Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Chicago cop who killed teen in 'execution-style murder' indicted on 16 new charges


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 16:28 UTC
Jason Van Dyke
© Nancy Stone / ReutersJason Van Dyke
A grand jury has levied 16 new counts of aggravated battery with a firearm to the murder charges against Chicago Police Department Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is accused of fatally shooting Laquan McDonald in October 2014.

The new indictment, announced Thursday, adds to the six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct against Van Dyke, 38. The 16 counts of aggravated battery represent the number of times the officer fired at McDonald, 17, on October 20, 2014.

The night of McDonald's murder, police were responding to reports of a man acting erratically and breaking into vehicles in the city's Archer Heights neighborhood. Officers allege McDonald was holding a 4-inch knife, used to puncture a tire of a police squad car. The teen was ordered to drop the knife, but he reportedly refused.

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Attention

Toronto police cleared after Tasering a man eight times in his bathtub, killing him


The Star
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Rodrigo Almonicid Gonzalez
Rodrigo Almonicid Gonzalez died in 2015 after an incident involving more than 10 police officers including a tactical squad.
Ontario's police watchdog has cleared Toronto police in the death of a man who died after he was Tasered eight times by police in his bathtub.

Tony Loparco, director of the Special Investigations Unit, said in a news release Thursday that there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against any officers in connection to the Nov. 7, 2015 death of Rodrigo Almonacid Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, 43, a part-time cleaner at a hospital and father of two, died after an incident involving police that began after he locked himself in the bathroom, prompting his wife to call police to his family's apartment in the west end.

Several officers responded, including a tactical squad carrying a battering ram and shields, and the incident culminated in the repeated use of two conducted energy weapons, better known as Tasers. Gonzalez was later rolled out on a stretcher and admitted to St. Joseph's Health Centre and died the next day.

According to the SIU, despite the repeated use of a Taser, the cause of Gonzalez's death was determined to be complications of acute cocaine toxicity.
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Heart - Black

Millions face starvation as Yemen heads towards man-made famine - Oxfam


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:01 UTC
Yemeni children
© Abduljabbar Zeyad / ReutersBoys eat at a rubbish dump outside Yemen's Red Sea port city of Houdieda
The situation in war-ravaged Yemen is starting to resemble a man-made famine, with almost seven million people "knowingly" pushed towards starvation, the latest report from the international humanitarian organization Oxfam says.

The ongoing "complex and bloody [civil] war" between the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted President Mansur Hadi has led to the deaths of thousands, as the conflict peaked in 2015, the paper says. Attempts by the Saudi-led coalition to drive back the Houthis have only added to the plight of the people.

Over the past year, "airstrikes and fighting" have led to the deaths of around 7,600 people, with an average of 70 deaths a day, Oxfam said, calling on the world to not ignore the misery in the region.
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Robot

Robots could take up to 10 million jobs in the next 15 years - report


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 14:18 UTC
robot handshake
© www.globallookpress.com
Millions of jobs in the UK are in jeopardy because of robots taking over various sectors of the labor market.

According to the latest report on the impact of automation on the UK's labor force, up to 10 million jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines within 15 years.

Comment: Automation, economic collapse, basic income slavery: Our dystopic future?

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Dollars

Japan suicides cost economy $4 billion annually


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 11:32 UTC
People on the streets of Japan
© Thomas Peter/Reuters
Japanese national broadcaster NHK has calculated the potential economic loss to the country from suicides at more than $4 billion a year.

The calculation is based on 23,000 suicide victims in 2015, aged from 15 to 69 years, and had they lived and worked until their 70s. Figures from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare show there have been more than 30,000 suicides annually since 1998.

Statistics showed the majority are men who suffer from health, financial, or family issues.

Last year, the number dropped below 22,000 for the first time in 22 years. More than 15,000 men and nearly 6,800 women killed themselves, the ministry reported. The decline in the suicide rate is attributed to a revised law on suicide countermeasures coming into effect last April. In 2005, Japan established a headquarters for suicide prevention.

The country has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, at 83.3 years, as well as the highest suicide rates. A research paper from Wharton University found the main reasons for these high suicide rates include adverse economic conditions, unemployment, changing family structures, depression, inadequate access and resistance to mental health care, and substance abuse.

Comment: Death rates rise for wide swath of white adults - increase in 'deaths of despair' from drugs, alcohol, suicide

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Info

2 Brits and 1 French volunteer arrested for giving food to migrants in Italy-France border town


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 12:12 UTC
distributing food among migrants
© Jean Christophe Magnenet / AFP
Three volunteers, two Brits and one French citizen, were arrested while distributing food among migrants in the Italian town of Ventimiglia, near the French border. The three were charged with violating a city order prohibiting food donations to refugees.

The news came out on Thursday, when the volunteer association and police unveiled the details of the arrest.

The incident took place on Monday, March 20, when the three volunteers, who belong to the Roya-Citoyenne humanitarian association, were arrested by Italian police while distributing food bags to refugees in Ventimiglia, a city and commune in Liguria, northern Italy, some 7km from France.
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Bomb

Blast in Western Mosul kills 130, including women and children


RFE/RL
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 10:55 UTC
Civilians flee the city of Mosul
© AFP
More than 100 people have been killed in western Mosul by a March 22 explosion in a residential section of the city, military officials and an activist group say.

Brigadier Muhammad al-Jabouri, an Iraqi commander, said on March 23 that 108 bodies had been recovered after the blast in the Mosul al-Jadida district -- a district where an intense urban battle is continuing between Iraqi government forces and the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Jabouri said the explosion was caused by booby traps that were set by IS extremists.
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Eye 1

FOIA request reveals NYPD filmed Occupy and BLM protests without authorization


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 10:39 UTC
BLM protester
© Bria Webb / Reuters
A Freedom of Information Act request has uncovered evidence that the New York City Police Department not only surveilled protests with recording devices, but was unable to prove they followed standard procedure in doing so.

NYPD's presence at various Occupy and Black Lives Matter protests has been contentious in some communities, even more so due to their use of videotaping activists. New York attorney David Thompson, of Stecklow & Thompson, filed a FOIA request and told the Verge that there was proof that the NYPD had filmed protesters over 400 times but was unable to find documentation showing that this surveillance was approved by NYPD higher-ups.

NYPD officers responsible for filming protesters are members of the Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU), who often attend and occasionally film demonstrations. The purpose of this is to "ensure that there is an adult in the room," Thompson explained to the Verge. It is guided by Interim Order 22, which allows members of the TARU to film demonstrations if they file requests that are approved by their commanding officers.

"So while filming is meant to guarantee that there is an adult in the room, they are meant to be a legally trained adult in this case, who is able to understand whether or not the filming conforms to police guidelines or not."
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People 2

Arkansas, struggling to find volunteer witnesses, seeks to rush through 8 executions in 10 days in April


RT
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 20:25 UTC
Executions
Handout / Reuters
The state of Arkansas is struggling to find enough volunteers to witness eight inmate executions scheduled over 10 days in April. To find more volunteers, its corrections department has reached out to the Little Rock Rotary Club.

Citizen witnesses at executions are there to verify they were carried out according to Arkansas law. A volunteer must be at least 21 years old, an Arkansas resident, have no felony criminal history and have no connection to the inmate or to the victim.

"The last time these were set, we actually did not have enough people volunteer," Arkansas Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelly told Little Rock Rotary Club members, according to Arkansas Democrat Gazette. "You seem to be a group that does not have felony backgrounds and are over 21. So if you're interested in serving in that area, in this serious role, just call my office."

Comment: See also: BYO: Arizona lets death row inmates bring their own lethal injection drugs to executions

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Stormtrooper

Cowardly Israeli forces force crying 8-year-old boy barefoot through gravel looking for stone-throwers

Sheren Khalel
Mondoweiss
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 23:11 UTC
Israeli forces
Palestinian activists on Sunday filmed Israeli forces dragging an 8-year-old Palestinian boy through the al-Harika neighborhood of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank for more than hour.

The video, received and edited by Israeli rights group B'Tselem, shows 8-year-old Sufian Abu Hitah crying and barefoot, being pulled by his arm by an Israeli soldier.

The boy was surrounded by at least between 8-18 Israeli soldiers while being taken around the neighborhood, as Israeli forces tried to get the boy to identify other children who soldiers suspected of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba earlier that day.

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