Society's ChildS


Star of David

Almost before you can say 'ceasefire', Israel bombs 60 Gaza targets in 24 hours


MintPress News
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC
Gaza airstrike
© Khalil Hamra/AP/KJNIsraeli airstrike on Gaza government building.
The Israeli Air Force launched aircraft at a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons a group Sunday evening, challenging the commitment to a ceasefire agreed upon between 'Israel' and Hamas earlier this weekend.

A ceasefire between the resistance group and the occupying entity was brokered Saturday following this weekend's heavy shelling by Israel during the 16th week of the ongoing Great Return March protests.

The occupying state also said it would open its blockade zone and expand the original fishing zone if the ceasefire was respected.

Four Palestinians were killed Friday and 120 injured following a series of attacks by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) near the Gaza strip border. Among those killed were Mahmoud Khalil Qishta, 23, killed in Rafah; as well as Mohammed Riyad Farahza, 31, and Shahban Rihab Abu Khater, 26, both killed in Khan Younis.

The three were fighters with the Al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Hamas. A fourth Palestinian, Muhammad Badwan, 24, was shot in the chest as he was participating in protests on that same day in east Gaza City.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

5 men charged in acid attack on three-year-old boy


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:34 UTC
Worcester acid attack
© SWNS
Five men have now been charged over a suspected acid attack on a three-year-old boy in Worcester, police have said.

West Mercia police said two men from Wolverhampton aged 39 and 41 were charged with conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, along with three men aged 25, 26, and 22.

They are due to appear at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court to be tried over the suspected attack, which saw corrosive substance being "sprayed or thrown" at the toddler on Saturday at 2:15pm in a Home Bargains in Worcester. The defendants cannot be named for legal reasons.

The victim was brought to the hospital with serious burns to his face and arms.

Comment: The BBC reports the father of the boy is among the five men charged in the case. Further details about the case have yet to emerge.

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Stock Up

China announces plans to invest $15 billion in South African economy and infrastructure


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:28 UTC
South Africa flag rand
© Thomas White / Reuters
Beijing has pledged to bankroll $14.7 billion in South Africa and provide the country's power utility and logistics corporation with loans. The South African rand firmed by more than one percent on news of the investment.

The announcement followed a meeting between the two countries' leaders President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pretoria. Xi's state visit took place ahead of the 10th BRICS summit, scheduled for July 25-27. South Africa's biggest city of Johannesburg is set to welcome the heads of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

"China is ready to invest and work with South Africa in various sectors, such as infrastructure development, ocean economy, green economy, science and technology, agriculture, environment and finance," Ramaphosa told journalists following the meeting.
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Eye 1

Boy Scouts hit with lawsuit for allowing pedophile serial abuser to prey on boys

Olivia Messer
Daily Beast
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 18:16 UTC
boy scouts
© Dennis Hallinan/ Getty
Four men who were Boy Scouts in the mid-1970s have filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America, claiming that the organization was a "pedophile magnet" and failed to prevent their abuser from preying on them while alone for hours at campsites and other facilities.

The 139-page complaint was filed in Stamford Superior Court last week and first covered by the Stamford Advocate. The four anonymous plaintiffs are suing the Boy Scouts of America, the Connecticut Yankee Council, and the Fairfield County Council of Boy Scouts for allegedly failing to take appropriate measures to stop accused serial pedophile Waldron, or "Wally," Ackerman from allegedly preying on them.

Ackerman was, for years, a scoutmaster with Stamford Boy Scout Troop 38, which he led in the mid-1970s. The complaint claims that the Boy Scouts of America "had actual knowledge of the explosion of the pedophiles within scouting during the 1960s and 1970s nationwide."
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Eye 2

Pedophile doctor Larry Nassar seeks re-sentencing and wants judge disqualified


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:06 UTC
nassar
© Rebecca Cook / Reuters
Attorneys for disgraced former US Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar are seeking re-sentencing over sexual assault charges and want the judge in the first of the major molestation cases he faced to be disqualified.

Nassar is serving a 60-year federal sentence for possession child pornography and has also been handed a jail term of up to 175 years for molesting young athletes - which he will serve if he survives the federal sentence.

He filed two motions on Tuesday through his attorneys with Ingham County Circuit Court, where he was sentenced by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina back in January after testimony from more than 150 women.

One of the motions filed on behalf of Nassar seeks a re-sentencing to change what is claimed to be an invalid sentence, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Comment: Previously:

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Bad Guys

Federal prosecutors want to classify evidence against 'Russian agent' Maria Butina


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 17:23 UTC
maria butina
US federal prosecutors want to seal evidence in their case against Maria Butina, the Russian national who has been charged with conspiracy against the United States and failure to register as a foreign agent.

During a hearing at the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, prosecutors said they wanted the protective order because they were worried about Butina's lawyers potentially leaking material to the media. They argued that the protective order would "facilitate the protection of the investigation."

Prosecutors said they had up to 12 terabytes of data to be provided on the case, with "four to six" terabytes - about 1.5 million files - ready to hand over to the defense "as soon as possible". The remaining four to six terabytes would be ready "in about two weeks," they said.

Comment: Previously:

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Attention

Viva la resistance! Stormy Daniels' husband files for divorce and restraining order

Nate Church
Breirtbart
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 03:30 UTC
stormy daniels
© The Associated Press
Stormy Daniels' husband and fellow adult film star Glendon Crain has filed for divorce in Texas, as well as a restraining order.

Crain's filing said that his marriage to the controversial pornographic actress "has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities" and claimed that Daniels was putting his daughter "in imminent threat of serious and immediate physical or emotional harm" by taking her along on her nationwide strip club tour.

Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti said that the accuracy of the divorce claim is "vehemently disputed" and that Daniels' daughter "remains her number one priority." He also said that she "kindly asks for privacy" during the process "for the sake of her family."

For her part, Daniels responded a little differently: "I don't need or want privacy," she tweeted soon after Avenatti. "I want truth. And it will come out. I'm not afraid."

Crain has requested child support from Daniels and the sharing of their property assets. While the restraining order is in effect, Daniels' unsupervised access to their daughter will be restricted. Daniels is currently touring America's strip clubs.
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Snowflake

Fruitcake Maxine Waters claims she is on a mission from God to bring down Trump


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 17:05 UTC
maxine waters
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
California Democrat Maxine Waters claims she's on a mission from God against President Donald Trump, telling congregants at a Los Angeles megachurch: "When God sends you to do something, you just do it!"

"We never dreamed we'd have someone in the White House who was divisive, who could not tell the truth, and who was intent on not making America great again, but taking America down," she told the cheering congregation on Sunday.

After unloading on Trump for his alleged plans to lift US sanctions on Russia, Waters claimed that God sent her on her political mission against the president.

"I'm going back to Washington tomorrow morning, I'm going to tell them pastor told me to come here and just do it!" she said.
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Red Flag

Study finds correlation between temperature spikes and suicide rates


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:52 UTC
desert
© Mike Hutchings / Reuters
A new study has drawn a link between hotter-than-average weather and a rise in suicide rates. Experts believe the findings are particularly alarming, as climate change threatens even more extreme weather events in the future.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, looked at rates of suicide across the US and Mexico over several decades and found that a temperature spike of just one degree Celsius led to as much as a two percent increase in suicides in some places. The findings are said to be the same whether the region had a hot or cold climate.

"Climate change in terms of suicide is not going to generate winners and losers, it's just going to generate losers," author Marshall Burke, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford, told Stanford News. "Everyone, as far as we can tell - no matter whether you live in a cold place or live in a hot place - everyone is going to be harmed in terms of suicide risk when we increase the temperature."
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Gold Coins

Detoxing from the dollar: Russian gold reserves nearing 2,000 tons, approaching record Soviet-era levels


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:44 UTC
gold
© Ilya Naymushin / Reuters
Russia's gold holdings are approaching the Soviet era record after the central bank added another 106 tons of bullion in the first half of the year. It's part of a plan to diversify national reserves away from the US dollar.

The entire gold reserve of the Russian Federation is nearing 2,000 tons with the share of the precious metal in the country's foreign-exchange portfolio reaching a record 18 percent in June. At the same time, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) launched a massive sell-off of US Treasury bonds, having dumped nearly all of the country's holdings.

The latest data from the US Treasury showed that Russia reduced its holdings from $96.1 billion in March to just $14.9 billion in May, having dropped out of the list of the 33 largest foreign holders of US sovereign bonds. The decrease reportedly occurred after the financial, economic, and geopolitical assessment by the CBR. The step helps Russia to diversify its reserves, according to the head of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina.

The current gold holdings of 2,000 tons are approaching the Soviet maximum of 2,800 tons reached in 1941. At the moment, Russia's gold and foreign currency holdings total $460 billion with the central bank aiming to increase that figure to $500 billion. Over the last decade, the share of gold in reserves has soared tenfold.

The precious metal has historically proved itself as an effective hedge against financial shocks and fiscal meltdowns. According to mining and financial experts, the world could run out of mineable gold in the next two decades. If this happens, the prices for bullion could soar to $3,000 per ounce or higher.
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