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Star of David

Israel toughens Gaza blockade by suspending energy supplies


Sputnik
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:24 UTC
Kerem Shalom crossing
Kerem Shalom crossing
Israel has strengthened the blockade of Gaza, ceasing the deliveries of energy to the territory through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint, the country's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has decided to close the Kerem Shalom checkpoint for energy until the next Sunday after consultations with the head of the General Staff," the ministry said in a statement.

The checkpoint will continue to pass food and medicines, the deliveries of which will be approved on an individual basis, according to the statement.


Comment: Which means at the whim of whatever psychopath is on duty at the time. A perfect situation for targeting individuals Israel considers troublesome.


Comment: Norman Finkelstein: Gaza on the brink of collapse, residents 'caged in'

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Sheriff

Ex-NY cop: Police protect and serve in white communities but hunt in black communities


RT
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:26 UTC
Harith Augustus
© Chicago Police Department / ReutersBodycam footage of Harith Augustus shows the man fleeing before he was shot at least five times by police
Violent protests have broken out after a Chicago policewoman shot and killed a black man, who bodycam footage revealed to be armed. RT's Sophie Shevardnadze sat down with an ex-NYPD cop to discuss the force and police racism.

Harith Augustus died after being shot in the back at least five times by a female police officer, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report. Speaking on RT's SophieCo show, crack dealer-turned-decorated NYPD officer Corey Pegues shared a personal analogy with Shevardnadze: "I always say that in black communities they hunt, in white communities they protect and serve.

"Traditionally in the United States of America black unarmed men have been killed at an enormous rate compared to non-black Americans," Pegues told the RT host.
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V

Pamela Anderson: Americans are programmed to always blame Russia if anything's gone wrong


RT
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:20 UTC
pamela anderson
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Baywatch icon turned activist Pamela Anderson says Americans are programmed to always blame Russia, and treatment of Julian Assange "represents everything America does when it comes to true information and freedom of speech."

The 51-year-old spoke to The Daily Beast about her association with Assange and Russian President Vladimir Putin - banishing the "sexist" claims that either relationship is romantic - and said Americans are "programmed" to blame Russia.

"We're programmed in America to think that if anything's gone wrong it's Russia's fault," she said. Anderson claims her experience of lobbying for animal rights with the Kremlin has shown her Russians can be "very emotional, very engaged and wanting to do the right thing".

"People just think Russians are very scary and stoic...It's annoying," she added. "America can be very annoying, how everything is so anti-Russia".
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Oil Well

What sanctions? Financial Times reports Russia to invest $50bn in Iran's oil & gas


RT
Mon, 16 Jul 2018 15:09 UTC
Iran flag
© Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters
Moscow and Tehran are expanding economic cooperation, with Russia planning multi-billion dollar investments in Iran's energy sector. The move comes as major Western firms are pulling out of Iran amid the threat of US sanctions.

"Russia is ready to invest $50 billion in Iran's oil and gas sectors," Senior Adviser for International Affairs of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ali Akbar Velayati was cited as saying by the Financial Times.

Velayati met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Moscow. The sides focused on Russian-Iranian cooperation as well as the situation in the region. According to the Kremlin, they reaffirmed their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's Nuclear Deal (JCPOA).

Comment: The once-mighty US petrodollar may be seeing its last days.

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Cult

Twitter roasts 'tedious old racist' Richard Dawkins for dismissing 'aggressive' Muslim prayer


RT
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 14:57 UTC
Richard Dawkins
© Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins
Best-selling atheist author Richard Dawkins has once again been branded "racist" after he tweeted that the sound of cathedral bells is much more pleasant than the "aggressive-sounding Muslim Allahu Akbar."

The Arabic phrase - which means 'God is Greatest' - is used by Muslims, usually to express gratitude and commitment to Allah, and it's sung at the beginning of the call to prayer. It also has negative connotations as a number of terrorists have shouted the words before carrying out attacks.

Dawkins, who has previously faced a barrage of criticism for claiming in a 2013 tweet that Islam is the "greatest force for evil in the world today," was again accused of Islamophobia on Tuesday morning after sending a provocative tweet.

Comment: This man is a best-selling author? Richard Dawkins seems to have some major screws loose.

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Handcuffs

China: 5-year-old clings to 19th-floor balcony for 30 minutes before being rescued


Sputnik
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 08:25 UTC
china balcony hang 30 minutes
A five-year-old boy in southwest China was rescued to safety on Wednesday after hanging from a 19th-floor balcony grille for nearly a half hour.

The unidentified boy was discovered dangling from the railings of a 19th-floor apartment around 6 a.m. Wednesday in Dazhou city in Sichuan Province, China, after neighbors heard him yelling for help, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday. The boy managed to grab onto the railings of the 19th-floor apartment after allegedly falling from the floor above.

​Police rushed to the 19th floor of the building just minutes after neighbors alerted them to the boy's situation. According to reports, the authorities broke through the apartment and rescued the boy within 30 minutes of the police call.

Comment: This is probably a case of neglect by the parents, but still, this spate of similar incidents of children hanging from balconies is strange:

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Arrow Up

UN: Number of civilians killed in Afghanistan has reached a 'record high'


RFE/RL
Tue, 17 Jul 2018 07:03 UTC
Afghanistan Kabul bombing victims
Afghan officials carry the dead body of a victim at the site of a suicide bomb attack near a Shi'ite mosque in Kabul on March 9.
The United Nations says the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan has reached a record high in the first half of the year, despite last month's cease-fire.

Deaths rose 1 percent to 1,692, although injuries dropped 5 percent to 3,430, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in its latest civilian casualty report released on July 15.

The UN says the number is the highest six-month death toll since the systematic documentation of civilian casualties started in 2009.

Overall civilian casualties were down 3 percent since last year.
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Info

Steve Bannon clashes with UK political chief, claims 'Tommy Robinson is backbone of this country'


RT
Mon, 16 Jul 2018 18:28 UTC
Steve Bannon
© Moritz Hager / ReutersFormer White House strategist Steve Bannon.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has found himself at the center of a row with the political editor of the London radio station LBC, after the pair clashed live on-air over anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson.

In an on-air discussion hosted by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, political editor Theo Usherwood challenged Bannon on his belief that Tommy Robinson has "got to be released from prison."

Usherwood said that Robinson, who is serving a 13-month sentence for breaching reporting restrictions on a court case by live-streaming men entering Leeds Crown Court on Facebook, deserved to be jailed because he "broke the law." Bannon attempted to interject but Usherwood continued, telling the guest: "I'm calling you out on something..."
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Heart - Black

Two Palestinian teens dead after most intense Israeli assault on Gaza since 2014

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Mon, 16 Jul 2018 18:28 UTC
Israeli air strike Gaza
© Ashram Amra/ APA ImagesChairman of the political bureau of the Hamas Palestinian Islamist movement, Ismail Haniyeh prays over the bodies of Palestinian teenagers Louay Kahil and Amir Al-Namara, who were killed in an Israeli air strike at a mosque during their funeral in Gaza City on July 15, 2018.
After two Palestinian teenagers have been killed, and hundreds more wounded by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, an Egyptian-led ceasefire was called on Saturday night between Israel and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, who had fired several rockets into Israeli territory, injuring at least three people.

According to international media, and the Israeli army, Saturday's Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza strip marked the most intense daytime assault on the coastal enclave since Israel's 2014 offensive which left nearly 2,000 Palestinians dead.

The two slain Palestinian teens were identified by the Gaza Health Ministry as Amir al-Nimri, 15, and Luay Kaheel, 16. They were killed when Israeli airstrike targeted a semi-abandoned building in western Gaza.
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Attention

Israel strike on Syrian military positions denounced as 'desperate support of terrorists'


RT
Mon, 16 Jul 2018 23:55 UTC
missile attack
© Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
Syrian military positions near Aleppo airport have come under a missile strike, state media reports, blaming Israel for the attack.

The strike targeted "one of our military positions north of the airport in Aleppo," a military source told the Syrian Arab News Agency, stressing that the damage from the aggression was "limited to material."

The source denounced the raid as a "desperate attempt to support the defeated terrorist groups" in Daraa and Quneitra, where the Syrian army is actively working to defeat them. Furthermore, the publication accused the IDF of being "directly involved" in raising the morale of militants from al Nusra and other terrorist groups.
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