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Police summon Indian bishop accused of repeatedly raping nun amid protests


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 20:20 UTC
Franco Mulakkal protesters
© AFP/ SHAMMI MEHRA
A bishop accused by a nun of repeatedly raping her over two years has been summoned for questioning by police in India. It comes as several nuns continue to protest outside the High Court to demand justice for the sister.

Amid claims that authorities are failing to take action against the bishop, police have summoned Franco Mulakkal, the head of the Jalandhar diocese in the northern Punjab state, for questioning on September 19.

A 43-year-old nun from the Missionaries of Jesus accused the bishop of raping her up to 13 times for two years from May 2014. Police said they will decide after questioning Mulakkal whether to arrest him in connection with the allegations, which were first made by the nun on June 27.
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Arrow Up

French online payment service provider HelloAsso rejects pressure from Israel to close accounts of BDS activists


IMEMCNews
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 22:41 UTC
Supporters of BDS in France
© BDS France
Supporters of Palestinian rights in France.
HelloAsso, a French company that provides online payment services, has rejected pressure by Israel lobby groups to shut down the accounts of two French groups which support the BDS movement for Palestinian human rights. HelloAsso will continue to provide services to both Association France Palestine Solidarity (AFPS) and BDS-France.

HelloAsso publicized its decision in a tweet explaining that it supports the right of citizens to call for BDS as part of freedom of expression.

In 2016, the European Union stated:
"The EU stands firm in protecting freedom of expression and freedom of association in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which is applicable on EU Member States' territory, including with regard to BDS actions carried out on this territory."

Comment: Israel in fear of exposure: Dirty tactics against BDS

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Biohazard

Man behind Pussy Riot seriously ill, family claims he may have been poisoned


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:11 UTC
Pyotr Verzilov poisoned
© Valeriy Levitin / Sputnik
The family says Verzilov suffered acute poisoning, but they have no clue how it could have happened.
A controversial underground artist, best known for being the brain behind punk band Pussy Riot, is seriously ill in hospital. His family say he may have been poisoned.

Pyotr Verzilov was taken to a Moscow hospital on Tuesday night, hours after he attended a court hearing, his family told the media on Wednesday. They said he felt ill and complained his sight was failing before they called an ambulance. As of Thursday, his condition improved, but doctors say recovery would still require at least several days, his mother Elena told the BBC.

The family says Verzilov suffered acute poisoning, but they have no clue how it could have happened.

The 30-year-old artist gained notoriety in the late 2000s as a member of the art group Voyna ("war"). His group was behind several protests, including drawing a giant penis on a St Petersburg drawbridge - so that the graffiti could be seen from a local FSB office, and the flipping over of eight police cars.

Comment: Expect outrage and claims that 'Putin did it!' from Western media in one, two...

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Attention

Reality check: FEMA chief sets the record straight as MSNBC hosts blames Trump admin for Puerto Rico death toll

That Conservative Girl
Mad World News
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell FEMA Chief Brock Long
© MSNBC/YouTube
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews FEMA Chief Brock Long.
FEMA Chief Brock Long shut down Trump-bashing Andrea Mitchell during a televised interview on Wednesday, leaving MSNBC producers freaking out. You're going to love this!

During a Wednesday interview with FEMA Chief Brock Long, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell did her best to bash the Trump administration's efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. "The fact is," Mitchell said, "Just as after Katrina, where there was infrastructure in parts of New Orleans, that is a federal responsibility. These are American citizens."

"Uh, no, you're actually wrong on that," Long fired back. "It's not a federal responsibility to upkeep the infrastructure. Actually, most of the infrastructure in this [country] is owned by the private sector." Long also noted that FEMA put "over $2 billion in food and commodities" in Puerto Rico after the storm, but grocery stores and retailers have to help with the recovery as well.


Comment: Puerto Rico's lack of adequate infrastructure is a result of the country's economic catastrophe that predates the Trump administration.

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Handcuffs

Fortune teller arrested over €4 million in undeclared earnings


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:28 UTC
tarot
© Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters
A fortune teller, accused of scamming millions of euros from vulnerable housewives and businessmen, some of whom parted with as much as €300,000, has been arrested in Italy for failing to declare her earnings to the taxman.

Italian police say the card reader encouraged her clients to pay for services off book and only declared earning €300,000 a year, despite raking in an extra million each year, adding up to €4 million in undeclared earnings, Italy's crime unit, Guardia di Finanza (GdF) reported.

The fortune teller, based in Perugia, advertised her services in newspapers and on television ads in the area. Clients contacted her via an 899 hotline, which allows the authorities to trace revenue. The fortune teller ran call centers with at least 10 employees who would detect vulnerable clients and then tell them to call the tarot reader on her personal number, selling the idea as a way to avoid paying for "time-based phone pricing."
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Ambulance

At least 11 dead, 44 injured as car rams into crowd in Hengyang, China


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 19:00 UTC
A car ploughed into crowds in a public square in central China
© China people's Daily
At least 11 people were killed and a further 44 were injured when a car ploughed into crowds in a public square in central China. The driver then exited the vehicle and chased people with a shovel and knife.

The incident took place shortly after 7:30pm local time Wednesday in Hengyang city in Hunan province. A dance event was being held in the Mishui town square at the time of the attack. Video shared by Chinese state media shows scores of people fleeing in panic as the attack unfolded.

Eyewitness footage uploaded to social media shows multiple bodies strewn across the square with people tending to the injured on the blood-soaked pavement, to the sounds of despairing screams all around. During the attack, the suspect exited the vehicle and chased bystanders with a spade and knife, The Guardian reports.
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People 2

White people now the biggest ethnic group arrested for terror offenses in the UK


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:09 UTC
neo-nazi group National Action
© Joel Goodman / Global Look Press
A member of the banned neo-nazi group National Action
White people arrested for suspected terrorist offences in the UK now outstrips those of Asian ethnicity for the first time in over a decade, according to new figures published by the Home Office.

Statistics released by the Home Office show that white suspects accounted for 38 percent of terrorist related arrests. Those of an Asian appearance accounted for 37 percent of offences, followed by black suspects way down on 9 percent.

The report states: "This was the first time, since the year ending June 2005, that the proportion of white people arrested has exceeded the proportion of Asian people arrested," the report said.

"It was the second highest number of arrests of white people in a year since the data collection began in 2001."
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Stop

Yemeni gov't forces block strategic highway between Hodeidah and Sanaa


Sputnik
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 18:45 UTC
A soldier walks at Red Sea port of Hodeidah
© REUTERS / Abduljabbar Zeyad/File Photo
A soldier walks at Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, May 10, 2017
Yemeni government forces have blocked a strategic highway located between the western port city of Al Hodeidah and the capital of Sanaa, a source in the local administration told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The source said that the government forces had taken up a position 12 kilometers (7 miles) east of Al Hodeidah and "blocked the strategic Al Hodeidah-Sanaa highway after fighting against Houthi militants with the support of intensive [Saudi-led] coalition airstrikes."

On June 13, the Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, launched an offensive to seize the port of Hodeidah from the Shia Houthi rebels. The operation continued despite the UN warnings of a possible humanitarian catastrophe. UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths held talks with the Houthis in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, but failed to persuade the rebels to withdraw from al Hodeidah.

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

Seven NYPD cops arrested, dozens more investigated for running massive prostitution ring

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:31 UTC
prostitute with cop
This week, it was reported that seven NYPD cops of various ranks have been arrested for being involved in a massive prostitution and gambling ring. The officers have reportedly been under investigation since 2015 when the city's internal affairs department received a tip from a whistleblower in the department.

Two detectives were placed on modified duty after the arrests, but it is not clear what their relation to the case is. An additional 30 police officers are wanted for questioning in relation to this investigation. Forty other civilian suspects were also arrested in the investigation, according to an NYPD spokesman.

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill told News 4 New York that, "Today, those who swore an oath and then betrayed it have felt the consequences of that infidelity. The people of this Department are rightly held to the highest standard, and should they fail to meet it, the penalty will be swift and severe. The internal affairs bureau initiated this probe and in doing so, has sent a clear message: there is no place in the NYPD for criminal or unethical behavior," O'Neill said.
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Bizarro Earth

Photos emerge of 'millions of water bottles' left on Puerto Rico runway a year after Hurricane Maria - 3,000 died waiting for help


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:17 UTC
water puerto rico
FEMA has confirmed that a huge stockpile of bottled water, sent to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, has been sitting on a runway for a year - despite Donald Trump branding the US response an incredible success.

Photos of the consignment were shared online by photographer Abdiel Santana who estimated there were possibly millions of water bottles sitting on a runway in Ceiba. Santana, who is a photographer for a Puerto Rican police agency, questioned why the water was left sitting there unused and not delivered to hurricane survivors.

Santana said he first saw the water consignment in October last year and was maddened to discover that it was still there.

Comment: If Trump was responsible for getting the supplies out to Puerto Rico - which clearly did happen - then doesn't some of the responsibility lie with the local government? However, egregious disaster assistance is a repeating pattern in the US. And, with Hurricane Florence on the way, and predicted to be a particularly brutal storm, time will tell just whether there has been any change in this trend under Trump's watch: Also check out SOTT radio's show from 2005: SOTT Podcast: Hurricane Katrina

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