Society's ChildS


Eye 1

Anti-American sentiment on the rise as US-backed Saudi blockade crushes Yemen & aids al Qaeda

Nasser Arrabyee
In These Times
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 21:37 UTC
Yemen blockade teachers Saudi Arabia
© Mohammed Huwais / AFP / Getty ImagesYemeni teachers protest against the ongoing conflict and the suspension of their salaries, outside the UN offices in Sanaa, on October 3. The Arabic writing reads: "Receiving our salaries is a basic right."
Two years of the U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen has caused a disastrous humanitarian situation in the poorest Arab country. The conflict is increasingly stoking anti-American sentiment among Yemenis, many of whom see the U.S. government as a killer using Saudi hands.

The conflict began in 2015, when President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned and went into exile, and Saudi Arabia led an armed coalition allegedly to restore Hadi's legitimacy. Hadi now leads a government-in-exile while the rebel Houthi movement surges in Yemen.

According to the UN, around 13,500 civilians were killed in the conflict between March 2015 and June 2017. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, tells In These Times that the UN has not been able to regularly update its figures due to lack of documentation. Local human rights groups say the number might be several times higher, especially when you include the impacts of the blockade and a recent cholera outbreak, made much worse by Saudi bombings of health clinics and other effects of the war.
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Handcuffs

Tooth tests refute age claim of refugee on trial for rape, murder of EU official's daughter


RT
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 12:20 UTC
Hussein Khavari landenburger
© THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP/Getty Images
A refugee who allegedly raped and murdered a 19-year-old girl in Germany and claimed he was "underage" turns out to be in his twenties, experts told a court on Tuesday. A tooth the accused kept from a dentist visit proved not-so lucky for him after lab analysis.

Hussein Khavari, originally from Afghanistan, is accused of attacking, strangling and raping Maria Ladenburger, a 19-year-old medical student who disappeared while on her way home from a party in the city of Freiburg, southwestern Germany, in October 2016. Her body was found by locals on the bank of the Dreisam River in the city, which is home to one of Germany's elite universities.

A single strand of black hair, partially dyed blonde, and a scarf found on the riverbed, along with several DNA samples found on the victim's body led investigators to Hussein, who was later spotted on CCTV footage and brought in for questioning. The suspect arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied asylum-seeker in 2015, with no identity papers, and had been living with a Germany foster family since. At the time of his arrest, Hussein told police he was 17 years old.

Comment: See also: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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Road Cone

Striking protesters disrupt transportation in Catalonia


Fox News
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 12:53 UTC
Catalonia protest road block
MADRID - Protesters have blocked roads and stopped commuter trains as Catalonia faces a general strike in the wake of unprecedented controls in the region by Spanish central authorities to crush an independence bid.

Intersindical CSC, a platform that groups pro-independence workers' unions, had called the strike for Wednesday to push for labor rights. But the call comes at a sensitive political moment, and separatist parties and civil society groups asked workers to join the stoppage to protest the jailing of activists and ousted Catalan government officials.

Spanish authorities took direct control of Catalonia after regional lawmakers passed an independence declaration on Oct. 27. An early election has been called for next month to replace the sacked regional government.

Among dozens of roads blocked, protesters cut the traffic on the AP7 motorway north of Girona, one of the main arteries connecting France and Spain.

Associated Press

Comment: Now that the move for independence has failed, how will Madrid react to any sign of rebellion coming from Catalonia?

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Beaker

FDA overturns Obama-era ban on direct-to-consumer genetic testing

Ronald Bailey
reason.com
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:07 UTC
23andme
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) head Scott Gottlieb is reeling in his agency's outrageous four-year ban on direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

Under the Obama administration, the FDA sent a letter to the genetic testing company 23andMe warning that the company was "marketing the 23andMe Saliva Collection Kit and Personal Genome Service...without marketing clearance or approval in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." The letter noted that the company's tests had been providing "health reports on 254 diseases and conditions," including categories such as "carrier status," "health risks," and "drug response."

But not anymore: The folks at 23andMe had little choice but to knuckle under to the agency's demands and stop testing new customers.
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Bomb

Russian MoD: Four Russian journalists and five servicemen injured by explosion in Deir ez-Zor, Syria - Update


Sputnik
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:06 UTC
Russian servicemen
© Sputnik/ Mikhail AlaeddinServicemen during the efforts to demine the city of Deir ez-Zor, Syria
Journalists of Russia's NTV and Zvezda broadcasters were injured in Syria on Monday and then were safely evacuated to Russia's Hmeimim airbase, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"On November 6, terrorists detonated a bomb in a residential quarter of Deir ez-Zor, where Russian media representatives were working. As a result of the explosion, four Russian journalists were injured - Ilya Ushenin (NTV), Timur Voronov (NTV), Konstantin Khudoleev (Zvezda) and Dmitry Starodubsky (Zvezda) - as well as five Russian servicemen from the international demining center, who were clearing the area of mines," the statement said.

According to the ministry, all of them received necessary medical assistance at the Hmeimim airbase. The injuries sustained were not life-threatening, the statement said.

Comment: It however has been revealed that some of the journalists have returned to Russia safely.
"The wounded individuals were immediately taken to hospital where they will continue treatment," the press service said.
"Out of all those injured, NTV correspondent Ilya Ushenin had the most severe wounds. He sustained fragmentation injuries in his stomach, broken fingers and his ear is pierced. Cameraman Timur Voronov likewise has shrapnel wounds and a leg fracture. However, the most important thing, doctors said, is that their lives are out of danger," the TV channel said in a statement.
Update (Nov. 8): NTV has released a video of the first moments after Russian journalists were injured by explosion in Deir ez-Zor


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Chart Bar

Democrat Ralph Northam has won Virginia governor's race while other big elections swing towards Blue as well


RT
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 14:30 UTC
Ralph Northam
© Julia Rendleman / ReutersVirginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam
After a nail-biting race to replace outgoing Governor Terry McAuliffe, Democratic candidate Ralph Northam has become the new Governor of Virginia. The election was widely seen as a test of the impact of Trump's presidency.

With 59 percent of precincts reporting, Northam was projected the winner with 51.4 percent of the vote, compared to Republican Ed Gillespie's 47.4 percent, according to the Associated Press.

Northam said in his victory speech that the US is getting more diverse every year and that diversity is what makes the country great. He vowed to make Virginia an inclusive state that would "keep the light on and the door open."

Comment: Other election results have come in as well. Democrat Bill De Blasio was re-elected for a second term as mayor of New York City. Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor of New Jersey, defeating Republican Kim Guadagno with over 55% of the vote. While it's not surprising an incumbent Democratic mayor in NYC won, New Jersey had spent the last 8 years with a Republican governor in Chris Christie and Guadagno was his lieutenant. That is a noteworthy shift in the state's electoral views.

Speaking of a shift in views, Virginia elected the country's first transgender state legislator in Danica Roem. She beat out 28-year incumbent Republican Bob Marshall, who championed government transparency and was known for proposing a bill that would restrict which bathrooms transgender individuals could use.

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Smoking

Israel's Health Ministry to ban smoking at outdoor events, other public places

Ido Efrati
Haaretz
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 20:35 UTC
Man smoking a cigarette
© Haaretz
The Health Ministry is seeking to expand the ban on smoking in public places to several currently exempted venues, including outdoor events, sports fields and playgrounds.

The rules have been submitted to the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee and will take effect once the committee approves them.

Aside from the ban on smoking at open-air events, which tend to be very crowded, the new rules would also ban smoking everywhere in hospitals - though they do allow hospital directors to designate certain areas as smoking areas.
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Red Flag

Top court rules Germany must legally recognize third gender


RT
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:41 UTC
inclusive bathroom
© David Bro / Global Look Press
Germany's top court has called on the country's parliament to legally recognize a 'third gender' which allows intersex people to identify as neither male nor female. Germany could become the first European country to allow a third gender on birth certificates.

The current law on civil status discriminates against intersex people as it rules out "the registration of a gender other than 'male' or 'female,'" the Federal Constitutional Court said in a ruling on Wednesday. The German parliament should introduce new provisions into current legislation by December 31, 2018, it said.

The court made its ruling in favor of an appeal brought earlier this year by an intersex person whose name hasn't been revealed in the German media. The person was registered as female but chromosome analysis showed that the plaintiff was neither male nor female. The person brought the appeal to the top court after several lower courts had ruled against the bid for gender change in the birth register.
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Heart - Black

'Hell is Here': Photographer captures image of elephants fleeing crowd who lit them on fire in India


Fox News
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 17:50 UTC
Elephants on fire in India
© Biplab Harza/Sanctuary Wildlife Photograph Awards
An image of two elephants fleeing a mob that set them on fire in eastern India highlights the ongoing human-elephant conflicts in the region.

The photograph, named "Hell is Here," was taken by Biplab Hazra and was named the winner of the Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Awards 2017.

The image shows a calf on fire as it and an adult elephant run for their lives - as a crowd of "jeering" people throw "flaming tar balls" and firecrackers at the pair.

According to the Sanctuary Asia Foundation, these type of scenes are common in the Bankura district of West Bengal.
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Smoking

Anti-smoking hysteria: Australian mother calls on gov't to ban smoking around children, labels it child abuse


Yahoo7 News
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 08:06 UTC
Person smoking in a car
© Getty Images
A Sydney mother is calling on the NSW government to issue a total ban on smoking around children, labelling it as child abuse.

Nina Belle said she was driving along Old Northern Road in Castle Hill when she saw three adults smoking alongside a toddler in a pram, with the smoke "blowing in the poor child's face".

Left in an absolute rage by what she saw, the young mum started a petition, calling on the state government to take action.

She is calling on those parents who do smoke around their children to be fined and given "ample education and support to quit, including counselling".

"I believe exposing babies and children to ongoing passive smoke is a form of child abuse. This view might sound outrageous, but it's not," Ms Belle wrote in her petition.


Comment: There isn't much (if any) real scientific evidence for second-hand smoking causing any health issues.


"We intervene when children are neglected due to alcohol or drug addictions, and we should intervene when children are exposed to ongoing second-hand smoke.

Comment: See also:

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