Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Evil Monsanto challenges Indian court's decision that undermines its GMO cotton monopoly


RT
Sat, 05 May 2018 03:57 UTC
Cotton growers in India
© Amit Dave / ReutersCotton processing unit in Indian state of Gujarat.
Agro-biotechnology giant Monsanto has appealed Delhi High Court's ruling which, based on national laws, prevents the world's largest GMO seed producer from claiming patents on its genetically modified cotton varieties in India.

Looking to break down Monsanto's monopoly on the Indian market, in April the Delhi High Court banned the St. Louis-based company from enforcing its patents on genetically modified 'Bollgard' and 'Bollgard II' cottonseed varieties in India. The decision was taken after Indian Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd (NSL) argued that the US seeds company was not eligible to claim patents and demand royalties from Indian seed companies.

In something of a compromise gesture, the justices gave Monsanto a three-month window to register the Bt seed varieties under the Plant Varieties Act (PVA), which would still allow the company to collect a trait fee but lose control of the plant's genetic material. The ruling would also allow Indian farmers to use Monsanto's know-how for future research and development of the cotton industry.

Refusing to accept the new arrangement, Monsanto appealed the court's decision, Reuters reported on Friday. NSL, meanwhile, announced that it will uphold the court's decision.

Comment: See also: Monsanto's stranglehold on seeds in India: Legal battle over GM cotton rules biotech plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented

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Attention

Sex with 10yo not rape, Finland's Supreme Court rules in migrant's case


RT
Sat, 05 May 2018 11:55 UTC
Doll
© Global Look Press
In a case that has triggered public outrage, a top Finnish court has upheld a ruling that sex between an asylum seeker and a 10-year-old girl didn't constitute rape. Critics are calling for harsher sentences for child abuse.

Finland's Supreme Court rejected a request from the prosecution to appeal a three-year jail term for a 23-year-old man on Thursday. Finnish media identify him as Juusuf Muhamed Abbudin, an asylum seeker, but don't reveal his country of origin.


Comment: Probably because they don't know it.


The man was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse, although the prosecution had sought a harsher sentence on charges of aggravated rape. However, the court left the original verdict unchanged.

The incident took place near the city of Tampere in southern Pirkanmaa region in autumn 2016. The man had sexual intercourse with a girl, who was 10-years old at the time, in the yard of a deserted apartment block. He also exchanged sexually charged messages with her.
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Pirates

Russian Foreign Ministry warns ISIS setting up camps in Latin America

Inessa S
Fort Russ
Sat, 05 May 2018 14:54 UTC
isis flag
© Fotoarena / Global Look Press
The terrorist organization "Islamic State" * has stepped up efforts to create training camps in Latin America, although so far such cases are few in number, said Dmitry Feoktistov, Deputy Director of the Department for New Challenges and Threats of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"There is a danger of camps in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean for training jihadists, establishing ties between terrorists and local criminal and drug syndicates. We are concerned about the activation of recruiting activities of extremists, especially in the Caribbean states, where the share of citizens professing Islam is high," he said, speaking at the 18th session of the Inter-American Committee on Combating Terrorism.

Later, in his communication with journalists, Feoktistov emphasised that the cases of recruitment are still small in number. "But we do not want it to grow into an epidemic," the diplomat added.

He noted that it is better to work ahead of them. In this regard, Feoktistov put forward a number of proposals to the participants of the event. In particular, he called for joining the FBI International Data Bank on Countering Terrorism, which contains information on 89 terrorist organizations and more than 11,000 foreign terrorist.

Feoktistov stressed that Russia is ready to facilitate the training of intelligence officers, and also called on the participating countries to consider the possibility of joining the SCO Convention on Countering Extremism.

Comment: Latin America already has its own "ISIS" in the form of drug cartels. As for the real ISIS, it's hard to see how it could grow roots in a continent where more than 90% of the population has been raised as christians.

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Pirates

Be afraid: ISIS propaganda calls to "kill them all" at Moscow World Cup

Julian Robinson
Mail Online
Fri, 04 May 2018 14:33 UTC
ISIS threat football World Cup Moscow
ISIS thugs have called on their supporters to launch attacks at the World Cup in chilling new online propaganda
  • Terror group's latest poster shows a knife in front of a football stadium in Russia
  • The chilling image comes with a French caption translated as 'Kill them all'
  • It is the latest in a series of ISIS threats made against the showpiece tournament
ISIS thugs have called on their supporters to launch attacks at the World Cup in chilling new online propaganda.

The terror group's latest poster, showing a knife set on a red back ground in front of a football stadium in Russia, comes with a French caption translated as 'Kill them all'.

It is the latest in a series of ISIS threats made against football's showpiece tournament, which kicks off on June 14 in Moscow.

Comment: Maybe someone with an interest in ruining Russia's World Cup is trying to scare fans off the event? If so, good luck with that. Football passion is stronger than fear.

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Info

India and Afghanistan strengthening their cooperation

Dmitry Bokarev
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 05 May 2018 13:55 UTC
Afghan-India Friendship dam
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA) is still going through hard times. The country is teeming with terrorist groups who are fighting both with the legitimate government and with one another. Many countries, including the US, believe that the issue should be resolved first and foremost with military means, which is proved by US President Donald Trump's program that he expressed in August 2017. But the recent decades have already shown that relying exclusively on force leads to failure in the case with Afghanistan. Permanent foreign military presence on Afghan soil, alongside poverty and unemployment, incites anger in the people and pushes them to join the terrorists. That is why outside help in its socio-economic development has now great value for the IRA, as well as investment in its peaceful projects. Meanwhile, the US does not mention any plans in this area. In his August speech, Donald Trump called for India to take on this duty.

It is worth noting that India already has great credit for the peaceful Afghan economic recovery, including the energy sector, regardless of the calls by Washington, DC.
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Map

Will Greenland join the family of independent nations?

Alex Gorka
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 05 May 2018 13:14 UTC
Greenland cargo jet
Greenland's election in late April was largely a vote on independence - a crucial and unifying issue. Whatever the ultimate composition of the ruling coalition, the secession from Denmark seems to be a foregone conclusion. Six out of seven political parties support the idea and they won. A referendum will also offer a thumbs-up. The Greenlandic people have been inspired by Iceland's example and want to make their home, the largest island in the world, a member of the family of independent nations. Some suggest that independence could be declared by 2021.

Greenland left the EU in 1984 while not leaving the Kingdom of Denmark - an EU member state. This was an unprecedented situation. There was no mechanism in place in those days for pulling out of the bloc but this island did it. This proves that Scotland and Northern Ireland could find a way to remain simultaneously parts of the UK and the EU if they wanted to. There's no need for hard choices; they could have both.

Greenland was granted home rule in 1979 and self-rule in 2009. Denmark's constitution recognizes its right to become a sovereign nation but it would then lose the subsidies it receives from Copenhagen, which make up about 60% of the island's annual budget.
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Stormtrooper

Contrary to claims, US army in Yemen doing Saudis' dirty work


Sputnik
Fri, 04 May 2018 13:01 UTC
US soldiers
© CC BY 2.0 / Expert Infantry / US soldiers
A new report has torn the mask off the Pentagon's public narrative that it does not specifically involve itself in the Yemeni Civil War except to refuel Saudi-coalition warplanes: US Army Green Berets are at work on the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border to find and destroy the Houthis' missile stockpiles.

"With virtually no public discussion or debate, the Army commandos are helping locate and destroy caches of ballistic missiles and launch sites that Houthi rebels in Yemen are using to attack Riyadh and other Saudi cities," the New York Times reported Thursday.

Even the NY Times, which hasn't always been the strongest source of criticism of the US' now-perpetual involvement in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, to name a few, noted Thursday that the details of the Green Berets' operation "appear to contradict Pentagon statements that American military assistance to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen is limited to aircraft refueling, logistics and general intelligence sharing."

One exception, of course, to the Pentagon's tight-lipped nature on US operations in Yemen came in January 2017 when decorated US Navy SEAL William Ryan Owens died during the Yemen raid. Upon the first death of a US service member during the administration of President Donald Trump, the US government had no choice but to publicly acknowledge parts of its overseas mission.

Comment: See also: Green Berets are covertly helping the Saudis in Yemen

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HAL9000

Official report: US spy agency NSA triples collection of US phone records

Dustin Volz
Reuters
Fri, 04 May 2018 12:50 UTC
NSA headquarters
© REUTERS/Sait Serkan GurbuzThe National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters is seen in Fort Meade, Maryland, U.S. February 14, 2018.
The U.S. National Security Agency collected 534 million records of phone calls and text messages of Americans last year, more than triple gathered in 2016, a U.S. intelligence agency report released on Friday said.

The sharp increase from 151 million occurred during the second full year of a new surveillance system established at the spy agency after U.S. lawmakers passed a law in 2015 that sought to limit its ability to collect such records in bulk.

The spike in collection of call records coincided with an increase reported on Friday across other surveillance methods, raising questions from some privacy advocates who are concerned about potential government overreach and intrusion into the lives of U.S. citizens.


Comment: POTENTIAL government overreach? Seriously?


The 2017 call records tally remained far less than an estimated billions of records collected per day under the NSA's old bulk surveillance system, which was exposed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Comment: Since FISA's renewal, one can expect to see these numbers continue to rise. See also:

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X

30 year old teacher accused of sexual misconduct with 16 year old student on the run with teen boy, cops say

Greg Norman
Fox News
Wed, 02 May 2018 12:14 UTC
Nicole Jackson
© Hattiesburg Police DepartmentNicole Jackson, left, is believed to be on the run with 16-year-old Oscar O'Neal.
A Mississippi teacher is being sought Tuesday by police who say she ran off with a teen boy -- just weeks after she was arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with a student.

Oscar O'Neal, 16, was reported missing by his mother Monday and was last seen around 1 a.m. at his home in Hattiesburg, police said. There is an active arrest warrant out for Nicole Jackson, a 30-year-old former teacher at the Earl Travillion Attendance Center who previously was arrested and charged with sexual battery by a person in a position of trust or authority.

"If u see my son please contact me or my wife Lisa Oneal. We got the police involved his nickname is Lil Pooh but his real name is Oscar Oneal missing....," read a post Monday on a Facebook page purportedly belonging to the teen's father.

Comment: See also:

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Sherlock

OPCW completes initial probe in Syria's Douma, sends samples for analysis


RT
Sat, 05 May 2018 11:58 UTC
OPCW Syria chemical weapons inspectors
© Ali Hashisho / ReutersUN vehicles carrying OPCW inspectors in Damascus
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has completed the "initial deployment" of its fact-finding mission at the site of the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma.

"Samples were brought to the OPCW Laboratory where they will be split and then dispatched to the OPCW designated laboratories. The analysis of the samples may take at least three to four weeks," the organization said in a statement on Friday.

While the collected samples are being analyzed, the fact-finding mission "will continue its work to collect more information and material," the OPCW said. So far, there are no estimates on when the final report on the alleged incident will be completed.

Comment: Further reading: US weapons inspector: 'Western claims that Assad used chemical weapons totally bogus'

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