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Eye 1

Soybean dust blamed for 14 mysterious deaths in Karachi, locals protest poor government response


RT
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 09:36 UTC
Patient on a stretcher
© AFP / Rizwan TABASSUMParamedics shift a patient on a stretcher into the hospital in Karachi after a suspected toxic gas leak.
An illness which affects the lungs and has killed 14 people and hospitalized over 200 in Karachi, may have been caused by soybean dust, a lab has said. It has sparked street protests and prompted some to leave the city.

The health crisis in the Pakistani city started on Sunday night as people living near the port of Karachi complained about breathing problems, tightness in the chest, and a burning sensation in the eyes. Other symptoms include dizziness and nausea. Some reported smelling an unfamiliar odor before feeling sick.

The mysterious illness, which was initially blamed on a gas leak, soon proved to be fatal. On Monday eight people were reported dead, while on Tuesday the death toll rose to 14. More than 250 people were treated for lung problems before being discharged, local hospitals said, while a handful remained in intensive care.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani said the outbreak was a localized event affecting an area near the port. While no cause was immediately identified, city health officials said hydrogen sulfide could have been responsible. The colorless gas notorious for smelling like rotten eggs is toxic - it was even used as a chemical weapon during WWI - and may be released during improper handling of oil products.
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Padlock

Ex-South Korean president Lee Myung-bak receives 17-year jail sentence


CGTN
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 18:11 UTC
Myung-bak
© APFormer South Korean president Lee Myung-bak
Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in jail over a set of corruption charges, including bribery and embezzlement in connection with his brother's auto parts company DAS.

At the second hearing, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Lee, who served as the country's head of state from early 2008 to 2012, to 17 years in prison and a fine of 13 billion won (11 million U.S. dollars). The Seoul High Court also decided to lift the bail on Lee, bringing him back into custody. In March 2019, Lee was released on bail on health concerns, Yonhap reported.

In January, the prosecution demanded a 23-year prison term for Lee, condemning him for not repenting for his wrongdoings and blaming others to avoid responsibility.

A lower court found that Lee was the de facto owner of DAS and that he used his presidential power to benefit the firm and himself, including accepting 8.5 billion won in bribes, said Yonhap. "The defendant ignored the duty and responsibility (that were imposed on the president) and made wrongdoings, such as accepting bribes from public servants or a private company," said the Seoul High Court, the appellate court.

The appellate court found that Lee embezzled 25.2 billion won from DAS and accepted bribes totaling 9.4 billion won, including 8.9 billion won from Samsung. These amounts were higher than the embezzlement of 24.6 billion won and bribes worth 8.5 billion won that a lower court recognized.
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Bullseye

German parliamentary group nominates Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning for 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

Aaron Kesel
The Mind Unleashed
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 22:10 UTC
Manning Snowden Assange
"We wish to nominate Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize."

Two whistleblowers — Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden — were nominated alongside WikiLeaks journalist and former editor-in-chief Julian Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize of 2020 by 17 members of a German parliamentary group.

Żaklin Nastić (MdB) writes:
"I am one of a total of 17 members of our parliamentary group who have nominated Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. These brave people should not be criminalized but should be recognized and honored. The war criminals and their henchmen must be held accountable.

We feel that Assange, Manning and Snowden have to be recognized for their 'unprecedented contributions to the pursuit of peace and their immense personal sacrifices to promote peace for all.' With the unveiling of US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global surveillance program of the US secret services, the three have 'exposed the architecture of war and strengthened the architecture of peace'."
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Arrow Up

Wikileaks founder Assange's health improving following release from solitary confinement - spokesman

Andrew MacAskill
Reuters
Tue, 18 Feb 2020 11:55 UTC
assange court appearance
© Reuters/Henry NichollsWikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain January 13, 2020.
Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer being kept in solitary confinement and his health is improving, his spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters on Tuesday.

Assange, 48, is in Belmarsh high-security prison in London, fighting an extradition request from the United States where he faces 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

His supporters had expressed concern about the state of his health after he appeared confused during a court hearing in October, struggling to recall his age and name and saying he was unable to think properly.

Assange was moved from solitary confinement in the medical wing to a different part of the prison with 40 other inmates after his legal team and prisoners complained that his treatment was unfair, Hrafnsson said.

Comment: See also:

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Heart - Black

Gaza's only bone laboratory is battling drug-resistant bacteria from Israel's bullets

Rosie Scammell
TheNational.ae
Tue, 18 Feb 2020 12:00 UTC
Gaza doctor
© Rosie Scammell for The NationalGhada Hasan Saleh, from Gaza's health ministry, takes petri dishes from a laboratory fridge in Gaza City‚ Al Rantisi Hospital.
The new facility's medics have one aim: to save the limbs of hundreds of Palestinians shot by Israeli forces and left with crippling bone infections

Scientists at a Gaza city laboratory are busy with bone samples, taken from patients shot during border protests, as they battle drug-resistant infections which have hit the Palestinian enclave since March 2018.

Sat beside a pile of Petri dishes, supervisor Hanan Ramadan remembers the race to send samples to Israel before Gaza opened its own facility to prevent amputations and give Gazans the chance — although it's not guaranteed — to walk again.

Comment: See also:

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Bomb

Home-made bombs tested on PETS: New Columbine-style school massacre thwarted in Crimea, 2 teen suspects arrested


RT
Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:48 UTC
explosive devices
© FSBOperative shows home-made explosive devices, seized from the suspects in Kerch.
Two teenage fans of Vladislav Roslyakov, who killed 20 of his classmates in a Columbine-copycat shooting in the Crimean city of Kerch two years ago, were preparing similar school attacks, the Russian security service has revealed.

The suspects, who "were disciples of extremist ideology and followers of Vladislav Roslyakov" wanted to target two schools in Kerch, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement Tuesday.

Police discovered improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with striking elements at their homes as well as spare parts to make more IEDs, which the teens had purchased on the internet. Disturbingly, the two had already been testing their home-made bombs.

Pet animals were used to test the effectiveness of the trial versions of those explosive devices.
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Pocket Knife

London Mayor Khan puts knife crime in the 'too tough' tray and takes on climate change for votes in election run-up

Damian Wilson
RT
Tue, 18 Feb 2020 04:48 UTC
London Mayor Sadiq Khan
© REUTERS / Neil HallLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan is given a police escort
As the no-win row over funding in the fight against London knife crime continues, Sadiq Khan changes tack in the run-up to Mayoral elections, and chooses climate change over safer streets in a far riskier strategy to win votes.

The clock is running down on Sadiq Khan, and with just a couple of months remaining to secure a legacy of any value during the Labour Mayor's unremarkable tenure, his dream of creating a safer London with its streets free of the scourge of knife crime is shot.

So now he's switching his red cape for a green version and opting to save the planet, rather than the British capital's victims of stabbings and street violence, which he is now seemingly determined to blame on central government and a police funding crisis.

In a case of totally skewed priorities, Khan is investing his time and energy in a green agenda, planning to spend £50 million on getting London carbon neutral by 2030, apparently believing the city is an island operating in isolation from the rest of the nation when it comes to traffic and pollution.

As any commuter will tell you, the impact of introducing congestion charge and low-emission zones is to drive traffic out of the centre and onto the perimeter roads which are packed to choking every day of the week.

It is a total smokescreen, though one that would be shut down in London, thanks to the Ultra Low Emission Zones the mayor has established on the roads into the capital.
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Newspaper

In case you had any respect left for the elderly, academics want to label old age a disease

Frank Furedi
RT
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 00:44 UTC
Prominent academics are pushing for the World Health Organization (WHO) to include old age on its list of diseases. They say it will improve old people's lives - but in reality, it will give everyone the excuse to write them off.
Elderly man hospital
© Getty Images / Thomas Barwick

Comment: Not only are the sexes pitted against each other, the food we eat poisons us, the schools we attend indoctrinate us, and our health services make us sick - but now the only people who have attained wisdom are shunned and made to look like loonies. Now the state can further groom the younger generations into subservient adult-children.

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Attention

Doctors for Assange warn he could be 'effectively tortured to death in prison'

Emily Mee
Sky News
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 00:45 UTC
Julian Assange Belmarsh Prison
Julian Assange is being held in Belmarsh ahead of a hearing on 24 February.
A group of doctors and psychologists has warned that Julian Assange could be "effectively tortured to death in prison".

The 117-strong group penned an open letter in The Lancet medical journal, calling for an end to what it described as "the psychological torture and medical neglect" of the WikiLeaks founder.

Mr Assange is being held in Belmarsh prison ahead of a hearing on 24 February which could result in him being extradited to the US.

The 48-year-old faces 18 charges in the US, including conspiring to hack into a classified Pentagon computer.

The letter says: "Assange is in a dire state of health due to the effects of prolonged psychological torture in both the Ecuadorian embassy and Belmarsh prison, where he has been arbitrarily detained according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Comment: More recent news on Assange's case:

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Eye 1

Boy Scouts of America file for bankruptcy amid tsunami of child sexual abuse allegations

Elias Marat
The Mind Unleashed
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 00:06 UTC
Boy Scouts of America
Faced with a tsunami of sexual abuse lawsuits from thousands of alleged victims, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for bankruptcy Tuesday in a bid to continue operating.

The organization, which just recently celebrated its 110th anniversary on February 8, listed its liabilities as between $100 million and $500 million, but its assets at $50,000 or less, per court documents filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court.

Due to the filing, all civil litigation against the organization has ground to a halt. Thousands of people had filed accusations that they faced abuse while they were scouts and myriad others had also been expected to come forward.

Los Angeles-based attorney Paul Mones, who represents hundreds of sexual abuse victims in individual lawsuits, described the bankruptcy filing as a "tragedy," according to CNN. He said:

Comment: From RT:
Boy Scouts of America are declaring bankruptcy, so they can afford to pay off thousands of still-uncompensated sex abuse victims. In a move both craven and irresponsible, however, they are staying open for business.

"Parents should be told the moment they're approached about signing their child up" that the Scouts are dealing with the fallout from a massive sex abuse scandal, comedian and social critic Lee Camp told RT on Tuesday.

"That way they can make an informed decision. They can think to themselves, 'On one hand my boy may be molested like thousands of boys have. On the other hand... he could learn how to whittle...Hmm, tough call.'"

Visiting Scouting.org, one comes away none the wiser that the organization is even having financial troubles, let alone wrestling with the guilt of covering up for predators for decades.

There's a very real risk that a parent signing their child up for scouting hasn't heard of the scandal, or isn't aware of its size and scale. Testimony from last April merely showed that the BSA knew about 7,800 former leaders who had sexually abused over 12,000 children. One attorney for the victims suggested that the scandal could be bigger than the one currently facing the Roman Catholic Church.

"Acting like the higher-ups didn't know this was going on is simply laughable," Camp added, suggesting "It's like Lance Armstrong claiming he didn't know why he kept winning every Tour de France."


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