Society's ChildS


Attention

Amber Heard admits to 'hitting' ex-husband Johnny Depp and pelting him with pots, pans and vases in explosive audio confession

Ben Ashford
Daily Mail
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 21:50 UTC
Amber Heard Johnny Depp
Amber Heard admits to 'hitting' Johnny Depp in an explosive audio confession obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com. The estranged couple tried to talk through their marriage problems and Heard opens up about her violent tantrums in a series of taped conversations from 2015. Pictured: The former couple in September 2015
Amber Heard admits to 'hitting' ex-husband Johnny Depp and pelting him with pots, pans and vases in an explosive audio confession obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

The Aquaman actress, 33, opens up about her violent tantrums in a series of taped conversations the estranged couple made in 2015 as they tried to talk through their marriage problems.

'I'm sorry that I didn't, uh, uh, hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you, it was not punching you. Babe, you're not punched,' Heard tells Depp, attempting to downplay her outburst the previous evening.

Comment: For a full transcript of the tape go to the original Daily Mail article.

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Passport

U.S. border officers ordered to interrogate travelers with Iranian links at Canada-U.S. border, says memo

Sophia Harris
CBC News
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer
© Elaine Thompson/Associated PressU.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has denied detaining Iranian-born travellers in early January and said delays at the Blaine Peace Arch crossing were related to staffing issues during a busy holiday weekend.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has denied detaining Iranian-born travellers in early January and said delays at the Blaine Peace Arch crossing were related to staffing issues during a busy holiday weekend.

An apparent U.S. Customs and Border Protection internal memo adds credence to the recent numerous complaints from Iranian-born Canadian and American citizens that they were questioned and held for hours at the Canada-U.S. border in Blaine, Wash.

Despite reports that up to 200 travellers of Iranian descent were detained at the Blaine Peace Arch crossing on Jan. 4-5, U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) has denied such allegations. It told CBC News that delays at that popular border crossing — between B.C. and Washington state — were due to staffing issues during a busy holiday weekend.
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Attention

Facebook and Twitter face fines for violating Russian data protection law


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:40 UTC
facebook russia, twitter russia
© REUTERS/Jon Nazca
Facebook and Twitter were required by law to notify the telecom watchdog about storing Russian users' data within Russia by January 31. Neither did, and they now face fines of up to $95k - and up to $280k for repeat violations.

In order to protect its citizens' privacy, lawmakers in Russia amended the 'Law on Personal Data' in 2014.

Last year, when a Moscow court ordered Facebook to pay a $47 fine for violating the law, the social media giant didn't even bother to send anyone to hear the verdict. After all, they posted an $18 billion profit that year, so why would they bother?

This time, it may not be so easy. An amendment made in December 2019 allows Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecom watchdog, to up their game and seek fines of up to 6 million rubles ($95,000) for the first violation of the law, and up to 18 million rubles ($280,000) every time they do it again. The watchdog officially documented the violation of the law by Facebook as soon as it legally could, and will file the suit within three days.

Comment: Russia eyes digital tax on Google and Facebook

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Arrow Down

French coach accused of rape admits 'intimate relationship' with former skater Sarah Abitbol


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:41 UTC
Coach Gilles Beyer
© Global Look Press / PanoramicCoach Gilles Beyer
French figure skating coach Gilles Beyer, who was accused of sexual assault, has admitted to having an 'intimate relationship' with Sarah Abitbol, who was underage at the time.

On Thursday, renowned athlete and ten-time French pairs skating champion Abitbol accused Beyer of systematic sexual assault and rape between 1990 and 1992, when she was between the ages of 15 and 17.

"He started doing horrible things... sexual abuse, and I was raped when I was 15. It was the first time that a man touched me," the seven-time European medalist said.

The 62-year-old coach admitted to having sex with the skater, whom he had trained, though he added that his memory of events differs from the version presented by Abitbol.
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Bullseye

Murder charges dropped against 3 Moscow sisters who killed abusive father

Jonny Tickle
RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:46 UTC
Khachaturian teen sister
© Global Look Press / City News MoskvaOne of the three Khachaturian teen sisters, Angelina, charged with their father's murder
In a case which has shocked Russians, three Khachaturian sisters admitted to killing their father after he subjected them to mental, sexual, and physical abuse spanning years.

They faced charges of premeditated murder, but now their lawyer says the Russian Prosecutor General's office has ordered investigators to drop that arraignment, and instead reclassify the killing as lawful self-defense.

Lawyer Aleksey Parshin told TASS news agency that officials have declined to support the Investigative Committee's case against the sisters. Parshin said that the Khachaturians responded to their father's "unlawful attacks, which created a real danger to their life and health," and that the prosecutor general regarded their actions as "within the legal limits of necessary self-defense, which brings the criminal prosecution to an end."

Comment: See also:

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Colosseum

Worker killed during livestream as demolition of Soviet-era stadium goes spectacularly wrong in St. Petersburg


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 12:58 UTC
Collapsed building
© fontanka.ru
A construction worker has been found dead after a St. Petersburg concert hall collapsed as it was being demolished. Footage shows tragic moment a worker desperately scrambled to reach a crane as the structure broke apart.

Drone footage shows a huge cloud of dust coming from the St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex. The massive stadium suffered a roof collapse as workers attempted to dismantle the structure.

Comment: The full video is something to behold. They had just moments earlier sent up a drone to record the event - and were livestreaming the footage - when the drone captured the worker, without harness, severing one of the joints connecting the ceiling to the main structure. Just as his plasma-cutter severed that joint, the whole structure collapsed...


Someone made a monumental cock-up.

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Arrow Down

In Egypt, 12-year-old girl dies after genital mutilation

Noha Elhennawy
ABC News
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 08:04 UTC
Surgery
A 12-year-old girl died this week in southern Egypt after her parents brought her to a doctor who performed female genital mutilation, a criminal practice that remains widespread in the region, according to a judicial statement.

The girl's death in the province of Assiut prompted Egypt's public prosecutor to order the arrests of her parents and the physician who preformed the procedure, also known as female circumcision, said the statement released late Thursday by the prosecutor's office.

Since the mid-1990s, Egypt has been battling the centuries-old practice, which is misguidedly believed to control women's sexuality. In 2008, a law banning the cutting of female genitalia was passed in Parliament despite strong opposition from conservative voices. But a 2015 government survey found that 87% percent of all Egyptian women between 15 and 49 years of age have been circumcised.

"Many more Egyptian girls will be forced to undergo the procedure, and many of them will die — as long as there is no clear strategy from the state and a true criminalization of the practice," Amel Fahmy, managing director of Tadwein Gender Research Center, said Friday.

Comment: See also:

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Yellow Vest

France's economy contracts as massive protests continue, Italy has worst growth since 2013


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:24 UTC
Gare de Lyon
© Reuters / Gonzalo FuentesFrench SNCF railway workers on strike near the Gare de Lyon train station, Paris, January 29, 2020
The French economy, one of the largest in the EU, has failed to meet expectations and contracted for the first time under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron in the final quarter of 2019.

France's real GDP fell 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, a dramatic drop after an expansion by 0.3 percent in July-September, according to a report published by the French national statistics bureau, INSEE, on Friday. While the agency said that GDP slid just "slightly," the results are well below the earlier projected 0.2 percent growth.

This brings the full-year economic growth to 1.2 percent in 2019, down from 1.7 percent a year earlier.

Comment: Meanwhile Macron, always eager for a photo opportunity, and likely oblivious to what he's actually promoting, is snapped holding up a t-shirt that represents the ever present police brutality at France's protests - the character is missing an eye because France's repressive security forces have now become infamous for maiming numerous protesters:
Macron paid a visit to the International Comic Book Festival in Angouleme, southwestern France on Thursday - but his appearance likely had the opposite of its intended effect on France's increasingly discontented electorate.


A photograph taken during the festival shows the French leader holding up a t-shirt showing a cartoon cat with a bleeding, patched-up eye. Under the feline reads: LBD 2020, an allusion to the infamous "defense ball launcher" (LBD) used by French riot police, as well as the name of the comic book festival (BD 2020).

Apparently oblivious to the double entendre, Macron is seen cracking a grin as he poses with the shirt - and the very amused cartoonist credited with making it.

The photo-op gaffe sparked outrage from Macron's critics. Left Party leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said the incident showed that the French president "trivializes police violence."

French police have been accused of using excessive force to quell anti-austerity and Yellow Vest protests across the country. More than 20 protesters have lost eyes in demonstrations against Macron's deeply unpopular reforms.

The photograph also enraged law enforcement. Yves Lefebvre, a senior police union official, described the incident as "scandalous," local media reported.

Responding to the outrage, Macron suggested that the photograph shows how in France's "free society," the president can hold up a t-shirt with which he does not agree.
See also:

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Chess

'We won't be uprooted': Mayor says Trump's plan to make Abu Dis new Palestinian capital 'not fair or honest'


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:14 UTC
Abu Dis
© REUTERS/Ammar AwadPalestinian town of Abu Dis
Mayor of Abu Dis, the small town envisioned as the new Palestinian capital in Donald Trump's Middle East 'peace plan,' told RT that Jerusalem will always be the true capital of Palestine and slammed US president for ignorance.

Trump's 'Vision' for peace, unveiled at the White House on Tuesday, outlines a two-state solution with Jerusalem proper remaining the "undivided capital" of Israel, while a new Palestinian capital could be established east of the city, centering on Abu Dis.

"Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and Abu Dis is only considered as a suburb of Jerusalem," Ahmed Abu Hilal told RT. "We will not be uprooted from the historic city and we will always be a part of Jerusalem."
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Arrow Up

Texas mother loses appeal to gain power to transition her young son into a girl

Shane Trejo
Big League Politics
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
The courts have rebuked this deranged woman yet again.

James and Jeffery Younger
James Younger with his father Jefferey.
A Dallas, Texas judge denied the appeal of Dr. Anne Georgulas to reinstate an October ruling that would have given her the power to transition her 7-year-old son's gender into a girl against his father's wishes.

The case of James Younger gained national attention after James' father Jeffery Younger waged a campaign over social media to save his son. The judge ruled that both parents will have a say in medical decisions for their son, which may prevent the gender transition planned by his mother.

Georgulas had challenged the ruling that was made by Judge Kim Cooks last year to give both parents joint decision-making abilities regarding their son. Judge Mary Brown rebuked her request, and Cooks' ruling is now an official order. Georgulas' lawyer said she would attempt another motion to make a new trial to give her client control over James.

Comment: Previously:

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