Society's ChildS


Attention

UNICEF: Yemeni children starving to death - at least one child dies every 10 minutes due to preventable diseases such as diarrhea, malnutrition, and respiratory tract infections


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 18:55 UTC
Parents of malnourished girl Jamila Ali Abdu
© Abduljabbar Zeyad / ReutersParents of malnourished girl Jamila Ali Abdu, 7, are seen as she lies on a hospital bed before she died in Hodeidah, Yemen May 2, 2017
As the battle in Yemen rages on, many parents are faced with the tough choice of treating a sick child or feeding a healthy one, a UNICEF representative told RT, following the tragic death of a seven-year-old who died of disease and malnutrition.

Children are paying an extremely high price in war-torn Yemen, with 90 percent in desperate need of humanitarian care, according to UNICEF. Almost half a million are at risk of starvation.

One of the latest tragedies to come out of the country is the death of seven-year-old Jamila Ali Abdu, who died of malnutrition after suffering from worms for two years.

WARNING: You may find some of the footage disturbing


Comment: See also:

Read More...
Bullseye

Why many French gays support Marine Le Pen

Deroy Murdock
New York Post
Fri, 05 May 2017 07:43 UTC
LePen
© Getty ImagesMarine Le Pen
As France picks its next president on Sunday, National Front nominee Marine Le Pen, 48, enjoys significant support among an unlikely population: gay voters.

According to a survey released Wednesday by Hornet, a gay social network, 36.5 percent back Le Pen, while 63.5 percent favor former Socialist Party member and reputed centrist Emmanuel Macron, 39. Among Hornet's younger subscribers, 43.5 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds want Le Pen — and fully 49 percent of those age 25.

While Le Pen surely would appreciate even higher numbers, pundits are surprised that the so-called far-Right candidate does this well with typically Left-leaning voters. Why? Le Pen's previously hostile party now welcomes gays, and militant-Islamic attacks inside and outside of France have ushered gays into Le Pen's largely open arms.

Le Pen has "un-demonized" the National Front by distancing herself from the party's founder (her anti-Semitic father), appealing to Jewish voters, avoiding mass protests against gay marriage (although her party's platform promises to scrap it), and choosing gay men Florian Philippot as her chief deputy and Sébastien Chenu as her leading adviser.
Read More...
Bomb

Hannover evacuates 50,000 people in second-largest allied bomb disposal since WWII


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 17:04 UTC
German bomb disposal unit
© DPA / AFP
The German city of Hannover is set to evacuate 50,000 people - around a tenth of its population - amid all-out preparations to defuse several World War II-era bombs that were dropped by the allies.

The evacuation will begin on Sunday at 9:00 am local time and affect 50,000 people, as well as public transportation and city infrastructure.

So far, experts have been able to locate only five unexploded bombs at 13 possible locations, Spiegel reports.
Read More...
Magnify

US Justice Department launches criminal investigation into Uber ride service


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 11:14 UTC
Uber
© Robert Galbraith / Reuters
A federal investigation is allegedly underway into the ride service, Uber's use of a secret software, 'Greyball,' which is claimed was used to evade regulatory authorities in places where its ride-hailing service was banned or restricted.

The ride services company received a subpoena from a Northern California grand jury seeking documents concerning how the software tool functioned and where it was deployed, according to Reuters who spoke to sources familiar with the probe.

Bloomberg News reported the existence of a federal probe last week but did not class it as criminal.

Greyballing helped Uber tag some users so that they saw a different version of its standard app, which the company explained in a blog post in March helped them test new features or evade physical threats.

Current and former employees, however, told Reuters the company used the software as part of its broader Validation of Terms of Service, which analyzed credit card data, device identification, location data, and other factors to determine whether a rider was legitimate.
Read More...
Wine n Glass

Indian police claim rats drank 900,000 liters of confiscated booze


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 11:30 UTC
Rats drink booze
© W. Pattyn / Global Look Press
Police in the Indian state of Bihar, where alcohol was outlawed last April, have accused rats of decimating the majority of the stash of booze confiscated over the past year - over 40,000 cases, or about 900,000 liters.

According to the Hindu newspaper, senior superintendent of police of state capital Patna, Manu Maharaj, was informed of the disappearance of contraband from storage in a meeting this week, and was initially skeptical about how rats could have gained access to sealed glass bottles. His subordinates told him that the rodents chewed through the bottle caps, before glugging the drink.

Maharaj immediately instructed police stations across the state - some of which had been forced to rent additional space to accommodate the confiscated stock - to rid police stations of rats, and sprinkle contraband with rat poison.

Nonetheless, suggesting that he wasn't entirely convinced by the explanation, the senior superintendent also ordered regular breathalyzer tests for officers.
Read More...
Stock Down

Bankrupt: Puerto Rico to shut 179 schools, relocate 27k students


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 15:34 UTC
Puerto Rico school children
© Ana Martinez / Reuters
The largest mass shuttering of public schools in Puerto Rico's history follows the island declaring bankruptcy on a record $70 billion debt. Restructuring the entire school system presents "a unique opportunity," the education secretary says.

On Friday, the Puerto Rico Department of Education announced the island will close 179 schools and relocate an estimated 27,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade as part of a school overhaul that will take effect the next school year.

Newly appointed Education Secretary Julia Keleher described the redesign as "a unique opportunity to improve the system," and said the move was carried out "with students as a priority."
Read More...
Question

Charges dropped in Rockville, Maryland high school rape case; immigration & child porn issues remain


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 15:22 UTC
Rockville High School
© Tim Sloan / AFP
Rape charges have been dropped against two high school freshmen in Rockville, Maryland after prosecutors said they couldn't corroborate their accuser's story. Their classmate accused the older teens of sexually assaulting her in the school bathroom.

In mid-March, police charged a 17-year-old boy and 18-year-old Henry Sanchez-Milian with first degree rape and two counts of first degree sexual offenses. A 14-year-old classmate had accused them of raping her in the men's room at Rockville High School during school hours, according to a graphic police affidavit.

The case gained national and international attention when it was revealed that both suspects entered the country illegally less than a year ago from Central America. The alleged victim is a legal immigrant.
Read More...
Books

Class focused on great Greco-Roman books has come under fire after students complain it's too white

Max Diamond
The College Fix
Fri, 05 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Reed College
At Reed College, a mandatory freshman literature course focused on the works of great thinkers underpinning Western Civilization has come under fire from campus activists, who allege the mandate is systemically racist because the class only assigns the works of white authors and therefore perpetuates white privilege and racism.

The target is Humanities 110, "Greece and the Ancient Mediterranean," an introduction to the works of celebrated Greco-Roman thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Epictetus and Ovid.

Humanities 110, which has evolved over the years, has been a required course at the private, Portland, Ore.-based liberal arts college for decades, but a group of students calling themselves Reedies Against Racism want the curriculum changed.

In their words, it must be "reformed to represent the voices of people of color."

Last fall they launched frequent protests against the class — an effort that continued through spring semester and prompted scholars to now consider revising the course.

Comment: See also:
  • Protesters crash controversial U of T prof's appearance at McMaster University
  • Jordan Peterson speaks for those of us that refuse to follow the 'great liberal death wish'


Read More...
Info

On New York Times' stage, Roger Waters calls BDS 'valid and legitimate picket line'

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Fri, 05 May 2017 15:17 UTC
Roger Waters at the New York Times, with Jon Pareles
Roger Waters at the New York Times, with Jon Pareles, on April 26, 2017.
This is very good. Last week Roger Waters was invited to speak at the New York Times on the occasion of his new tour/album, and after an hour of musical discussion, a man in the audience asked Waters about his endorsement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) aimed at Israel - what is your end goal? - and about the artists' letter to Radiohead appealing to the band not to play in Israel in July.

The question clearly makes interlocutor Jon Pareles squeamish. Though Waters gives an extended, calm answer (at 1:00:40), and got a lot of applause for it. I've transcribed it:

Comment: More on Roger Waters: Roger Waters has lost millions defending Palestine - but he doesn't care

Read More...
Bomb

FBI uncovers Boston Marathon-style NYC bomb plot, NJ man arrested


RT
Sat, 06 May 2017 11:22 UTC
FBI uncovers bomb plot
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
A New Jersey man arrested for trying to kill his family dog has been charged with attempting to support the Islamic State. He allegedly revealed plans to detonate a pressure cooker bomb in New York City.

The Justice Department announced that Gregory Lepsky, 20, a US citizen from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, appeared in court Friday to face charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) for his plan to construct and use a bomb similar to the one detonated at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Thursday, New Jersey law enforcement first encountered Lepsky in February, when they responded to a call from one of Lepsky's family members who said he was attempting to butcher the family dog.

Comment: See also:
  • Unprecedented: Police ask for entire city's Google searches, and the court says yes (Update)
  • Are the multiple explosions and the crazed cop shooting markers of the engineered chaos to come?


Read More...