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Global conservative counter-revolution? China joins Russia in banning media material 'catering to vulgar taste'


The Independent, UK
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 15:03 UTC
china firewall
New regulations issued by Beijing will prohibit portrayals of homosexuality, prostitution and drug addiction. The China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA) is targeting what they consider "abnormal" sexual activity.

The rules which were issued on Friday demand that online video platforms hire at least three "professional censors". They were ordered to view entire programmes and take down any considered not sticking to the "correct political and aesthetic standards," according to the latest regulations.


Comment: It's interesting that 'political correctness' in China is apparently polar opposite to the West in terms of what it promotes/safeguards.


The move is seen by human rights groups as the latest tightening of censorship in China. Government officials had closed down celebrity gossip blogs that authorities claim were "catering to the public's vulgar taste," according to Channel News Asia.

Comment: Russia has similar statutes in place or under consideration. Will the trend catch on?

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Quenelle

People power: Okinawa files new lawsuit to block relocation of US Marines base


RT
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 14:22 UTC
Okinawa US Japan military base protest
© Tou Yamanaka / AFP
The Japanese prefecture of Okinawa filed a new lawsuit against the government demanding a halt to construction work for the relocation of the US Futenma base, local media report. The relocation has been the target of protests among locals.

The prefectural authorities say that Tokyo is acting illegally without permission from the Okinawa governor, as seen in a copy of the lawsuit sent on Monday and obtained by the Okinawa Times.

The relocation of the base involves damaging seabed rock, which would harm the fishing grounds, the lawsuit states.
Earlier in July, an Okinawa Prefectural Assembly committee asked for legal action against damage to the fishing grounds caused by the relocation.

Comment: Further reading: Japanese protesters forcibly removed from anti-Marine Corps sit-in

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Crusader

'We were inspired by Pope Francis,' say men who vandalized Australian war memorial


RT
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 13:18 UTC
War monument
© Christian Peace Activism Brisbane / YouTube
Four Australians who were found guilty of vandalism for removing a brass sword from a war memorial told a court that their actions were inspired by Pope Francis, referencing a message in which the pontiff said that religion cannot be used to justify war.

The men were convicted on Monday of vandalizing the memorial - which consists of a stone crucifix and a brass "sword of sacrifice" - in Brisbane's Toowong cemetery on Ash Wednesday, March 1.

One of the defendants, 61-year-old James Joseph Dowling, told the Brisbane magistrates court ahead of the Monday ruling that Pope Francis had "influenced" them to remove the sword from the monument.

"We were influenced by Pope Francis's words...where he said religion can never be used to justify war, and peace alone is holy," Dowling said, as quoted by the Australian Associated Press.
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Handcuffs

Human trafficking bust: Over a dozen Missouri massage parlors raided

Justin Haskins
The Blaze
Sun, 23 Jul 2017 14:28 UTC
lotus spa
© KOLROne of the 16 massage parlors raided by the Missouri Attorney General's office in connection to alleged human trafficking.
At least 18 massage parlors were raided in Missouri recently as part of the state's effort to battle human trafficking.

According to a report by the Springfield News-Leader, the massage parlors are believed to be part of a large ring of human sex trafficking in Greene County. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said on Thursday women at the businesses were being held against their will and forced to engage in sexual acts with customers. The women are believed to be from China or other east Asian nations.

Hawley, who has sought emergency orders to close the businesses down, said on Thursday his office is going to "hunt down" any human traffickers in the state.

"We will find you out, we will hunt you down and we will prosecute you," Hawley said.

Hawley's office named 18 spas and massage parlors in the state's action against the operators of the businesses.

Comment: Solving 'epidemic' of human trafficking a priority, says Donald Trump

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Compass

Chinese firms eager to see Syria as part of new Silk Road project


Sputnik
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 14:27 UTC
Belt and Road forum
© AP Photo/ Thomas Peter/Pool
The postwar reconstruction of Syria is an attractive project for Chinese firms, which would like to see a stable Syria play a key role in the "One Belt, One Road" economic initiative.

The eagerness of Chinese companies to get involved in projects to reconstruct war-torn Syria was plain to see at the Syria Day Expo in Beijing earlier this month, which was attended by hundreds of Chinese specialists in infrastructure investment.

The Expo will be followed by several similar events in China, including a Syria Reconstruction Expo, Pepe Escobar reported in Asia Times.

In addition, Qin Yong, deputy chairman of the China-Arab Exchange Association, announced that Beijing intends to invest $2 billion in the creation of an industrial park in Syria that will initially bring together 150 Chinese companies.
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2 + 2 = 4

Stop lowering educational standards! Algebra isn't racist and shouldn't be abolished just because people fail it

David Freddoso
Washington Examiner
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 14:17 UTC
algebra
© iStock/Getty ImagesSimple algebra, then, helps get across important real-world points about things that affect people's lives.
For many decades, educators have viewed algebra as something students need to understand in high school, if not earlier. Now, we have college administrators who think it's too hard, causing too many of their students to fail and thus preventing them from getting a college degree.

And that, of course, means we should get rid of algebra, the chancellor of California's community college system told NPR this week.
Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree, particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.

It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you're not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?
That's the argument Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California community college system, made today in an interview with NPR's Robert Siegel.
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Bomb

Dozens dead and injured after suicide bomb blast rocks Kabul


RT
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:17 UTC
suicide attack victimes in Kabul
© Ruptly
A suicide bomb attack in Kabul early Sunday has reportedly left at least 35 people dead and 40 others injured, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish has confirmed. The number of casualties is expected to rise, according to an official.

Earlier, the health ministry reported at least 2 dead and six injured in the explosion.

Pictures purportedly showing the blast's devastation have been circulating on social media.

The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reports.

The explosion is said to have happened near the house of Mohammad Mohaqiq, an MP and founder and chairman of the People's Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan.

Mohaqiq is also the second deputy of Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah.
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Heart - Black

9 dead in San Antonio's 'horrific' human trafficking

Guillermo Contreras and Emilie Eaton
My San Antonio
Sun, 23 Jul 2017 09:56 UTC
San Antonio police officer
A San Antonio police officer removes crime scene tape from near the area where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with multiple others, outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in San Antonio.
Nine immigrants have died after they were trapped inside a tractor-trailer at a Walmart parking lot, officials confirmed Sunday afternoon. Several people are still in critical condition at local hospitals.

Eight immigrants were found dead inside the closed trailer just after midnight Saturday. More than two dozen others, the only ones left of the estimated 100 who started the trip, were taken to area hospitals, many in serious to critical condition due to the heat.

An initial report that two more people had died was the result of hospital error, according to Homeland Security, who asserted that just one more person had died, putting the death toll at nine. All the victims so far are adult males, officials said.
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Sheriff

Off-duty officer and brother attack teen with metal pipe while police attempt cover-up

Douglas Quan
National Post
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:09 UTC
Teen Beaten
The log on Dafonte Miller's shattered cell phone shows a call was made to 911 at 2:52 a.m. on Dec. 28, 2016.

But the 19-year-old was barely able to speak, his lawyer says, because his phone was snatched away by two pipe-wielding assailants who viciously attacked the teen in a quiet Whitby, Ont., residential neighbourhood, leaving him with serious injuries, including the loss of an eye.

Two men - an off-duty Toronto police constable and his brother - now face criminal charges in a case that has prompted accusations of racial profiling and police deception.
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Pistol

Shooting at Israeli embassy in Jordan leaves 1 killed, 2 injured


RT
Sun, 23 Jul 2017 21:08 UTC
Policemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017
© ReutersPolicemen are seen near the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan July 23, 2017
At least one person has been killed and two others injured in a shooting incident at the Israeli embassy complex in Jordan.

Police confirmed that a Jordanian man was fatally wounded in the incident while an Israeli national was among the two injured parties taken to hospital.

Two Jordanian men working for a furniture firm had entered a building within the complex in the country's capital of Amman before the shooting Sunday, according to a police statement cited by Reuters. The scene has now been sealed off.

Comment: See also: 'Israel is playing with fire': Arab League chief warns amid tensions over increased Jerusalem security

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