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On Tuesday, a freelance journalist noticed that a no-fly zone had been issued over Ferguson, Missouri, the site of the recent protests over police violence.
Residents have taken to the streets to express their anger at the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old shot dead by a police officer there. Witnesses allege that Brown was innocent and doing nothing but jaywalking, while police officials have stayed vague on the topic. In recent days, the protests have become violent, with police officers using rubber bullets and tear gas to quell unrest.
The reason listed on the Federal Aviation Commission's website for the no-fly zone over the city is "TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES."
Residents have taken to the streets to express their anger at the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old shot dead by a police officer there. Witnesses allege that Brown was innocent and doing nothing but jaywalking, while police officials have stayed vague on the topic. In recent days, the protests have become violent, with police officers using rubber bullets and tear gas to quell unrest.
The reason listed on the Federal Aviation Commission's website for the no-fly zone over the city is "TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES."
A Japanese company claims to have reached the next level in developing the most genuine looking sex doll which comes complete with realistic feeling skin and authentic looking eyes.
Orient Industry say their new range of dolls, made from high quality silicon, are so realistic there is very little to distinguish them from a real girlfriend at first glance.
The dolls, which are non inflatable, are sold under the name 'Dutch Wives', a Japanese term for a sex doll, and adverts in the media boast that anyone who buys one will never want a real girlfriend again.
And the company behind the dolls are putting their success down to their realistic looking skin and eyes.
Orient Industry say their new range of dolls, made from high quality silicon, are so realistic there is very little to distinguish them from a real girlfriend at first glance.
The dolls, which are non inflatable, are sold under the name 'Dutch Wives', a Japanese term for a sex doll, and adverts in the media boast that anyone who buys one will never want a real girlfriend again.
© Unknown"The perfect artificial girlfriend"
No spirit, no substance, but damn she's hot!
No spirit, no substance, but damn she's hot!
Comment: One can scarcely imagine the feeling of hollow self loathing after spending a night with one of these!
© Ali Jadallah / APA images“Collateral damage”: the family of the four Baker boys, gunned down mercilessly by Israel on a Gaza beach 16 July, mourn their loss. One young Democrat claimed Hamas forced Israel to kill them.
They were branded anti-Semites after expressing anger at Israel's assault on Gaza in a heated social media exchange.
Christopher Woodside, a twenty-year-old student at Catholic University of America, says he was fired 6 August from his position as Communications Director with the DC Federation for College Democrats, CDA's Washington DC branch.
Woodside told The Electronic Intifada he was "told we would never receive donations because I made the organization seem radical." He added, "while I was officially asked to resign by the state level at DC College Dems, it was highly suggested their request for me to leave was from being pressured at the national college Dems level."
FBI opens civil rights investigation into shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by police
© Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFPWith their hands raised, residents gather at a police line as the neighborhood is locked down following skirmishes on August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Residents of Ferguson clashed with law enforcement for the second successive night, as protests over the shooting of Michael Brown, 18, ended Monday with riot-gear-clad officers firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators.
More than 50 people have been arrested in protests following the Saturday shooting. Police officials claim Brown was shot after a struggle over a gun with a municipal police officer in a squad car. Witnesses, though, say the unarmed Brown had his hands raised when the police officer approached with his weapon drawn and fired repeatedly.
© AFP Photo / Roberto SchmidtA Palestinian woman sits on August 11, 2014 with two boys at the edge of a crater left where her home used to be and which was completely demolished by an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip.
The Guardian/ICM poll, which was published Tuesday, found that due to its military operation in Gaza, Israel's standing in the UK has significantly worsened. The poll found that 52 percent of voters believe that Israel acted disproportionately when it launched airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.
By contrast, 19 percent of respondents thought Israel had acted proportionately in retaliating to Hamas rocket fire with air and artillery strikes, while 29 percent did not know.
According to the poll, 41 percent of voters say their opinion of Israel has worsened during the recent conflict and 48 percent still think the same way about Israel. Only 2 percent reported that their opinion of Israel has actually improved.
© Reuters / Paul HackettStaff shortages and overcrowding in Britain’s prisons are so serious, they are fuelling a rise in suicides amongst UK inmates, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warns.
Chief Inspector Nick Hardwick told the Independent on Tuesday it was simply "not credible" for the coalition government to refute a direct link between mounting pressures on Britain's prison system and a dramatic increase in suicides.
Hardwick's intervention compounds heated criticism which has been directed at the UK's Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, over his mishandling of the prison system, amid accusations that jails throughout Britain have evolved into "death traps" as a result of stark budgetary cuts.
Commenting on the crisis, Hardwick said that self-inflicted prison deaths were "not acceptable in a civilized country," and warned if UK ministers wanted the population in British jails to rise, concrete"resources to deal with that rise" must be employed.
© RIA NovostiRossiya Segodnya special photojournalist Andrei Stenin. Photo by Damir Bulatov. Archive photo.
"We join our Russian affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ), to express our serious concern for the well-being of our colleague Andrei Stenin," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha, according to the organization's statement.
"If he has been detained in Ukraine then we appeal for whoever is holding him to release him immediately. He is a journalist, not a soldier, and as such is entitled to move freely and report the truth without the threat of intimidation, violence or detention," Bourmelha stressed.
Stenin, an experienced war photo-correspondent and employee of major news agency Rossiya Segodnya (Ria Novosti), was declared missing almost a week ago. Stenin was in the country working on a photo assignment.
The journalist is believed to have been with self-defense forces before he disappeared. An anonymous source in Donetsk told Ria Novosti that Stenin had been abducted by Ukrainian security forces.
© AFP Photo / Frank Perry
The new data comes courtesy of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which estimates that 49.8 percent of all American students this coming school year will be non-Hispanic white students. At just under 50 percent, white students will still be the biggest racial group represented in US schools, but they will no longer make up the majority of all students in the country.
According to the Associated Press, the NCES projects that nearly 25 percent of minority students will be Hispanic, while 15 percent will be black and another five percent Asian. Biracial and Native American students will make up the rest of the minority stake in schools.
The news comes as the US population in general continues to undergo significant racial and ethnic changes. The US Census Bureau projects that minorities will make up a greater share of the US citizenry than whites by 2043, partially thanks to the fact that birth rates are going down or staying the same for whites - as well as for African Americans and Asians - while climbing higher for Hispanics.
© AFP Photo / Getty Images / Michael B. ThomasProtestors stand with arms in the air during a protest of the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, outside Ferguson Police Department Headquarters August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the Associated Press that a group gathered throughout the day on Monday at a burned-out convenience store, then turned rowdy at nightfall. Along with tear gas, observers tweeted that police fired rubber bullets into the crowd.
Police were telling people to go home, but had blocked streets off in the area, an AP photographer said. Jackson said police closed the area where most of the looting and vandalism occurred during the previous night, out of concern that cars passing by might hit demonstrators in the street.
Saw #riot #police use tear gas in #missouri while locals stood out on the street, outside their homes, no violent protesting. #MichaelBrownThe St. Louis suburb has been marred by unrest for three days, moving from protests and vigils during the day to rioting and looting at night. The tumult is over the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager who was killed on Saturday following an altercation with a Ferguson police officer.
- Anastasia Churkina (@NastiaChurkina) August 12, 2014
Comment: For more on the Michael Brown murder see: