direct link between mounting pressures on Britain's prison system and a dramatic increase in suicides.

Hardwick's intervention compounds heated criticism which has been directed at the UK's Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, over his mishandling of the prison system, amid accusations that jails throughout Britain have evolved into "death traps" as a result of stark budgetary cuts.

Commenting on the crisis, Hardwick said that self-inflicted prison deaths were "not acceptable in a civilized country," and warned if UK ministers wanted the population in British jails to rise, concrete"resources to deal with that rise" must be employed.
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Camera

Journalist organizations express concern over missing Russian photographer in Ukraine


RT
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:32 UTC
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© RIA NovostiRossiya Segodnya special photojournalist Andrei Stenin. Photo by Damir Bulatov. Archive photo.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) voiced concern over the safety of Russian photographer Andrey Stenin, who has been missing for almost a week after reportedly being detained in E. Ukraine.

"We join our Russian affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ), to express our serious concern for the well-being of our colleague Andrei Stenin," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha, according to the organization's statement.

"If he has been detained in Ukraine then we appeal for whoever is holding him to release him immediately. He is a journalist, not a soldier, and as such is entitled to move freely and report the truth without the threat of intimidation, violence or detention," Bourmelha stressed.

Stenin, an experienced war photo-correspondent and employee of major news agency Rossiya Segodnya (Ria Novosti), was declared missing almost a week ago. Stenin was in the country working on a photo assignment.

The journalist is believed to have been with self-defense forces before he disappeared. An anonymous source in Donetsk told Ria Novosti that Stenin had been abducted by Ukrainian security forces.
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People 2

For the first time, whites in U.S. schools will not be in the majority this Fall


RT
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:26 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Frank Perry
This autumn, the majority of students in public schools across the United States will be non-white for the first time in American history.

The new data comes courtesy of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which estimates that 49.8 percent of all American students this coming school year will be non-Hispanic white students. At just under 50 percent, white students will still be the biggest racial group represented in US schools, but they will no longer make up the majority of all students in the country.

According to the Associated Press, the NCES projects that nearly 25 percent of minority students will be Hispanic, while 15 percent will be black and another five percent Asian. Biracial and Native American students will make up the rest of the minority stake in schools.

The news comes as the US population in general continues to undergo significant racial and ethnic changes. The US Census Bureau projects that minorities will make up a greater share of the US citizenry than whites by 2043, partially thanks to the fact that birth rates are going down or staying the same for whites - as well as for African Americans and Asians - while climbing higher for Hispanics.
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Eye 1

Crowds protesting shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown teargassed by police


RT
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 14:51 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Getty Images / Michael B. ThomasProtestors stand with arms in the air during a protest of the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, outside Ferguson Police Department Headquarters August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Violence has broken out again as authorities dressed in riot gear in a St. Louis, Missouri suburb - where an unarmed black teen was fatally shot by police over the weekend - have used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a large crowd.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the Associated Press that a group gathered throughout the day on Monday at a burned-out convenience store, then turned rowdy at nightfall. Along with tear gas, observers tweeted that police fired rubber bullets into the crowd.

Police were telling people to go home, but had blocked streets off in the area, an AP photographer said. Jackson said police closed the area where most of the looting and vandalism occurred during the previous night, out of concern that cars passing by might hit demonstrators in the street.
Saw #riot #police use tear gas in #missouri while locals stood out on the street, outside their homes, no violent protesting. #MichaelBrown

- Anastasia Churkina (@NastiaChurkina) August 12, 2014
The St. Louis suburb has been marred by unrest for three days, moving from protests and vigils during the day to rioting and looting at night. The tumult is over the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager who was killed on Saturday following an altercation with a Ferguson police officer.
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Smoking

British smokers being denied treatment by State-run healthcare service

David Atherton
Breitbart
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
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Scotland's second largest health board, NHS Lothian, will not be giving further treatment to smokers for non-urgent cases, with referrals from GPs being refused.

Dr. Zahid Raza said: "In Edinburgh, we will not see patients at the clinic that are still smoking. Evidence shows that they would not do well with the treatment." He also went onto say: "We try to avoid intervention and, in around 80 percent of cases, a smoker's condition will improve just simply by stopping smoking and smoking other lifestyle changes."

Dr Jean Turner of the Scotland Patients Association said that she was "extremely disappointed", adding: "I'm really quite shocked. You should not refuse to see anybody and certainly not penalise patients who are smoking.

"It is very God like and highly unfair to refuse to see anybody referred...Doctors are there to see if they can help and relieve symptoms."

NHS Lothian is by no means unique. NHS Hertfordshire back in January 2012 also withdrew treatment to smokers and, as an ominous sign of the slippery slope, those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30 - i.e. the obese - are refused services too.

Smokers may well have a case of righteous indignation.

Comment: Doctors and health services in general nowadays are way past contraventions (minor legal infraction) of any ethical oath to protect its clients, they are in criminal neglect of it! As for real data on smoking, so much have been suppressed:


Also read:
Dr. Relic's sure-fire no-risk unequivocally-guaranteed method to completely eliminate the pain and stress of quitting smoking!

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Pocket Knife

Sharp encounter: Mysterious knife falls from city skies and land on man's head


Mirror
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:49 UTC
A Chinese man has suffered a lucky escape after a knife fell from the sky and landed in the top of his head.
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Mr Xiao is still being treated in his local intensive care unit
Xiao Yunzhi, 57, was out for a walk in his hometown of Guangyuan, Sichaun Province, before a five-inch kitchen knife fell from the top of a high-rise apartment block.

Even more unbelievably, Mr Xiao did not immediately notice the impact, despite reporting that his head started to feel heavy.

However, as soon as the problem was pointed out by the astonished local tobacconist, pain rushed though Mr Xiao's body as bemused onlookers called for an ambulance.
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He was still being treated by local intensive care on Monday after the knife which was lodged in his head was finally removed. The man's sister was quick to the scene and explained the horror.
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Cardboard Box

Biting the hand that feeds:​ British food exporters feel the pressure from Russian embargo


RT
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:13 UTC
fish
© Reuters/Dylan MartinezSkipper of the Whitby Rose, Howard Locker sorts his catch aboard his trawler in the North Sea, off the coast of Whitby, northern England
UK food firms said they've already started feeling the brunt of the Russian import ban on some agricultural products. British businesses are warning they would lose out if the tension ratchets up to other industries.

On August 7, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev ordered a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry meat, fish, cheese, milk, vegetables and fruit from Australia, Canada, the EU, the US and Norway.

UK food exporters are concerned over the possible damage caused from losing sales in the Russian market.

"It will have a big impact on business," the BBC quotes Sinclair Banks, the boss of fishing and fish processing firm Lunar.


Comment: D'uh! That's the whole point. And guess what, you deserve it for following the wholly irrational whims of a certifiably insane country.


Half of Lunar's annual turnover of £60 million comes from Russian exports.

"We've £200,000 of herring sitting at St Petersburg, we don't know if it will go through or even if it will be paid for," Sinclair Banks complained, adding that his company had already cancelled a boat exporting herring because of the sanctions.

Another food producer, cheese maker Belton Cheese is also suffering.

Comment: Simple solution, people: end the ridiculous sanctions on Russia and start listening to common sense.

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Stormtrooper

Officer shoots service dog for "attacking" him; Owner claims it was only barking

Paul Brown
Opposing Views
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:01 UTC
jake
© Unknown
While investigating a hit-and-run accident on Saturday, officer Tony Redmond of Medway, Maine officer shot a dog he claims attacked him.

According to the Bangor Daily News, the dog's owner, Frank Bishop, who witnessed the incident, says his dog was only barking and posed no threat whatsoever to the officer.

"My dog doesn't attack people. He is a service dog," Bishop said Sunday. "The dog is very peaceful. But when people pull in the yard, he barks. That is his job."

The dog, a mix named Jake, had parts of his ear and shoulder blown off by the gunfire, though he is expected to survive.

The incident occurred while Redmond was looking for the owner of the car seen at the scene of the hit-and-run accident. It turns out Bishop was not the perpetrator, though Redmond did not know this at the time.

Bishop recalled, "I came to the door, and I said to the officer, 'Can I help you?' He said, 'Are you Frank?' I said, 'Yeah, just let me get my shoes on.' And I was pulling on one shoe when I heard the bang (of the gun)."

Jake the dog began to bark when the officer approached the home. The officer, who felt threatened, shot the dog, apparently aiming for his face, as the ear and shoulder took the brunt of the gunshot.

Following the gunshot, "Bishop said he looked outside and saw Jake running into the house. Then he saw Redmond, his gun still drawn, laying on his back on the ground, apparently having fallen as he backed away from the dog," reports the Bangor Daily News.

Police Chief Cameron McDunnah commented on the incident, stating, "I don't want to sound callous about what happened to the dog: That's not how I feel, but Tony [Redmond] did what he was supposed to do. In speaking to Tony, it was clear that he was reacting to a threat. It's just an unfortunate incident."
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Wolf

Puppy helps find 4yo girl lost in Siberia for almost 2 weeks


RT
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:50 UTC
puppy_lost girl
© Still from Ruptly video
Family and rescue workers almost lost hope of finding a 4-year-old girl who went missing with her puppy in bear-infested Siberian marshes and forests almost two weeks ago. Luckily, her pet returned and this helped find the trail to the missing girl.

Karina, from the village of Olom, in the Yakutia Republic in the east of Russia, left home on July 29 and went wandering in the swamps and forests.

The rescue operation started on August 2 and was joined by almost a hundred locals, who roamed the harsh Siberian taiga for several days. They entered the forest accompanied by armed hunters and special police forces as the area is inhabited by bears.

An array of technologies were involved in the search and rescue operation, including an unmanned aerial vehicle that surveiled the area in real time, while a helicopter crew also looked for signs of the little girl.

Several days ago Karina's puppy returned home, said rescue worker Afanasy Nikolaev, adding that at first the family had lost all hope that Karina was alive.

"We hoped that the pet was with the girl and kept her warm during the cold nights, when temperatures drop below zero," he told the NTV channel.

However, it was the puppy that helped the rescuers find a trail, which led to the missing child.
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Handcuffs

College student sent to prison for Knockout Game attacks

Jonathan Wolfe
Opposing Views
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:49 UTC
Dillon P. Destefano
© Patrick Whittemore
Dillon P. Destefano, 20, will spend the next four years in prison after injuring three people in "Knockout Game" assaults, the Boston Herald reports.

Destefano was convicted this week of punching at least three people at random on the campus of Endicott College in Massachusetts. One victim suffered a broken jaw and had to have his mouth wired shut for weeks. The second victim had his eye socket smashed, and the third was fortunate enough to suffer only a bruised lip.

Prosecutors say Destefano was drunk on the day he carried out the assaults. He allegedly told numerous witnesses he would hurt them if they reported him to authorities.

In court this week, Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett condemned Destefano's violent behavior.

"These were unprovoked, random attacks on unsuspecting victims and will never be tolerated," Blodgett said.
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