Society's ChildS


Георгиевская ленточка

Resolving Yemen's crisis - ambassador wants Russia to play key role


Sputnik
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:29 UTC
Yemen
© Naif Rahma / ReutersSmoke rises as people inspect damage at the site of air strikes in the city of Saada, Yemen January 6, 2018.
Yemen wants Russia to play an important role in the country's crisis settlement and welcomes Russia's support for the humanitarian response to the conflict, Yemeni Ambassador to Russia Ahmed Salem Wahishi told Sputnik in an interview.

"The Yemeni government is thankful for Russia's political and humanitarian support for the Yemeni people. We look forward to enhancing its role in achieving peace in Yemen," Wahishi said.

The ambassador highly rated recent talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Mekhlafi in January, where the two states agreed on the importance of continuing to enhance bilateral cooperation in security and combating terrorism, as well as in political, economic, cultural, social and military areas.

Comment:

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Pistol

3 injured in shooting outside NSA headquarters in Maryland, suspect arrested (PHOTOS)


RT
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:41 UTC
NSA shooting
Police in Fort Meade, Maryland, have reported a "possible shooting" near the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters. Several people might have been wounded in the incident, according to local media reports.

Photos emerged on social media appearing to show a black van at the building's entrance and a handcuffed man, possibly an attacker, sitting on the ground. Bullet holes are seen in the windshield of the van, which seems to have crashed into a barrier.

The FBI has sent personnel to respond to the incident, FBI Baltimore said on Twitter. The NSA says the incident is under control, according to local media citing the agency's spokesman.
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Attention

Nobel Foundation to tackle 'male dominance' to increase gender diversity in awarding prizes


Sputnik
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:27 UTC
Nobel prize
© AFP 2018/ Claudio Bresciani / TT NEWS AGENCY
Too many men and too few women winning the Nobel Prize is a problem - at least for the Nobel Foundation and the committees responsible for awarding the prizes, who are poised to challenge the procedures in order to increase gender diversity among laureates.

Following last year's Nobel Prize cohort, where all nine winners in the natural sciences category were men (which isn't a historical exception), the Nobel Foundation has discussed measures to tackle the skewed gender distribution, Swedish national broadcaster SVT reported.

According to Nobel Foundation chairman Carl-Henrik Heldin, the proposals are aimed to promote female candidates, which, in turn, is expected to result in more female laureates.

Comment: Men get more Nobel Prizes because it is mostly men who pursue education and careers in the STEM fields. It is also mostly men who pursue work in hard labor, but we don't see any push for great gender equality in brick laying and steel construction. But then there's not much of prize for work in those fields...other than providing the literal foundations on which society is built.

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Dollars

Income study says money can buy happiness, but only up to a point


RT
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:27 UTC
Floyd Mayweather Conor McGregor
© Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports / ReutersFile photo of boxer Floyd Mayweather throwing cash at Conor McGregor
In news that will come as no surprise to cash-strapped individuals the world over, researchers have revealed that there is an optimal amount of money a person needs to be happy. Spoiler: it's a lot.

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana studied data from 1.7 million people in 164 countries and found that in order for a person in the US to be truly happy, they need to be pulling in $95,000 a year.

In order to be a little less happy, but have "emotional well-being", basically being happy with your day-to-day life, you need to be drawing $60,000 to $75,000 per annum.
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Sheriff

Police dept. giving parents stickers to label their autistic kids so cops don't kill them

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:07 UTC
Autistic children sheriff warning
Police officers are making an attempt to keep from murdering innocent individuals who suffer from autism, by putting the burden on family members to ensure that their loved one with special needs is accompanied with a sticker.

The car stickers, which were created by the Take Me Home Program, are free for local residents. They help to warn officers that they are dealing with a "special needs person" who "may not respond to verbal commands." The new initiative was announced in a Facebook post from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office:
"These clings were designed for placement inside of vehicles or residences where the occupant could be non-verbal due to disability. It is our hope these can provide peace of mind to families and minimize the stress involved in an emergency situation by better preparing first responders when they interact with your loved one or client."

Comment: A higher emphasis on conflict resolution and de-escalation training and techniques would more effectively address the problem of police violence against the mentally ill, and society at large, than giving people stickers.

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Vader

Best of the Web: The IOC betrayed the Olympic movement and all principles of justice by banning clean Russian athletes

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:14 UTC
olympic and russian flags
© EPA/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
Twelve days ago, shortly after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ('CAS') cleared 28 Russian athletes of the doping allegations which had been made against them, I expressed the hope that sanity would prevail and that the International Olympic Committee would reconsider its decision to exclude some of these athletes from the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

After all the International Olympic Committee's own Schmid commission had reported that there was no proof of a government organised state sponsored doping conspiracy in Russia, and since the athletes had been cleared of the doping allegations there seemed no reason to exclude them.

In the event sanity - or at least justice - did not prevail. Not only did the International Olympic Committee refuse to allowed the cleared athletes to attend the PyeongChang Games, but Thomas Bach - the IOC President, who is himself a lawyer - not only criticised CAS's decision in intemperate terms but actually called for CAS to be reorganised:
We cannot have a situation of CAS losing its credibility with athletes... We have to do our job to make proposals so trust of the athletes can be restored..... [the CAS] ruling was extremely disappointing and surprising.....We feel that this decision shows the urgent need for reforms in the internal structure of CAS.....

Comment: It's truly outrageous, but it appears that almost no one feels any outrage about it.

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Bulb

Baroness calls for accused rapists to have more rights following string of bungled cases in UK


RT
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:04 UTC
judge gavel
© Chris Ryan / Gettyimages.ru
A baroness has said that a few guilty rapists walking free is better than jailing innocent people over false allegations. Baroness Wolf of Dulwich warned pressure to punish every sexual predator might mean miscarriages of justice.

Wolf, an economist, author and university professor at King's College London, said she felt strongly that "it's better that people who are guilty walk free than innocent people are imprisoned and have their whole lives ruined.

"I do feel incredibly strongly is that if you don't have the rule of law, you have nothing."

Wolf's comments come after recent police bungles saw multiple men accused of rape vindicated, including student Liam Allan, 22, who faced 20 years' jail time after a woman made claims against him, alleging 12 sex attacks. Her accusations were later undermined by thousands of previously undisclosed messages that suggested her claims were false.
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Red Flag

Swedish whistleblower cop to be investigated for claiming gang rape 'cultural phenomenon' linked to migration

Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:54 UTC
migrants
© STIG-AKE JONSSON/AFP/Getty Images
Swedish police officer Peter Springare has been reported to police and will likely be investigated after he said the country's gang rape problem is linked to migration and was a "cultural phenomenon".

Springare, who gained global attention after blowing the whistle on the extent of migrant crime in Sweden last year commented on the issue of gang rapes earlier this month claiming such attacks were "new" and were a consequence of the last 10 to 15 years of immigration policy, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports.

"There are also ethnic Swedes engaged in group violence, but not in the same numbers as foreign-born offenders," Springare said. The comments, which were recorded by broadcaster TV4, have since been reported to Bergslagen police who have announced that an internal investigation will likely take place.
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Black Magic

Colorado shuts down funeral home operated by body parts broker

Reade Levinson
Reuters
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:44 UTC
megan hess
© REUTERS/Mike WoodFILE PHOTO: Megan Hess, owner of Donor Services, is pictured during an interview in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., May 23, 2016 in this still image from video.
Colorado officials indefinitely shut down the funeral home and crematory this week of a woman who runs a side business selling donated body parts from the same building.

In its order, issued Monday, the state's Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration suspended operations at Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors after saying that cremated remains returned to one donor were analyzed by the family and found to be concrete, not human ashes.

The action against Sunset Mesa and its owner, Megan Hess, comes after an FBI raid last week. That raid followed a report by Reuters in January about alleged practices at Sunset Mesa funeral home and Donor Services, the Hess-run body donation firm. (Read the Reuters investigation - here)

During the FBI raid, officials searching the funeral home also found bags of "dry concrete/cement," the order said.

Former employees of the Montrose, Colorado, establishment had told the news agency before the FBI raid that they were troubled by what they witnessed at the funeral home.
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Gem

Russia to help restore Syria's devastated oil and energy facilities


RFE / RL
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 04:43 UTC
Oil field in northeastern Syria
Russia plans to help Syria rebuild energy facilities that have been devastated by years of war, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak has said.

"We have signed a road map, not only in the field of electricity but also oil and gas, covering the restoration of oil fields and the development of new deposits," Novak was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on February 13.

As the main international backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia has become deeply involved in helping the war-battered country rebuild as fighting against Syrian Sunni rebels has subsided in recent months.

Last week, an agreement was signed on the "rehabilitation, modernization, and construction of new energy facilities in Syria," Russia's Energy Ministry said on its website.

Comment: Unlike the US, who simply walks away from the destruction it causes, Russia not only offers humanitarian aid but helps countries devastated by war to rebuild.

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