Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

Refugees or ISIS fighters? Cyprus authorities fear the worst after finding incriminating photos


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 15:08 UTC
Suspected ISIS fighters
© http://politis.com.cySuspected ISIS fighters
Cypriot authorities suspect that ISIS fighters posing as refugees may have entered their country, a local daily reported, amid appeals to the EU to help with an influx of asylum seekers overloading the small island nation.

During a random check on asylum seekers' mobile phones at the country's refugee processing center, Cypriot authorities found saved photos of 'refugees' posing with weapons and dressed in Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) regalia, Cypriot newspaper "Politis" reported. The newspaper obtained two photographs, both showing men dressed in black holding AK-47s. One of the men is seen raising his index finger - a popular "salute" among Islamic State fighters and other jihadists. The refugees in question reportedly came from Dara province, which was liberated by the Syrian army in July.

The photos are currently being examined by the country's security services and the suspected Islamic State members are being closely monitored, the paper said.

Comment: The influx of migrants and refugee's into Europe over the last few years is causing a unbearable strain on public services and, amid the chaos, they are evidently incapable of providing the necessary background checks, so why are some leaders, like France's Macron, insisting countries take in more, while at the same time threatening to create more? Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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Eye 2

Gaza Health Ministry: Teenager killed, 395 injured in latest border clashes (VIDEOS)


RT
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 09:27 UTC
Medics helping to the wounded Palestinian
© Said Khatib / AFP
A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed by an Israeli sniper during Friday's 'Great March of Return' protest. Nearly 400 others, including journalists and paramedics, were injured in clashes with the IDF along the Gaza border.

Israeli snipers have once again been active along the Gaza-Israeli border as Palestinian protesters continue to put pressure on the frontier in weekly protests that started on March 30. The latest march drew at least 7,000 activists, who, among other things, protested against Washington's recent move to cut some $60 million in funding from the UN Work and Relief Agency (UNWRA).

Amid tense confrontation just east of the Rafah crossing, one of the snipers shot 17-year-old Bilal Mustafa Khafaja in the chest, killing the teenager, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Comment: See also: 'Extremely violent riots': 2 killed, 310 injured and Israeli drone shot down in latest Gaza clashes

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Sheeple

Best of the Web: The Left Are The Useful Idiots Of The Political Elites

Duncan Whitmore
The Ludwig von Mises Centre
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
never trumpers
The typical libertarian is unlikely to open his YouTube account or Twitter feed without encountering a cascade of material in which a) the left is drawing attention to itself in a loud and obnoxious manner; and b) libertarians, conservatives and their fellow travellers are castigating the left for whatever it is doing. Given all of this attention paid to the left one would have thought that they must have something important to say. Let us look at a few recent examples to see if this is true.

On August 11th it was reported in the news that around a hundred or so protestors had appeared in the constituency of Conservative MP Andrew Griffiths to demand his resignation. No doubt the motivation of a small crowd of Mr Griffiths' constituents to give up their afternoon and don placards calling for his head owed itself to something extremely serious. After all, surely we would only bother to march through the streets to protest if the matter was as grave as an illegal war, right?

Actually, the flames of fury were ignited by something altogether less serious. Mr Griffiths, who is married, had been sending a considerable volume of lewd text messages to two barmaids, the contents of which were published by the Sunday Mirror. The high crime which had fuelled the protestors' rage was that Mr Griffiths is a "misogynist", the protest calling for nothing more than a rejection of his "behaviour and attitudes".
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Light Sabers

Woman who was held captive by the Taliban with her husband claims he physically and emotionally abused her during captivity

Ashifa Kassam
The Guardian
Wed, 05 Sep 2018 21:51 UTC
Caitlan Coleman
© APCaitlan Coleman speaks in a video while her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle holds their two children in a still from a video released by Taliban media in December 2016
The American woman who was kidnapped in Afghanistan and held hostage for five years - giving birth to three children while in captivity - has accused her husband of physically and emotionally abusing her while the family was being held by Taliban-linked militants.

The allegations levied by Caitlan Coleman against her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle are contained in newly unsealed court documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.

In the documents, filed earlier this year as part of a family court application aimed at allowing Coleman to leave Canada and return to the US with the couple's children, Coleman accused her husband of exacerbating the nightmarish ordeal.

"JB (Joshua Boyle) regularly threatened to kill me by setting me on fire," Coleman - who is expecting the couple's fourth child - said in an affidavit. Her husband, she claimed, "had uncontrolled rage, instituted corporal punishment of me, and struck me in a fit of rage".

Comment: Previously:

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Che Guevara

Argentines Protest Changes, Cuts to Health Ministry in Gov't Austerity Package


teleSUR
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:31 UTC
Argentines protest
© ReutersArgentines protest new austerity measures that affect public health care
Argentina's Health Ministry was downgraded to a secretariat by the president. Medical staff and patients fear service will become worst.

Thousands of Argentines protested Wednesday against the decision announced by President Mauricio Macri to fuse the Ministries of Health and Social Development, transforming it into a secretariat. Thousands participated in a symbolic "embrace" of the building where the former ministry operated.

Doctors, medical associations and organizations, political groups, and users of Argentina's public health care system gathered for the Movement for the Right to Health by surrounding the building where the former Health Ministry operated to protest President Mauricio Macri's decision to downgrade the ministry to a secretariat and to warn of the dangers of the funding cut.

On Monday, Macri addressed the nation in a televised statement to explain the austerity measures to reduce the fiscal deficit. Eight ministries, including the Science and Technology Ministry and Culture Ministry, were either eliminated or fused with others.
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Arrow Up

World's top exporter of grain: Russia's wheat export increases 80%


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:52 UTC
Russian wheat exports soar
© Vincent Mundy/Reuters
The world's top exporter of grain, Russia, has increased sales of its wheat abroad by 80.2 percent from January to July 2018 compared to the same period of 2017.

Statistics from the Federal Customs Service showed that in July the country shipped 3.8 million tons of wheat and meslin (a mixture of wheat and rye), up by almost 78 percent from the previous month. The value of exports rose by 74 percent.

According to the customs service, imports of wheat and meslin increased by 36.7 percent through July - worth $32.2 million. Overall, grain imports amounted to $227.8 million in the seven months of this year, down by 7.8 percent from 2017.

Russia has managed to capture more than half of the world wheat market in recent years, becoming the world's biggest exporter of grain, thanks to bumper harvests and attractive pricing. In 2016, the country became the world leader in wheat exports. Since the early 2000s, its share of the world wheat market has quadrupled.
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Alarm Clock

Iraqi protesters break into Russian Lukoil-managed facility, briefly take employees hostage


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 20:18 UTC
Iraqi protesters rally in Basra
© Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters (file photo)Iraqi protesters rally near the burnt building of the government office in Basra, Iraq September 7, 2018.
The protests that turned into riots in Iraq's Basra have spilled out into the nearby oilfield, in which Russian oil giant Lukoil is a major stakeholder. Protesters stormed it and took two hostages, later freeing them unharmed.

The crowd forced its way into a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna-2 oilfield managed by Lukoil, a source within the Russian energy company and local police source told Reuters. The protesters took two local employees hostage. However, less than an hour later the agency reported that the protesters left the facility peacefully and set both employees free.

No Lukoil employees were injured in the incident, a source told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

This comes as the Iraqi government has reportedly imposed a state of emergency in the Basra province in connection with the riots.

Comment: See also: Iraqi protesters set fire to Iranian consulate in Basra (VIDEO)

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Arrow Down

US no longer appeals to ex-pats as lack of health care and safety concerns drag "exceptional nation" down

Suzanne Woolley
Bloomberg
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 20:00 UTC
Bahrain
Bahrain
How the mighty have fallen. And fallen again.

The appeal of the U.S. as a destination for expatriates slid for the fifth consecutive year, to No. 47 out of 68 countries, dragged down by a steadily deteriorating reputation for safety and a perceived lack of affordable health care.

Just five years ago, the U.S. held the fifth slot in the annual Expat Insider survey by Munich-based InterNations, a network of 3.2 million expatriates. The annual survey of more than 18,000 expats representing 178 nationalities covers everything from the cost of education and child care to family life, career prospects and perceptions of safety and political stability.

Two-thirds of expats in the U.S. view job opportunities positively, but for the first time America placed among the 15 countries deemed the least safe and secure. Just 17 percent rated the personal safety of their children as "very good," compared with a global average of 44 percent. Expats are "afraid of gun violence," said Malte Zeeck, a founder and co-chief executive of InterNations.
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Heart - Black

US sanctions Syria - the criminal, silent killer

Eva Bartlett
In Gaza
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 00:06 UTC
Syrian cancer kids
© In Gaza
In 2016, I visited the centre depicted in the linked RT news report on the effect of western sanctions on children with cancer. At the time, the director told me they were trying to help 240 children, were underfunded and in debt, the people working there were volunteers, and (at that time) were facing constant power outages, as was the norm in Aleppo due to terrorists outside of Aleppo controlling the power plant.

Formerly, cancer patients in the north of Syria had excellent treatment at the Kindi Hospital, a massive complex that was respected throughout the region. It was truck-bombed by terrorists in late 2013, completely destroyed. In November 2016, I met and interviewed the former director of Kindi, Dr. Ibrahim Hadid. He emphasized how he tried to get the attention of international organizations both when the hospital was initially occupied by terrorists, and later when it was destroyed. He was met with silence.


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Marijuana

Tesla shares dip after Elon Musk smokes a joint on the Joe Rogan show

Rupert Neate and Julia Carrie Wong
The Guardian
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 19:19 UTC
Tesla CEO Elon Musk bankruptcy joke
© Joe Skipper / Reuters
Tesla shares crashed 8% on Friday as two of its senior executives quit, just hours after the electric carmaker's chief executive Elon Musk sparked concern by smoking marijuana on a live web show.

The company's head of accounting, Dave Morton, and head of human resources, Gaby Toledano, said they were leaving the company, which has been placed at the centre of a string of controversies by its maverick CEO.

Morton, who joined the company just one month ago, said he was leaving because "the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations".

"This caused me to reconsider my future. I want to be clear that I believe strongly in Tesla, its mission and its future prospects, and I have no disagreements with Tesla's leadership or its financial reporting."

Morton joined the company one day before Musk tweeted that he was considering taking the company private with "funding secured". The plan was abandoned 17 days later, but not after drawing a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a series of lawsuits alleging market manipulation.

Comment: Elon can't catch a break.

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