Society's ChildS


Attention

New Delhi health emergency: Schools shut down as thick smog blankets the capital


Phys.org
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Delhi smog
© Getty ImagesA student waits for his school bus, Delhi, India.
A public health emergency was declared as choking smog blanketed New Delhi on Tuesday, with authorities ordering the temporary closure of all primary schools in the world's most polluted capital city. The US embassy website said levels of the fine pollutants known as PM2.5 that are most harmful to health reached 703-well over double the threshold of 300 that authorities class as hazardous. Local authorities are warning of worsening conditions in the coming days.

The Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency as it urged city administrators "to make every possible effort to curb this menace".

As public outrage mounted over the air pollution crisis, Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia ordered the closure of all primary schools on Wednesday. "We have decided to shut schools up to primary level for a day, and will evaluate the situation on an hourly basis to see if such a closure needs to be extended," he told reporters. Almost 2 million students are enrolled in primary schools in Delhi, according to government data from 2015.

All outdoor activities have also been banned across the capital's 6,000 schools while pollution levels remain at severe levels, Sisodia said.
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Fire

Resident of 9-storey apartment building is suspect in explosion


RT
Fri, 10 Nov 2017 23:37 UTC
building explosion
© Mikhail Voskresensky / Sputnik
A man who lived in an apartment block that partially collapsed in the Russian city of Izhevsk has been detained on suspicion of intentionally setting up the explosion that killed at least seven people and left dozens homeless.

The suspect, Aleksandr Kopytov, lived with his mother in a flat that is believed to have been the epicenter of Thursday's blast. An accidental gas leak was initially suspected of causing the explosion, in which nine stories of the building collapsed, turning apartments into rubble and killing seven people, including two children.

Based on preliminary findings and Kopytov's interrogation, a criminal case has been opened against the man, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement Friday. Investigators found no traces of explosives during their initial analysis.

The man is accused of murdering several people through "publicly dangerous methods," while "personal animosity" is regarded as a possible motive for the alleged crime, investigators said. A forensic psychiatric examination will be arranged for the man, as "there are doubts regarding his mental health," they added.

At least eight units were completely destroyed and more than 30 badly damaged, officials said. Shops located on the ground floor were buried under the debris, according to local media. The building also reportedly housed a children's center. Some 550 residents reportedly lived in the block, with over a hundred having been evacuated as the deadly drama unfolded.
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Info

Russian sports minister: 'Clean athletes shouldn't bear responsibility for those breaching rules'


RT
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 19:21 UTC
Pavel Kolobkov
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / SputnikPavel Kolobkov
Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov has spoken exclusively to RT to share his thoughts on the recent speculation about a possible ban on the Russian national anthem at the upcoming Winter Olympics, as well as the country's continuing anti-doping efforts.

RT: Russia's Investigative Committee has published updated information regarding the alleged government-led doping scheme in Russia. The document says that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has drawn some incorrect conclusions. Do you think that the Investigative Committee's arguments will be taken into consideration by WADA?

Pavel Kolobkov: Russia's Investigative Committee has been investigating the case for a year and a half. Of course, it's very important for us to find the truth regarding the Rodchenkov case, regarding the anti-doping work in Russia. The announcements made by Russia's investigative body are very important. I think that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA should take into consideration the conclusions reached by Russia's investigative body. I very much hope there will be cooperation between these entities that are aimed to determine the truth.
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Propaganda

Local Alabama news station can't find a single voter who believes WaPo report about Roy Moore

Jeff Poor
Breitbart
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 17:38 UTC
Roy Moore
During a segment that aired on Friday's broadcast of Birmingham, AL ABC affiliate WBMA 33/40's 5 p.m. local news, political reporter Lauren Walsh sought out voters in Columbiana, AL to gauge their reactions to the Washington Post report that alleged Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore engaged in inappropriate conduct with four teenage girls more than 34 years ago.

None of the respondents according to Walsh told her they believed the Post's reporting.

"It's hard to believe the events that transpired yesterday," Gordon Fluker of nearby Wilsonville, AL said to Walsh about the Washington Post report.
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Key

Not the happiest place on Earth: Disneyland closes two cooling towers after Legionnaires' disease found


Ottawa Citizen
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 18:03 UTC
A dozen cases of the bacterial lung infection were discovered about three weeks ago, the Orange County Health Care Agency announced Friday

Disneyland
© AP Photo/Jae C. HongIn this Jan. 22, 2015, file photo, visitors walk toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle in the background at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Disneyland has shut down two cooling towers after people who visited the Southern California theme park came down with Legionnaires' disease.

A dozen cases of the bacterial lung infection were discovered about three weeks ago, the Orange County Health Care Agency announced Friday.

The patients, ranging in age from 52 to 94, lived or had spent time in Anaheim, and nine had visited Disneyland in September. One patient, who hadn't visited the park, has died, the agency said.
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Red Flag

Barcelona: Protesters demand the release of Catalan separatists

Sam Edwards
Reuters
Sat, 11 Nov 2017 17:27 UTC
catalan protesters
© REUTERS/Javier BarbanchoProtesters take part in a demonstration called by pro-independence asociations asking for the release of jailed Catalan activists and leaders, in Barcelona, Spain, November 11, 2017.
Tens of thousands of Catalan independence supporters clogged one of Barcelona's main avenues on Saturday to demand the release of separatist leaders held in prison for their roles in the region's banned independence drive.

Wearing yellow ribbons on their lapels to signify support, they filled the length of the Avenue Marina that runs from the beach to Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia church, while the jailed leaders' families made speeches.

Catalonia's two main grassroots independence groups called the march, under the slogan "Freedom for the political prisoners," after their leaders were remanded in custody on charges of sedition last month.

The protest is seen as a test of how the independence movement's support has fared since the Catalan government declared independence on Oct. 27, prompting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to fire its members, dissolve the regional parliament and call new elections for December.

Comment: From RT:



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Red Flag

Controversy erupts over UK school homework assignment making pupils 'write to family about your conversion to Islam'

Liam Deacon
Breitbart
Fri, 10 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
muslim school UK
© JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty
A father has refused to allow his 12-year-old daughter to do a school homework assignment - said to be "in line with the National Curriculum" - asking her to write a letter to her family telling them she has converted to Islam.

Mark McLachlan, 42, from the North East of England, said he did not mind his stepdaughter learning about other faiths, but argued the project was "inappropriate" as it was a parent's choice what values they raise their child with.

The stepfather found the assignment in his daughter's school planner and posted an image of it online, stating that he was "furious" and would be visiting the Kepier school in Houghton-le-Spring to discuss the matter.

"Write a letter to family about converting to Islam," read the girl's Religious Education (RE) homework task for Wednesday the 8th of November, according to the image on social media.

When he visited the school, Mr. McLachlan was told that projects such as the letter are part of the National Curriculum. There was a very similar case in Guernsey reported last year after it stirred controversy.

Comment: What were they thinking? Its hard to imagine that such assignments weren't designed with some agenda in mind, considering the understandable sensitivity surrounding religious conversions to radical Islam. If the stated reason is to actually teach about other faiths why did they not choose Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism or any other religion?

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Crusader

'Addio' holy smokes: Vatican bans sale of cigarettes

Philip Pullella
Reuters
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 06:44 UTC
Man smoking
© Reuters/Laszlo Balogh (file photo)
Pope Francis has ordered a ban on the sale of cigarettes inside the Vatican from next year because of health concerns, a spokesman said on Thursday.

"The motive is very simple: the Holy See cannot be cooperating with a practice that is clearly harming the health of people," spokesman Greg Burke said in a statement.

He cited World World Health Organization (WHO) statistics that smoking causes more than seven million deaths worldwide every year.

Cigarettes have been sold at a discounted price to Vatican employees and pensioners.

Vatican employees are allowed to buy five cartons of cigarettes a month. Many Italians ask their non-smoking friends who work in the Vatican to buy cigarettes for them because they cost much less than in Italy, where they are subject to heavy taxes.
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Attention

Argentina: Pensioners injured and detained during government protest


telesur
Sat, 11 Nov 2017 16:54 UTC
argentine protest
© Press UEJNLeaders of the Justice Workers' Union announced a march against harsh labor reforms in Argentina.
The confrontations between unions and the government of Mauricio Macri continues to deepen.

Pensioners and social organizations in Argentina were evicted by police during a protest in Buenos Aires, that left several people wounded and detained, according to La Jornada.

Police from Mar del Plata used rubber bullets, tear gas and sticks to break up a protest of elderly pensioners that included disabled participants.

The workers of Freddo, the most important ice cream producer, occupied the headquarters of the company in the neighborhood of Balvanera to support those workers that had been previously fired and the low wages that they maintain.

They also rejected the proposed new labor reform to be applied by the government of Mauricio Macri, which they say include massive layoffs and threats against union delegates and those who attend workers' assemblies.
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Arrow Down

Taylor Swift now on 'feminazi' hit list for refusing to conform to the 'progressive' party line

Tiana Dalichov
Halsey News
Sat, 11 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Taylor Swift
On Friday, Taylor Swift's newest album, Reputation, was released through Big Machine Records. But amid all the festivities surrounding the release, Swift quickly earned feminists' ire for refusing to take a stand on politics (i.e. not openly opposing Donald Trump).

Back in September, PopFront editor Meghan Herning called out Swift for supposedly supporting the White Supremacy movement because she refused to explicitly denounce white supremacy (and by extension, the President and his supporters). Herning asserted that Swift's silence was "calculated," and that her "silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor."

Basically, the piece was championing the notion that unless Swift openly came out in support of Hillary Clinton and "progressive politics," like so many others in her field (e.g. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyonce), she would be supporting white supremacy and empowering Trump supporters to continue their bigoted, homophobic, white supremacist ways.

Swift's lawyer immediately responded by demanding a retraction on grounds of defamation of Swift's character, which ACLU of Northern California attorney Michael Risher claimed was "a completely unsupported attempt to suppress constitutionally protected speech."

Let me say that again: they think defaming Taylor Swift is protected speech.
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