Society's ChildS


Boat

Black Sea: Russian Navy recon ship sinks after collision


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:39 UTC
Ship in bosphorus
© Murad Sezer / ReutersRussian Navy's reconnaissance ship sails in the Bosphorus
A Russian Navy reconnaissance ship has sunk after colliding with another vessel near the Bosporus, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. The hull of the Liman, a 1,560-ton reconnaissance ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was breached below the waterline in the collision, the Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish coast guard said it rescued 78 people from the Russian ship, which was later confirmed by the Russian authorities. "All crew members of the research ship of the Black Sea Fleet are alive and well and are currently preparing for evacuation from the Turkish rescue ship to a Russian ship," the Defense Ministry said.

According to the Defense Ministry, the Liman collided with another ship, Ashot-7, about 40km northwest from the Bosporus Strait. Media identified the other ship involved in the collision as the Togo-flagged livestock carrier Youzarsif H.

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Arrow Down

Fickle Brits: Majority now against Brexit according to polls


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:25 UTC
Still european
© Neil Hall/Reuters
A majority of British voters now think it is wrong to leave the EU, a new poll shows. The YouGov/Times poll, taken ten days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May called for a snap election, found a minority of voters (43 percent) now think Brexit is the best solution for Britain.

For the first time since the EU referendum last June, a majority (45 percent) now oppose the decision to withdraw from the bloc. The findings come a matter of days after a separate poll revealed 44 percent of Britons were opposed to Brexit, while the percentage of those supporting it remained steady at 45 percent. Since January 10, a total of 12 percent have said they "don't know" either way.

The latest figures mean support for Brexit is at a record low at a time when Theresa May's Conservatives are fighting for an electoral mandate to take Britain out of the EU. The two-year process to withdraw officially kicked off last month when May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

May claims she called the June 8 general election in order to crush dissent in Parliament and form a strong government to negotiate a good Brexit deal. "We need a general election and we need one now because we have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin," May said during an unscheduled announcement outside Downing Street last week.

Comment: Hindsight? Change of heart? Uninformed to begin with? Buyer's remorse?

See also: Richard Branson bankrolls manipulation to oust Brexit-supporting Tory MPs

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Arrow Up

RT America earns gold, silver and bronze world medals at New York International TV and Film Awards festival


RT
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:28 UTC
RT staff film awards
© Exceed Phtography
RT America has been awarded one Silver Medal and two Bronze Medals at the annual New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards.

Question more, win more!

RT America obtained three wins Tuesday evening at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, not from gambling, but from the grand jury of the 2017 New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards.

A Silver World Medal for Direction: Promotion/Open & IDs went to the RT America program "The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann."

Comment: UPDATE: RT has now won a total of nine awards at the festival:
RT has bagged nine medals at this year's New York Festivals awards for the world's best TV and film work. The channel's series of special reports from Libya and a documentary on the water crisis in India received top prizes.

The RT network was nominated in 18 categories of the prestigious international television and film competition, and received awards in half of them - two gold, four silver and three bronze.

RT's coverage from the Libyan city of Sirte, where correspondent William Whiteman reported from the frontlines, coming under fire at one point as the Libyan Army fought to liberate the city from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, earned gold in the Special Report category. It was competing with Deutsche Welle and Voice of America.

Another production recognized as the best in its category at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino was the RT documentary H2wOe. The film, which chronicles a severe water crisis in the Indian state of Punjab, won in the Environment and Ecology category.

Silver went to RT's two promos for its US presidential election coverage, Hellarious Trump and Hellarious Clinton, in the News Promotion category.

The work of RT's offices in several countries was also recognized with silver medals in a number of categories. Promos for RT UK's Going Underground and RT America's The Big Picture, as well as documentary The Shegué, the Sorcerer, and Che Guevara, about homeless children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also received awards.


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Pistol

German police shoot & injure man at Berlin hospital after he threatened officer 'with weapon'


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:13 UTC
German police
© Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersGerman police

Police fired shots and injured a person at a hospital in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, according to a statement from law enforcement. The suspect earlier threatened an officer "with a weapon," police said.

The hospital and surrounding areas have been cordoned off, the German DPA news agency reports.

Later, a police spokeswoman told the local news outlets that police opened fire on a man near the hospital and injured him in the leg.
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Che Guevara

Venezuela to leave 'interventionist' OAS group amid deadly anti-govt protests, resulting in 29 deaths


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:02 UTC
protests Venezuela
© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
Caracas has decided to withdraw its membership from the Organization of American States after the body voted to "breach sovereignty" and convene an emergency meeting over the ongoing violent crisis in Venezuela that has already resulted in 29 deaths.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, announced that the Latin American country will begin the process of exiting OAS after the organization convened a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela.

The decision by the OAS' Permanent Council was passed by 19 votes to 10, with one abstention and one absence.
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Quenelle

People power: British students launch hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 14:39 UTC
Students from the University of Manchester
© IsraelWC / FacebookStudents from the University of Manchester on December 11, 2016
A group of students at Manchester University are on a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners. Their action comes as students' unions across the UK face growing scrutiny over the lawfulness of their anti-Israel stance.

The five hunger strikers said their protest is in solidarity with imprisoned Palestinians. They are also demanding that their university refuse to work with companies seen to be aiding the Israeli state.

They are further calling for disciplinary charges to be dropped against two students for their role in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
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Brain

Brain hacking: Scientists want new laws to stop our thoughts from being stolen


RT
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:06 UTC
brain-hacking
© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
Researchers have called for radical new legislation protecting people's thoughts from being stolen and maybe even deleted.

Biomedical ethicists Marcello Ienca and Roberto Andorno believe that while rapid advances in neurotechnology have created opportunities in modern medicine, they also present new challenges for human privacy.

Writing in the journal Life Sciences, Society and Policy, the pair have warned that brain-hacking and "hazardous use of medical neurotechnology" could threaten the integrity of our thoughts.
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Sheriff

2 Georgia cops charged with battery, oath violation felonies


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:08 UTC
police handcuffed man
© Eric Gaillard / Reuters
Two Gwinnett County Police officers who were fired earlier this month after using excessive force during a routine traffic stop have now been criminally charged.

Videos of the incident were recorded and uploaded to the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta.

Former Master Police Officer Robert McDonald, 25, and former Sgt. Mike Bongiovanni , 42, each face charges of battery and violation of oath of office, a felony, according to WXIA. Their bonds were each reportedly set at $15,000.

The officers have until 5:00pm Thursday to turn themselves in, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office told their lawyers, WXIA reported.
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Syringe

Contrasting accounts of Arkansas execution from witnesses inside the death chamber


The Associated Press
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 06:52 UTC
death chamber
© Arkansas Department of Corrections/ Youtube
Little Rock, Arkansas. - As a condemned killer lay on a gurney awaiting lethal injection in Arkansas' death chamber, a federal judge had to decide whether there was sufficient evidence that an inmate executed earlier that evening showed signs that he was suffering while he was put to death.

The judge ultimately allowed the second execution to go ahead after a hastily arranged 20-minute hearing by phone, marking the nation's first double execution on one day in nearly 17 years, but the widely varying witness accounts of the first execution illustrate the risks that have made efforts to put more than one inmate to death in a day so rare.

Those questions loom as Arkansas prepares to put another inmate to death Thursday under what originally was an unprecedented plan to execute eight men over an 11-day period.

Comment: For more information see the articles below:

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Magnify

Sex scandal in Russian orphanage: Graduate opens up on years of mass pedophile abuse


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:52 UTC
child at playground
© Olaf Heil / Global Look Press
Children at a St Petersburg orphanage were "threatened to be sent to a mental health facility" if they refused to please their abusive tutors, a graduate has revealed in a shocking documentary, which prompted a large-scale investigation and multiple arrests.
"I was 13 years old... I have been abused by an orphanage graduate... He took me to an entrance hall of a building next to our orphanage and forced me to give him a blow job. Then he gave me money to keep me silent, and also took me to a sauna. Back then, and also now this person works at a social guest house for orphanage graduates," an orphan from St. Petersburg, Yakov Yablochnik, who is now 26 years old, shared in his letter published online.
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