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Camp 22 inmates disappear: Over 22,000 prisoners unaccounted for in North Korean labor camp

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© Screenshot/HRNKA screenshot of the cover of the new report that in part covers the prisoners that disappeared from Camp 22 in North Korea.
Over 22,000 inmates at Camp 22, a labor camp in North Korea, have disappeared, according to a new report.

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, based in the U.S., reports that the number of prisoners in the camp dwindled rapidly from 30,000 to between 3,000 and 8,000 amid reports of severe food shortages inside the camp.

Prison camps in North Korea, which has a communist-like regime, hold prisoners that are deemed "wrong-thinkers" or "wrong-doers." They are mostly punished through forced labor and sometimes through more extreme measures such as strict rationing and torture.

Camp 22, an area that covered about 31 miles by 25 miles, was recently closed - but a number of missing prisoners haven't been accounted for.

Drawing on several media outlets that have sources inside the closed-off country and several other sources such as a former prison guard, the report outlines that some of the "missing" prisoners were likely transferred to a nearby camp, but about 22,000 are still left unaccounted for.

Stock Down

Slave nation: Number of Britons on 'zero-hours contracts' is actually 5.5 million, not 1.1 million, as reported one month ago

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Unite survey finds 22% of workers employed by private firms are on contracts promising less than three hours a week

As many as 5.5 million Britons could be signed up to work contracts that promise them less than three hours of work a week, five times more than existing estimates, new figures suggest.

A survey of 5,000 members of Unite, Britain's biggest union representing more than 1 million people, found that 22% of workers employed by private businesses had deals that offered little or no guarantee of work and pay.

Across the entire UK workforce, the figures suggest millions could be employed on zero-hours contracts, which often provide no holiday or sick pay but can leave employees having to ask permission before seeking additional work elsewhere.

Pistol

Iowa grants gun permits to the blind

Blind with Gun
© Andrea Melendez/The Des Moines RegisterMichael Barber examines a gun with his hands at Bass Pro Shop in Altoona last month. 'When you shoot a gun, you take it out and point and shoot, and I don't necessarily think eyesight is necessary,' said Barber, who is blind. /
Des Moines -- Here's some news that has law enforcement officials and lawmakers scratching their heads: Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.

No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.

The quandary centers squarely on public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it's a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.

On one side: People such as Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington, who demonstrated for The Des Moines Register how blind people can be taught to shoot guns. And Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, who says blocking visually impaired people from the right to obtain weapon permits would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. That federal law generally prohibits different treatment based on disabilities

People

In Sicily, a lesson of altruism as Syrian refugees arrive

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© Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty ImagesA boat carrying Tunisian migrants enters the port of Lampedusa, Sicily, on April 12, 2011. Sicily is now dealing with an influx of Syrian migrants, as they must pass through Italy on their way to central European countries as they flee violence at home.
Located on the Mediterranean Sea the island of Sicily has become a destination for Syrians fleeing the war-torn nation by boat.

Refugees on their way to central European countries, such as Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, have to pass through Italy first. The number of Syrian refugees has increased especially in the Syracuse Province of Sicily this year.

It presents a challenge for Syracuse, which is relatively unprepared, but it's a challenge that the medical director at the Health Association of Syracuse Province, Anselmo Madeddu, is welcoming.

Madeddu said he has come across many "touching experiences" in his work as a physician with the immigrants. They have given "all of us a lesson in civility," he said in an interview with Epoch Times.

The situation is different from previous years and not only in the numbers. Before immigrants were predominantly males in search of a job, but now they are full families with women and children, and even with pregnant women. Moreover, their social status is generally high - including engineers, doctors, and lawyers - according to Madeddu.

Eye 2

Homeowner finds 6-foot rat snake in sink drain, Texas

A China Spring homeowner was surprised by an unwelcome guest slithering through the drain of his bathroom sink Friday afternoon.

About 3 feet of what officials think was a non-venomous rat snake made it through from the opening of the drain before it got caught in the pipe, Lt. Chris Eubank said.
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© McLennan County Sheriff’s Office photo

"(The homeowner) called us as soon as he saw it - he didn't want to mess with it," he said.

McLennan County sheriff's deputies, who responded to the scene on Norm Street about 12:40 p.m., were forced to disassemble the piping, then take the sink, with 6 feet of snake still stuck in the opening of the drain, in an attempt to free it, Eubank said.

Sheriff

Barbaric video of Georgia Prison Guard beating man with a hammer finally released

Recently, the video footage of a Georgia victim of the prison system was released, in which he is barbarically beaten with a hammer by a guard.

Because officers, prison guards, and people committing violence for the government never face the consequences of their crime, the violent offender, the guard in this video (who hasn't even been identified because he is protected by the other criminals), was never prosecuted, and never faced any consequences at all. The man was handcuffed, and completely defenseless. He could have been murdered, it was that bad. Originally, it was denied that this even happened, but now we know the truth. Perhaps in part because It's taken two years and almost eight months for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to release this video. The assault occurred on New Year's Eve, right before midnight, on Dec. 31, 2010. A very persistent family member of one of the victims finally persuaded them to give the video to her. A determined advocate for justice for prisoners, Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, posted it to YouTube.

The family member who retrieved the video says-

"The family is demanding justice for this barbaric, inhumane act. We ask everyone to help by contacting District Attorney Tom Durden at (912) 876-4151.

Cult

40 children taken away from German Christian sect

foster families
© Daniel Karmann/DPAThe children were temporarily handed into the care of foster families.
German police have raided a Christian sect, taking away 40 children, alleging that they had been beaten and abused, according to reports.


More than 100 police targeted two locations of "The Twelve Tribes" in the southern German state of Bavaria, the local Augsburger Allgemeine and Spiegel Online said.

The dawn raids followed "new evidence pointing to significant and ongoing child abuse by the members", local officials were quoted as saying.

In all, police withdrew from the community's custody 28 children from one monastery near the town of Deiningen and 12 from a second location, Woernitz.

X

Afghan militants drag female author out of her home, shoot her dead

Sushmita Banerjee
© SEBASTIAN D'SOUZA/AFP/GETTY IMAGESAuthor Sushmita Banerjee, writer of the novel "Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife" based of her life, poses at a press conference announcing the launch of the movie "Escape From Taliban" in Bombay, Dec. 17, 2002.
Suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan on Thursday shot dead an Indian woman whose memoir about marrying an Afghan and life under the Islamist militia was made into a Bollywood movie, officials said.

The killing of Sushmita Banerjee was the latest in a string of attacks on prominent women in Afghanistan, adding to fears women's rights in a country where many are barely allowed outside the house will recede even more after U.S.-led foreign forces fully withdraw in 2014.

The militants arrived before dawn at Banjerjee's residence in eastern Paktika province, which lies in Afghanistan's east - a region where the Taliban are especially influential.

Her husband, Jaanbaz Khan, answered the door, only to be quickly bound and blindfolded, provincial police chief Gen. Dawlat Khan Zadran told The Associated Press.

Handcuffs

3 arrested at Wal-Mart protests that extent in 15 cities and demand better wages

walmart protests
© forrespect.orgWal-Mart has been criticized for keeping employees on part-time status and paying low wages
In the latest worker protest to raise hourly wages, activists rally against Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart workers and supporters launched protests in at least 15 cities Thursday, urging the world's largest retailer provide higher wages, better jobs and the right to unionize.

OUR Wal-Mart, a coalition including Wal-Mart workers, community organizers and the United Food & Commercial Workers organized day-long protests, urging Wal-Mart to pay full-time wages of $25,000 a year, or $12 an hour. It says many of Wal-Mart's 1.3 million associates are part-time employees averaging just $8.80 an hour.

The Wal-Mart protests - which follow last week's broader, widespread strikes among fast-food industry workers seeking $15 an hour wages from fast food chains - were scheduled for Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Boston, Orlando, Minneapolis and Washington D.C., where Wal-Mart is threatening to cut expansion if it's required to pay a city mandated "living wage" of at least $12.50 an hour.

Comment: Wal-mart is a giant human-crashing corporation that has been caught many times bullying and closing down small businesses, tax evading and money laundering, while being the "largest recipient of public aid" in the US. Do not support this monster.


Cardboard Box

90,473,000 people not in labor force in the US - up almost 10 million under Obama

job seeker
© Reuters/Mark MAkelaA job-seeker completes an application at a career fair in Philadelphia in July
The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has pushed past 90,000,000 for the first time, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks. A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks.

In July, according to BLS, 89,957,000 Americans did not participate in the labor force. In August, that climbed to 90,473,000--a one month increase of 516,000.