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Eye 1

121 more injured, paramedic on duty among two killed by Israeli fire in Gaza


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 18:48 UTC
Injured protester in Gaza
© Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters (file photo)
Two people have been killed in Gaza, including a paramedic on duty, the Palestinian Health Ministry reports. The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that 121 have been injured and that 57 of these were hit by live bullets.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told RT it "condemns the killing of the medic Abdullah al-Qatati while on duty today by the Israeli occupation in Rafah."

"Abdullah volunteered with the Medical Relief Society to provide medical assistance to affected people during the March of Return," it said.

Qatiti was killed in Rafah in southern Gaza and five other paramedics have been injured. Saeed Aloul was reported dead by the Health Ministry. Journalists Alaa Abdel Fatah and Mahmoud al-Jamal have also been injured, local media reports.
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Rose

Dutch anti-immigrant politician takes own life after claiming gang-rape by Muslims


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 19:18 UTC
Willie Dille suicide
© Facebook/Willie Dille
A city councilor in The Hague and member of the anti-immigrant Freedom Party has taken her own life, hours after posting a video on Facebook in which she claimed she was gang-raped by Muslims as part of an intimidation campaign.

Willie Dille, 53, reportedly ended her own life on Wednesday, two days after sharing a video on social media in which she claimed to have been kidnapped and raped by a Muslim gang over a year ago.

Dille served as an MP for the anti-immigrant Freedom Party from 2010-2012 before returning to her seat on The Hague city council. The party's leader, Geert Wilders, is an outspoken critic of Islam. The suicide was confirmed by local Freedom Party leader Karen Gerbrands who said Dille "could no longer bear what had happened to her and the reactions she had had."

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Star of David

Norwegian daily accused of anti-Semitism after depicting Netanyahu as swastika-shaped enforcer of apartheid


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 13:44 UTC
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
© Abir Sultan/Reuters
Norway's sixth-largest newspaper may have gone too far when it published a cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that apparently linked his policies to Nazism and apartheid.

The cartoon by Finn Graff shows the Israeli leader sitting on a bench marked "Whites only." His body is shaped like a swastika while his left fist punches a mustached man, presumably a member of the Druze minority. The picture comes with a report about the outcry among the Druze after Netanyahu's government passed a reform officially making Israel a Jewish state - a move that many critics say runs contrary to democratic values.
Raphael Schutz, Israel's ambassador to Norway, retweeted the controversial image on Tuesday, calling it an example of "the most repulsive imaginable anti-Semitic imagery". He demanded the cartoon be deleted, but three days later it was still available on the newspaper's website.
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Info

Green Party wants Sweden to address its 'colonial past' through reparations


Sputnik
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 10:23 UTC
Sweden
© AFP 2018 / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND
The Greens claim that the Swedish state stole the land from the indigenous reindeer-herding Sami people by allowing mass immigration of Swedes into their native territory for centuries.

The Green Party wants to see a "truth commission" to investigate the abuse of the indigenous Sami people and initiate a "reconciliation process." The party also claimed that the Sami should be entitled to reparations for the "historic abuse" they have suffered from the Swedish state.

In the Green Party's press-release, the relationship with the Sami is referred to as a "dark chapter" in Sweden's history. "Over the centuries, state-backed abuse of the Sami has occurred, including forced migration and racial biology," the Greens wrote. According to the party, the Swedish state must take responsibility and atone for historic assaults and the policy of "Swedification."

Comment: See also:

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Life Preserver

New leader of Catalonia: 'Spain has jailed political prisoners, who must be freed immediately'


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 20:01 UTC
Quim Torra Alex Salmond
Catalonian government head Quim Torra told RT's Alex Salmond that he is ready to negotiate with Madrid on the status of the province, but that the release of those jailed for organizing a secession referendum is "non-negotiable."

An ally of his exiled pro-independence predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, Torra was elected after three other politicians were disqualified by the central government and has attempted to rebuild communication that has lapsed after the unsanctioned independence referendum in October 2017.

Last month, for the first time since 2016, the head of the national government, the Socialist Pedro Sanchez, who himself only assumed his post in June, and the Catalonian leader met face-to-face.
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Roses

Puerto Rico acknowledges that more than 1,420 people died in aftermath of Hurricane Maria


FARS News Agency
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 06:58 UTC
Aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
© FARS News Agency
The government of Puerto Rico has quietly acknowledged in a report posted online that in all likelihood more than 1,420 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria - a figure that is more than 20 times the official death toll.

Hurricane Maria cut through the island on September 20, knocking out power and initially killing about a dozen people, according to The New York Times.

The government's official count eventually swelled to 64, as more people died from suicide, lack of access to health care and other factors. The number has not changed despite several academic assessments that official death certificates did not come close to tallying the storm's fatal toll.

But in a draft of a report to Congress requesting $139 billion in recovery funds, scheduled for official release on Thursday, the Puerto Rican government admits that 1,427 more people died in the last four months of 2017 compared with the same time frame in the previous year. The figures came from death registry statistics that were released in June, but which were never publicly acknowledged by officials on the island.

Comment: See also: Official death toll from Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria was grossly underestimated; likely 70 times higher

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Handcuffs

UK man jailed after stabbing woman in the throat in bizarre and violent sex game


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 18:35 UTC
couple
© Laura-lee Huteson / Facebook
A man has been sentenced to 6 years in prison after being found guilty of stabbing a woman in the throat during "bizarre and violent sadomasochistic sexual activity" which lead to her death.

Jason Gaskell, 24, from Mildane, Hull, severed Laura Huteson's carotid artery and jugular vein with a knife while having sex with the 21 year-old at his home in Hull, on February 27. He pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.

During sentencing, Judge Jeremy Richardson said: "In simple terms you unlawfully killed a woman with whom you were having sexual intercourse by stabbing her through the neck during bizarre and violent sadomasochistic sexual activity.

"You did not intend that to happen, but the danger of stabbing the victim was obvious, and it eventuated. You took that risk knowingly and deliberately and you have paid a terrible price.

"The price paid, however, by Laura Huteson, was infinitely greater. She is dead."
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Fire

Russia's tallest wooden church, built in 1774, destroyed in fire


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 17:35 UTC
Fire
© Ruptly / YouTube
The historic Assumption Church (Uspensky Church) in Lake Onega, Russia has burned to the ground. Video footage taken as the scene shows the wooden Russian Orthodox church entirely engulfed in flames.

Firefighters worked to control the blaze, but were unable to save the structure. The fire reportedly started after a group of tourists had visited the building on Friday. Local officials suspected they may have violated fire safety rules sparking the accidental inferno, but arson hasn't been ruled out.
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X

First they came for Alex Jones now Facebook has banned Venezuela news site


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 20:54 UTC
VenAnalTarget
© VenezuelaAnalysis/Facebook/KJN
Days after the purge of Alex Jones from social media, Big Tech seems to have found another suitable target for apparent censorship. Facebook suspended the page of a prominent leftist news site writing about Venezuela.

Venezuelanalysis.com, a left-leaning news site that writes from a pro-Bolivarian revolution stance, has been around since 2003. Critics, including the US government, brand it as a propaganda outlet of the government in Caracas. The site says it is funded by donations and lists as its team Western-born journalists and filmmakers, as well as endorsements from dozens of Western intellectuals, including Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone.

On Thursday, its Facebook page was suspended in what Venezuelanalysis described as a "flagrant act of political censorship." It suggested that the ban may have been timed to suppress a "brilliant piece" on how the Western media covered the drone assassination attempt on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The banned site also asked for public support in the face of the suspension.


Comment: "The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." -George Orwell
We can see where this is all going. You can't 'save democracy' by banning - instead, you hasten its retreat.
See also:

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Handcuffs

Rep. Chris Collins is arrested for insider trading

Katherine Tully-McManus, Lindsey McPherson
Roll Call
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:48 UTC
Rep Chris Collins R-NY
© Tom Williams CQ Roll Call fileNew York Republican Rep. Chris Collins
Charges to three defendants also include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements

New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins was arrested and indicted on charges related to securities fraud Wednesday. The indictment is tied to securities of an Australian biotechnology company, Innate Immunotherapeutics where Collins has served on the board of directors.

Collins' latest sale of Innate Immunotherapeutics holdings was on June 20, 2018 and valued between $15,000 and $50,000 according to House periodic transaction reports. He bought at least 4 million shares between 2016 and 2018, according to the reports. Collins' value in Innate went from $25,000,001 to $1,000,001, according to his most recent financial disclosure. He serves on the Health subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce.

Last August, the House Ethics Committee took up an inquiry into Collins and allegations that he had shared nonpublic information about the company, in violation of House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.

Collins gained personal benefit and provided nonpublic information to his son Cameron Collins who sold nearly $1.4 million of Innate Immunotherapeutics shares, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Christopher Collins knew or recklessly disregarded that he breached his duty by disclosing this inside information to Cameron Collins," the SEC said.
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