Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Indefinite detention: Abolished IPP law is keeping thousands of UK prisoners incarcerated until they can prove they are not dangerous


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 12:21 UTC
UK jail
© Paul Hackett / Reuters
Thousands of UK prisoners are being held with no release date despite serving their minimum sentence, because of an "absurd" law which has since been repealed by Parliament.

In the case of James Ward, now 31, he was initially sentenced to a 10-month term, but is still in prison almost 10 years later due to the now-defunct Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) law.

More than 4,000 inmates, some with mental health problems, are routinely denied release from prison by parole boards because they cannot prove they are not a danger to the public.

Former Justice Minister Ken Clarke branded the situation "ridiculous" because it is impossible for a prisoner to prove he/she is of no danger to the public.

Comment: Yet sex offenders are routinely given a free pass by British judges despite committing "abhorrent" crimes against children and high-ranking pedophiles are protected by the UK government.

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Attention

Entrance to apartment building in Siberia collapses, killing 1, injuring 3 with unknown number of others possibly trapped in debris


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 14:43 UTC
apartment building collapse siberia
One of the entrance halls has collapsed in a five-story apartment block in Mezhdurechensk, a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.

At least one person has died and three have been injured in the collapse, RIA quoted a source in the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying.

"Four people have been affected, one of them died. Those who are injured are in a moderate condition," the source told RIA.
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Stormtrooper

UK 'Prevent' legislation creates environment of extremist anti-extremists


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 15:52 UTC
not terrorist
Figures like Jesus, Charles Darwin and Karl Marx would all be banned from British universities today due to the rise of counter-extremism legislation and US-style 'safe spaces,' an Oxford professor has claimed. Oxford Professor of European Studies Timothy Garton Ash told an audience at the Hay literary festival on Monday that pressure groups and the state are carrying out a double-pronged attack on free speech.

As well as Marx, Darwin and Jesus, he warned that philosophers like Rousseau and Hegel would today be banned from campuses. Referring to the UK government-led Prevent scheme, intended to keep extremism out of educational institutions, Garton Ash warned that "securocrats in the Home Office" are imposing bans which would "prevent even non-violent extremists speaking on campus."


"Now non-violent extremists? That's Karl Marx, Rousseau, Charles Darwin, Hegel, and most clearly Jesus Christ, who was definitely a non-violent extremist," the academic said. The Home Office "wouldn't want him preaching on campus," he added.
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Attention

Huge fire breaks out at gas cylinder warehouse near Moscow


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 15:37 UTC
fire moscow gas cylinder warehouse
© mari_rakitina / Instagram
A blaze flared up in a storing facility to the northwest of Moscow that reportedly stores cylinders with gas. An area of some 1,200 square meters is on fire.

According to footage posted on social media, a huge pile of smoke can be seen rising from the warehouse in the town of Zelenograd.
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Arrow Up

6,000 EU terrorists invade Syria, says human rights watch report


Fars News Agency
Sun, 29 May 2016 15:22 UTC
terrorist
New documents by a human rights watch disclosed that a Syrian-Saudi man has been the mastermind behind the infiltration of over 6,000 terrorists from the European countries into Syria.

"Tarrad Mohammad al-Jarba, originally a Syrian who later obtained Saudi nationality, has been an ISIL commander in charge of recruitment of fresh forces from the European countries and transferring them to the battlefields in Syria," documents by the watch said. "Tarrad was in Saudi jails for at least four years. He further scaped the jail and went to Syria to join the ISIL," the documents went on to say.

Al-Watan paper, meantime, has claimed that al-Jarba is not the real family name of Tarrad. Tarrad is the relative of Hareth al-Zari, the ex-secretary general of the Iraqi Muslim Ullema, who was killed in Jordan last year.
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Fire

Explosion and fire at India's largest ammunition warehouse kills 15 soldiers, forces mass evacuation of village residents


RT
Tue, 31 May 2016 05:26 UTC
Fire india ammunition warehouse
© Reweyou / Facebook
A fire that broke at India's largest ammunition warehouse killed at least 15 members of the Indian Defense Security Corps (DSC) and injured 19 on Monday night. About 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.

The blast at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) took place in the city of Pulgaon, located in the Maharashtra region in India's west, at around 1:30 am local time. The resulting fire spread immediately and killed at least 15 soldiers and two officers tasked with protecting India's ministry of defense sites, NDTV reported.

Although, the fire was soon contained, several other explosions followed, prompting a mass evacuation of the residents living in the village near the site, NewsXBureau reported.
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Megaphone

Free speech: British girl banned from competition for pro-Palestinian speech


Fars News Agency
Tue, 31 May 2016 14:34 UTC
Leanne Mohamed
A British-Palestinian schoolgirl was expelled from taking part in a public speaking competition after the event's judging panel deemed her pro-Palestinian speech as offensive and not positive.

The schoolgirl has been expelled from the competition after organisers received complaints about the girl's pro-Palestinian entry, Alaraby reported.

Leanne Mohamed, a 15-year-old student at Wanstead High School in London, was prevented from going onto the next stage of the contest after winning a regional final of the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge with her speech "Birds not Bombs".

In her speech, the teenager describes the historical and contemporary reality for Palestinian children under Israeli occupation.

"How would you feel if you were woken every morning by bombs and not birds?" Leanne questioned in her speech.

"How would you feel if you didn't even feel safe in your own home? How would you feel if you witness your own family die in front of you?"


Comment: It's a sad state of affairs when people like Leanne Mohamed are censored because some people find what they have to say 'offensive'. What is really offensive is the racist, murderous regime in Israel and its policies of racial segregation, Jewish supremacism, and military occupation. What is really offensive is the fact that racist trolls and apartheid apologists have enough influence to stifle free speech and thus allow such policies to continue.

See also Raleef Ziadah reciting her poem 'We teach life, sir':



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Eye 1

16 yo Brazilian girl raped by 30 men speaks out


Aljazeera
Tue, 31 May 2016 14:09 UTC
Brazil girl raped
A 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro was drugged and raped by about 30 men, who then posted a video of the attack to social media, in a crime that has shocked Brazil. The alleged victim, her identity hidden, has now spoken about her ordeal.

"I was drugged, I was very groggy, there were lots of people with guns, lots of young guys laughing and talking," she said.

The images were widely circulated, shocking many in the country which suffers a high rate of criminal violence towards women. The response to the victim's complaint has also provoked outrage. The initial police reaction has been labelled insensitive. There have also been comments, including death threats on social media, blaming the girl herself for the attack.
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Attention

Israeli values: Nearly all female lawmakers have been sexually abused or harassed


PressTV
Tue, 31 May 2016 14:25 UTC
knesset
Den of vipers, AKA Israeli Knesset.
Nearly all female members of Israel's Knesset have fallen victim to sexual harassment or sexual assault at some point in their lives, a report says.

Of the total 32 current female lawmakers at the Israeli legislature, 28 revealed they had suffered from some sorts of sexual abuses in the past, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on Tuesday, citing a survey conducted by Israel's Channel 2.

The report added that two of the lawmakers, Michal Biran from the center-left alliance Zionist Union, and Merav Ben Ari from the centrist party Kulanu, experienced the harassment even after they had entered the Knesset.

"Even today, the fact that I'm a single woman in the Knesset puts me in unpleasant situations. Sometimes people make comments ... I don't want to elaborate, but there was a situation recently in the Knesset," said Ben Ari, speaking of a recent incident in the Knesset building.

Comment: The psychopathic nature of Israeli society shows itself in practically all spheres of life: from the racial colonies of the West Bank, to the brutal military occupation of Palestine, to the normalization of murder and assassination, and the treatment of Israel's own women. This is the country which the U.S. gifts with billions of dollars of 'aid' every year.

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Quenelle

People power: Italians take US Navy to court to prevent their use of military base


Sputnik
Tue, 31 May 2016 11:10 UTC
MUOS Niscemi Mobile User Object Systems
© Wikipedia
The US has spent over US $7 billion on its military communications base in Sicily, but some of the locals are challenging its presence.

At the US Navy base in Niscemi, Sicily, one of the world's most sophisticated military communications systems stands. Three giant satellite dishes sit on top of a hill, reminding locals of the unwanted US military presence.

Over the last decade, the US has made huge investments in a complex satellite system called 'Mobile User Object Systems' (MUOS). The purpose is to allow American soldiers anywhere in the world to access encrypted cell phone data that can receive sensitive information related to military matters. The beauty of the device is that it will transmit information via 3G, so there is no need for a cellphone tower nearby.

The US Navy wanted to introduce the system to make communications faster, and more secretive.

The MUOS system is made of four ground bases around the world, which are linked to satellites. Ground bases are located in Hawaii, Virginia, Australia, and in Southern Sicily.

Comment: Further reading:
There are still more bases, and so more US military spending, in Germany than in any other foreign country (save, until recently, Afghanistan). Nonetheless, Italy has grown increasingly important as the Pentagon works to change the make-up of its global collection of 800or more bases abroad, generally shifting its basing focus south and east from Europe's center. Base expert Alexander Cooley explains: "US defense officials acknowledge that Italy's strategic positioning on the Mediterranean and near North Africa, the Italian military's antiterrorism doctrine, as well as the country's favorable political disposition toward US forces are important factors in the Pentagon's decision to retain" a large base and troop presence there. About the only people who have been paying attention to this build-up are the Italians in local opposition movements like those in Vicenza who are concerned that their city will become a platform for future US wars.

The Italian Job: How the Pentagon is creating a new European launchpad for U.S. wars


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