Society's ChildS


Star of David

Extremist Israeli colonists attempt to kidnap Palestinian children


The New Arab
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 16:33 UTC
yitzhar jewish settlers
© GettyJewish Yitzhar terrorists
Palestinian villagers thwarted an attempt by Israeli settlers to kidnap two Palestinian children in the village of Madma south of Nablus on Wednesday, it was reported by al-Araby al-Jadeed.

The head of the village council, Ehab Qat, told al-Araby that a number of settlers from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar stormed the village and attempted to kidnap the two children, aged between 10 and 14, as they were tending to sheep in the eastern outskirts of the village.

Local sources said that the settlers, while in the presence of Israeli forces, followed the two children, who retreated back to their homes.

Another source told Quds Press that clashes broke out following the kidnapping attempt, during which Israeli forces launched gas and sound bombs at locals.

The villagers are fearful of another attack as settlers and Israeli forces remain in the area south of the village, it was reported.

The area surrounding the northern West Bank city of Nablus has one of the highest concentrations of Israeli settlements and has often been a flashpoint for violence.

Yitzhar settlers are especially notorious for their fanaticism and violent acts against Palestinians, having routinely destroyed Palestinian olive groves and vandalised Palestinian property.

Comment: Pro-Zionists like to claim that Israel is unfairly held to a higher standard than other countries. To which we would only reply: what standard should Israel be held to? If it claims to be a democracy, it should act like one. Until then, and as long as it practices arbitrary detention, extrajudicial murder (assassination), fewer rights for its Palestinian citizens, no rights for the occupied Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, illegal colonies, land appropriation, collective punishment, home demolitions, and torture, Israel does everything it can to deserve the level of criticism it receives.

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War Whore

Police officer fired for refusing to shoot armed black suspect settles in court


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:36 UTC
Police
© Louie Palu / Global Look Press
A former police officer in West Virginia who sued for wrongful termination has accepted a settlement. He was let go for refusing to shoot an armed African-American suspect during a confrontation.

Stephen Mader was awarded $175,000 and a pledge that his former employer will not prevent him from obtaining a job in law enforcement elsewhere, according to details of the settlement published Monday.

"At the end of the day, I'm happy to put this chapter of my life to bed," said Mader, 27.

As a police officer in Weirton, West Virginia in May 2016, Mader responded to a call about an armed man. Upon arriving at the scene, he confronted the suspect, identified as RJ Williams of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
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Ambulance

71 dead in Moscow passenger plane crash - UPDATES


RT
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:00 UTC
antonov an-148
© Marina Lystseva / Sputnik
Saratov Airlines' Antonov An-148 jet carrying 65 passengers and six crew crashed after take-off outside Moscow. As salvage efforts are underway at the crash site, we sum up everything we know so far about the deadly accident.

HOW IT WENT MISSING

Domodedovo air traffic control lost contact with Saratov Airlines flight 703, bound for Orsk, several minutes after take off, an official from Russia's Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) told local media. He said communication with the crew was cut and the plane vanished from radar screens.

Earlier in the day, debris was spotted from the air. Emergency services immediately deployed rapid response teams to the reported crash site, but rescuers and medics had to reach it on foot, walking through the countryside buried under snow.

Preliminary reports say the wreckage is spread across an area between adjacent villages. The Emergencies Ministry said the search-and-rescue operation will work around the clock, with the crash site observed by drones.

Comment: Putin has offered his condolences to the families of the deceased:
Vladimir Putin "offers his deep condolences to those who lost their loved ones in this accident," Dmitry Peskov said in a statement. He added that Putin had instructed the appropriate authorities to probe the Saratov Airlines plane crash.

"The President ordered the government to create a task force [to investigate] the air accident in the Moscow region,"Peskov said, adding, "he also directed the agencies concerned to carry out necessary search and rescue operations."

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has also conveyed his sympathies to families affected by the Antonov An-148 crash. Moscow city authorities are ready to offer "any assistance" to the Emergencies Ministry, the mayor wrote on Twitter.
Update (February 13)

Russia's state bank, Sberbank, has decided to cancel the debts of all the flight's victims. Hundreds of rescuers continue to comb the crash site for debris and victims.


The moment of the crash was caught on CCTV:


While the cause is still being investigated, eyewitnesses described seeing a flash in the sky:
"At first, something exploded under the wing and caught fire. After that, there was another flash and the plane fell sharply down. Everyone saw the flash. Everything was so quick," another witness told Mash Telegram-channel. Preliminary reports however indicate the pilots did not report any technical failures, nor did they activate a mayday call, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.
The plane that crashed had made several flights the day of the crash, and routine inspections before its final flight did not reveal anything wrong. Data from the recovered flight recorders may have found the cause, however:
The crash of An-148 passenger plane in the Moscow Region may have been caused by incorrect flight speed data due to icing, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) said after deciphering the flight data recorder.

On Tuesday, the IAC announced it had completed the deciphering of information contained in the one of the black boxes - the on-board data flight recorder - of the crashed plane. It is still working on the other black box, the voice recorder.

The preliminary analysis suggests that the "incorrect data about flight speed on the pilots' indicators, which in turn was linked to the icing of the pitot-static [sensor] system" led to a "special situation" with the plane, according to the IAC statement.


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Pills

Study finds opioid prescriptions on the rise in UK despite poor results


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:17 UTC
opioids
© Diez, O. / Global Look Press
The prescription of highly addictive opioids by GPs in England is steadily rising, especially in deprived areas, a new study shows. The rise comes despite the drugs being potentially dangerous and the ongoing US opioid crisis.

Published in the British Journal Of General Practice, the research found an increase in long-term opioid prescriptions by doctors "despite poor efficacy for non-cancer pain, potential harm, and incompatibility with best practice."

The study found a clear north-south divide. Almost all of the low-prescribing areas were in the south of England while nine of the 10 highest-prescribing areas, including Blackburn, Middlesbrough and parts of Liverpool, were in the north. The exception was Bristol.

The number of prescriptions for opioids was higher in areas of socio-economic deprivation, the study added.
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Stormtrooper

Russian Skiing Federation chief: Rodchenkov was recruited by foreign special services in Canada


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:10 UTC
Grigory Rodchenkov
© Viktor Chernov / Global Look PressGrigory Rodchenkov
The president of Russia's Cross-Country Skiing Federation, Yelena Valbe, thinks that former Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory head Grigory Rodchenkov was recruited by foreign special services while working in Canada.

Fugitive doctor Rodchenkov, whose testimony formed the basis of the anti-Russian Olympic campaign, has become a hot topic once again with the Winter Games underway in South Korea.

Last weekend he was featured in the CBS program 60 Minutes, where he once again claimed to have played a key role in the Sochi 2014 "doping scheme," which in his words was backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, and discussed the doping situation in the global Olympic movement.

In her recent interview with kp.ru, Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation chief Valbe said that information provided by Rodchenkov cannot be treated as trustworthy, as the 59-year-old doctor might suffer from mental illness.
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Arrow Down

Julian Assange loses proposal to have his UK arrest warrant dropped


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 15:02 UTC
Assange
© Justin Tallis / AFP
An arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not be dropped, a British judge has ruled. His lawyers had argued it was no longer in the public interest to arrest him.

Assange has spent more than five and a half years living in a single room inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He took refuge in the building in a bid to avoid extradition to the US over his role in publishing leaked diplomatic and military records.

The Wikileaks founder was wanted in Sweden for a rape investigation when he sought protection in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012. Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation last year, but the British warrant for violating bail conditions still stood.

Judge Emma Arbuthnot struck down all five points put forward by his lawyers, stating she doesn't think Assange's fears he would have been extradited from Sweden to the US are "reasonable."
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Red Flag

Court of Arbitration for Sport Secretary General: No proof of doping does not equate to innocence


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 15:56 UTC
Olympic Athletes from Russia
© Rob Schumacher / ReutersThe Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony
Court of Arbitration for Sport Secretary General Matthieu Reeb has told RT that he sees nothing illegal or odd in the International Olympic Committee refusing athletes entry, even in the absence of evidence of doping violations.

"The duty of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) was to show that the athletes involved in this case were guilty of an anti-doping rule violation. The fact that you cannot establish the evidence of guilt does not mean that you have established the innocence of the athletes," Reeb said in an exclusive interview with RT.


Comment: That's the exact opposite of the way law has been governed since the signing of the Magna Carta! Innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. But apparently the IOC thinks they know better than common law and when it comes to Russian athletes, they all are guilty no matter that they've never actually tested positive for doping. Talk about an upside-down, unfair interpretation of law!


The IOC and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have been on the brink of an open confrontation due to their conflicting decisions on Russian athletes over doping allegations. The Russian Olympic team was officially banned from the 2018 Winter Games, leaving a reduced delegation of Russian athletes eligible to compete at the Games under a neutral flag.

Some of the sportsmen turned to the CAS to gain admission to the Olympic Games, and last week the Lausanne-based court upheld the appeal of 28 athletes and coaches. However, the IOC still refused to invite them to the games, and even voiced the suggestion that "urgent reform in internal structure" is needed following the "extremely disappointing" decision.
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Fire

Caitlin Johnstone: How establishment propaganda gaslights us into submission

Caitlin Johnstone
Information Clearing House
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 13:10 UTC
gaslighting
The dynamics of the establishment Syria narrative are hilarious if you take a step back and think about them. I mean, the western empire is now openly admitting to having funded actual, literal terrorist groups in that country, and yet they're still cranking out propaganda pieces about what is happening there and sincerely expecting us to believe them. It's adorable, really; like a little kid covered in chocolate telling his mom he doesn't know what happened to all the cake frosting.

Or least it would be adorable if it weren't directly facilitating the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people.

Comment: See Also:

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Candle

Russian state bank to cancel debts of plane crash victims


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 14:55 UTC
lights
© Kirill Kallinikov / Sputnik
Sberbank has announced that the bank will cancel the debts of victims who died in the plane crash that occurred in the Moscow region on Sunday.

The Saratov Airlines An-148 was on its way to Orsk when it crashed a few minutes after taking off from Domodedovo Airport. All 65 passengers on board died, along with its six crew members.

Comment: See also: Over 200 body fragments found at crash site of Russia's An-148 airplane near Moscow

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USA

Taking Liberties: USA hockey goalies may be forced to ditch statue masks


RT
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 10:35 UTC
Hockey mask
© Brian Cassella / Global Look Press
The US Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team are working with the IOC to see whether their goalies at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games will be forced to remove their masks with the image of the Statue of Liberty.

Goalies Nicole Hensley and Alex Rigsby will wait to see if their goalkeeper's masks featuring the image of the iconic statue in New York Harbor will be declared a 'political symbol', and therefore in violation of International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules.

Under IOC Guidelines Regarding Authorized Identifications, no item may feature the wording or lyrics from national anthems, motivational words, public/political messaging or slogans related to national identity.

The statue's image adorns the left side of Hensley's helmet, whereas Rigsby's includes a stamp depicting the statue on the chin. Rigsby's also includes a USA crest on the top, a drawing of the famous V-J Day kiss photograph in Times Square, and a bald eagle - the national US symbol.
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