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Theresa May blamed for police budget cuts that have led to staggering wave of knife crimes in British inner cities

knife
© Nikolay Gyngazov/ Global Look Press
"Institutional racism" and police budget cuts are at the heart of the staggering wave of knife crime in British cities, a former senior Metropolitan Police officer has claimed. Four young men were killed in London over New Year.

Former senior investigating officer Peter Kirkham blamed Theresa May's government for "ignoring" the record rate of knife crime in inner cities, which he says are "not white and well-off" but predominantly made up of "poor, black and minority ethnic people."

"I really don't understand why they are not treating this as the emergency that it is. It is a public disaster happening in slow motion in front of our eyes," Kirkham said in an interview with Sky News on Monday.

Fire

9 more killed, 100 arrested as Iranian protests approach 1-week mark

tehran iran protest
© Reuters
People protest in Tehran, Iran December 30, 2017
At least 9 people were killed and some 100 were arrested overnight as unrest across Iran entered a sixth day, Iranian media said. The country's supreme leader accused "enemies of Iran" of orchestrating the demonstrations.

Among those killed were six protesters who had attempted to steal guns from a police station in the town of Qahdarijan, Iranian state TV said, as cited by AP. Another two people were killed in the town of Khomeinishahr, and the ninth fatality was a member of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the town of Najafabad.

The overall death toll after six days of unrest has reached 20 people, according to state TV.

About 450 people have been arrested in the last three days, security deputy governor of Tehran Ali Asghar Nasserbakht told ILNA news agency. About 100 of them were arrested on Monday, he added.

Pro- and anti-government demonstrations have been taking place in Iran since Thursday. Economic hardship and alleged corruption mostly prompted the anti-government rallies.

Comment: The latest updates on the protests in Iran, possible foreign involvement, and the wider context of the covert war on Iran:


Arrow Down

Truck plows into car and pedestrians in San Francisco injuring 7, police say no indication incident was terror related

truck plows into car pedestrians san francisco

It is unclear if the incident was intentional, but local news reports indicate that it was traffic-related.
A truck has plowed into pedestrians and a car in San Francisco, causing a number of injuries. Several medical crews have been dispatched to the scene.

At least seven people were injured in the incident, which took place at about 3.30 pm local time. Two pedestrians suffered serious injuries, according to the San Francisco fire department, while five people who were in the car have minor injuries.

The ages of the victims range from pre-teen to elderly. Locals are advised to avoid the site of the crash in the Richmond District of San Francisco.

Pirates

Thousands in Ukraine march in remembrance of Nazi collaborator and mass murderer Stepan Bandera

Bandera  march nazi Ukraine
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
Activists of Ukrainian nationalist parties take part in a rally to mark the 109th anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera in Kiev
Some 6,500 people across Ukraine took part in marches on the first day of the year to mark the birthday of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist leader considered a hero in the country despite his dubious and violent methods.

Throughout the country 57 events commemorating Bandera were held, according to police reports. The biggest one in the capital Kiev drew a thousand activists, who marched through city center carrying torches and chanting traditional slogans like "Bandera will come and bring order," "Ukraine before everything" and "Glory to Ukraine, death to the enemies." The march was guarded by 1,200 police officers and 730 military service members.


Pirates

Trump renews ongoing feud with Amazon saying USPS should charge tech giant more for shipping

Jeff Bezos Amazon
Donald Trump opened up a new chapter in his running feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Friday, saying the United States Postal Service should be charging the online shopping giant more for shipping.

'Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?' the president asked on Twitter.

'Should be charging MUCH MORE!'

Trump's jab at Amazon's bottom line is a continuation of his longstanding battle with Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

Comment: Amazon is quite adept at lining it's pockets at taxpayer expense: Amazon's Jeff Bezos could be close to controlling $53 billion in Federal spending


Gear

French court upholds hospital decision to sack Egyptian intern because his beard might be offensive

doctor beard
© PeopleImages / Getty Images
A French court has upheld a decision by a Parisian hospital to sack an intern over his refusal to trim his beard, ruling that facial hair in a secular environment might be interpreted by staff and patients as a religious symbol.

The case dates back to 2013-14, when Mohamed A, a medical student at the Egyptian University of Menoufia, became an intern in the department of general, visceral and digestive surgery at the Saint-Denis medical center in France. In February 2014, four months into his internship, the 35-year-old Egyptian native was sacked after he refused repeated management requests to trim his beard.

According to the court documents, the hospital feared that the beard was "perceived by staff members as a sign of religious affiliation."

Refusing to back down, the intern asked the anti-discrimination group, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, to intervene in the case.

Comment: France is seeking to become so advanced in the name of secularism that it is actually moving backward.


Light Sabers

Gang of rampaging youths attack policewoman and her boss in Paris area

assualt on police 1
© NDressing/Twitter
The police officer on the ground as the crowd kicked her
A female police officer and her boss suffered a "cowardly and criminal lynching" by a gang of rampaging youths who then posted videos of the attack online.

The woman - who has not been named - was filmed being kicked around like a rag doll as the gang around her whooped and screamed in the attack in a notoriously bad neighbourhood of Paris.

Earlier in the clip, the youths jumped on top of a car that had been flipped on to its roof.

In the video, an unidentified woman is using Paris street slang to say: "The evening has really gone wrong!

"Goodness! Poor copper!"

The office's colleague was so badly hurt that at one stage he was forced to remove his pistol from its holster, but he did not get a shot off.

Comment: See also:


Red Flag

Unsealed court documents reveal prosecutors tried to rig Bundy trial

Cliven Bundy
© REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Rancher Cliven Bundy gestures at his home in Bunkerville, Nevada April 12, 2014.
Unsealed court documents detail how the team of prosecutors tasked with convicting Cliven Bundy and his sons of crimes relating to a 2014 armed standoff failed to turn over potential exculpatory evidence to the court, The Oregonian reports.

The Bundys' case ended in a mistrial Dec. 20 after Judge Gloria Navarro ruled that prosecutors violated the civil rights of the defendants by withholding evidence supporting the Bundys' case. Navarro is considering dismissing the case "with prejudice" and blocking prosecutors from retrying the case. Her decision will come Jan. 8, according to The New York Times.

"There were approximately 3,000 pages that were provided to us only after we started trial," Bundy lawyer Bret D. Whipple told TheNYT. "I personally have never seen anything like this, especially in a case of such importance."

Comment: See also:


Passport

Immigration passport system failure at US airports paralyzes travelers nationwide

passport system airport chaos
We are getting reports that all international travelers in the United States are weathering horrendous lines as the computer system for passports operated by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has failed late Monday night.

On one of the busiest travel nights of the holiday season.

A video of the nightmare in Miami's airport is being played out throughout the United States.


Pistol

Colorado sheriff deputy killed by gunman on live stream

Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Zackari Parrish
© The Free Thought Project
Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Zackari Parrish


The gunman in the tragic shooting in Colorado live-streamed the attack on the social media app periscope on which he is heard telling police to leave.


Douglas County, CO - In what is being referred to as an "ambush style" attack, a Colorado deputy was tragically killed New Year's Eve by a delusional gunman. Although the attack was called an 'ambush' in the media, the shooter, Matthew Riehl live-streamed the attack before which he is heard telling deputies to go away.

Late Sunday afternoon the deputy who lost his life was identified as 29-year-old Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Zackari Parrish. He was described as a veteran law enforcement officer, and leaves behind a wife and two children. Along with Parrish, four other deputies were shot, as well as two civilians.