Society's Child
"Our son is in fourth grade at a middle school and has been bullied since the first year. He was abused, beaten and kicked because he is German. Classmates call him 'German pig', 'pig' and 'German potato'. At his school are mainly children with a migrant background. Most are Muslims," one family says.
The boy and his family live in Berlin-Mitte, which is a multicultural neighbourhood, according to them. "We like to live there, we have a motley circle of friends. But our son being bullied and attacked for allegedly eating pork is simply unbearable for us. He does not even eat any, we are vegetarians."
"In addition to countless insults that he has to listen to daily, our son was kicked down a staircase and beaten several times in the schoolyard - sometimes in front of the teacher. He was picked up from school by the ambulance more than once", the family continues.
A 25 year old man died earlier this morning after he being shot east of Jabalya, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health as cited by local media. Later, a 24 year old man was reportedly shot dead by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza strip.
According to the IDF, some 3,000 Palestinian protesters are taking part in Friday's demonstrations, the Times of Israel reports.
The six-week protest began on March 30 and is due to continue until May 15, the anniversary of Nakba, which Palestinians refer to as the mass exodus from their land during the establishment of the state of Israel. Israelis celebrate this as Independence Day.
To date, at least 35 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli gunfire.
The office may shut down, reportedly, by the end of August and then move to Berlin or to Vienna. The report came a week and a half after Hungarian parliamentary elections, in which the conservative, anti-immigrant Fidesz party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, secured a decisive victory.
In a press release on Thursday night, the Open Society Foundations neither confirmed nor denied the report, saying that it is "closely monitoring the situation" but emphasizing that, in any case, it will "remain committed to Hungary."
Resham Khan had been out celebrating her 21st birthday with her cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37, when they were attacked in Beckton, east London. They were both left with severe burns and in need of skin grafts after the attack in June. Muhktar was so badly injured he had to be put into an induced coma.
John Tomlin, 25, from Colman Road, Canning Town, admitted intentionally causing the pair grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court, where Khan said her birthday "turned into a day where my face was taken away from me.
"I have been looking at myself in the mirror, it upsets me, it brings back the incident on the day, it doesn't look like me," she added in her victim impact statement.
Comment: See also:
- London MP demands carrying acid be made a crime after 90-minute attack spree
- 83 acid attacks reported this year in London, LBC finds
- More acid attacks in London: Witnesses report that victims 'screamed in agony' while skin 'peeled off'
The UK government's square accusations against Russia of it being responsible for the attack on the Skripals has been plunged into further doubt as Annie Machon, an ex-MI5 officer, told RT that the nerve agent's formula was published in a book by a Russian defector to the US in 2008. The nerve agent therefore could have been reproduced by any lab in the world, she explained.
"It could've been developed... by up to 20 different laboratories in many different countries around the planet, so of course Britain should not have immediately jumped to the assumption that, because it was developed under the Soviet Union, it must therefore be used by Russia now."
Comment:
- Russia tells OPCW that US publication of so-called 'Novichok' formula puts it in violation of Chemical Weapons Convention
- US had access to Novichok formula for decades - anyone with the right chemicals can make it
- Theresa May disgraced! Recipe for 'mysterious' nerve agent Novichok can be bought for $30 on Amazon
- Why did fmr Secretary of State Hillary Clinton order diplomats to suppress 'novichok' discussions?
Liberal talking heads at such organizations as MSNBC and CNN keep warning that nothing has been done yet to protect the integrity of our voting process against "Russian interference" as the 2018 midterm elections loom ever closer on the nation's horizon.
What about the American oligarchs, I wondered, people like businessman Richard Uihlein, who regularly distort U.S. elections at every level-local, state and federal? Who will protect our "democracy" from the plutocratic "wealth primary" power of the American oligarchy?
Citizens Advice and the Living Wage Foundation have revealed just how hard it is for those struggling across the UK. According to Citizens Advice, as many as 140,000 households are without power because they can't afford to top up their prepay meters.
Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said it's "unacceptable that so many vulnerable households are being left without heat and light." She added that "for some people self-disconnection is easily managed, but for many others it is an extremely stressful experience that can have harmful physical and emotional effects."
The Living Wage Foundation, a group that campaigns for fair pay across the UK, has revealed in its own survey that parents in poorer families - as many as a third of working parents on low incomes - are skipping meals regularly due to lack of money. Around a half of those families have also fallen behind with household bills. The Living Wage Foundation suggests that the unofficial living wage is £8.75 ($12.31) an hour, jumping to £10.20 an hour if you live in London. More than 4,000 employers offer this wage.
According to BuzzFeed News, Britain refused to assist French authorities in their investigation of Lycamobile, a UK telecom company suspected of money laundering and tax fraud. The British government cited the fact that it was the "biggest corporate donor to the Conservative party" and gives money to a trust founded by Prince Charles.
French prosecutors arrested up to 19 people over their alleged use of the company's accounts to launder money from organized criminal networks in 2016. It followed on from a BuzzFeed News exposé of the company's reportedly suspicious activities in the UK. Yet while France took immediate action, the Conservative Party not only carried on accepting donations, but also refused the French government's request to carry out raids at Lycamobile's HQ in London.
Comment: The UK government has been well aware of Lycamobile's potential corruption for some time:
Elite donors bankrolling Tory campaign under investigation for fraud, tax dodging
Telecoms giant Lycamobile donated £542,500 to the Tories in March. However, that same month, the company's accounts showed the firm was under two separate HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigations for VAT and corporation tax avoidance.
According to BuzzFeed, even the Tories compliance unit was not too sure about Lycamobile's sponsorship, with worried emails being sent between Conservative officers about the state of the company's accounts.
The communications giant was branded a "tax offender" by the former chair of the public accounts committee, Labour's Margaret Hodge.
Police said during a press conference in Toronto that the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom first started the investigation in 2014 when they were looking into an online group allegedly involved in the sexual abuse of children.
The probe, nicknamed Project Mercury, eventually expanded to include Toronto police and law enforcement agencies in the United States.
In fact, that sentiment was shared by the top 100 newspapers in the United States, according to an analysis conducted by Fair.org. Out of those papers, none of the editorials issued in response to an escalation of the war in Syria that could have sparked World War 3, condemned it. While 74 papers issued no response, the editorial teams from 20 papers showed overwhelming support, and six papers neither supported or condemned the attack.
"None of the top 100 newspapers questioned the US's legal or moral right to bomb Syria, and all accepted US government claims to be neutral arbiters of 'international law.' Many editorials hand wrung about a 'lack of strategy' or absence of congressional approval, but none so much that they opposed the bombing. Strategy and legal sanction are add-on features-nice but, by all accounts, not essential. The total lack of editorial board dissent is consistent with major papers' tradition of uniform acceptance of US military action."
Comment: Perhaps not in the US but elsewhere: Western media are beginning to challenge "chemical attack" narrative after visiting Douma















Comment: At least one European country has finally roused itself to defend its sovereignty. When will others take notice and what will they do?