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People

Paris bans pro-Palestinian protest after recent violence

Gaza my love
© AFP Photo/Kenzo TribouillardA protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask hold a sign reading "Gaza my love" as others carry Palestinian flags during a demonstration in Paris to denounce Israel's military campaign in Gaza on July 23, 2014
French police have banned a protest against Israel's Gaza offensive that was due to take place in Paris on Saturday, following several similar rallies that turned violent.

The ban, announced by police on Friday, comes in the wake of clashes earlier this month at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in which some protesters shouted anti-Semitic slogans and fought with police.


Comment: Protesting against the Israeli war crimes is not anti-semitic. Paris decided to place a ban on protests instead of investigating the cause of clashes. Sad state of affairs.


Two of those rallies had been banned but went ahead anyway.

Following Friday's announcement, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve appealed on organisers to cancel the rally.

V

Jordanian TV host burns Israeli flag live on air

 Zoher Al-Azzeh
© Nick Hallett
A TV host in Jordan burned a paper Israeli flag live on air during a discussion on the ongoing Gaza campaign.

In a clip posted to YouTube by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Zoher Al-Azzeh burned the flag on Jordan's 7 Stars TV while also calling for the US embassy in Jordan to be shut down, accusing America of using it as a "centre for spying".

Describing the Israelis as "occupiers", Al-Azzeh apologised to viewers for earlier having shown them graphic images of injured Palestinians, and then said: "For the sake of Palestine and its children, allow me to burn this filthy flag of the Zionist entity for the whole world to see", before holding what appears to be an A4 paper print-off of the Israeli flag and setting light to it with a cigarette lighter.

Document

The Lancet - An open letter for the people in Gaza from the world's leading general medical journal

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We are doctors and scientists, who spend our lives developing means to care and protect health and lives. We are also informed people; we teach the ethics of our professions, together with the knowledge and practice of it. We all have worked in and known the situation of Gaza for years.

On the basis of our ethics and practice, we are denouncing what we witness in the aggression of Gaza by Israel.

We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression. We challenge the perversity of a propaganda that justifies the creation of an emergency to masquerade a massacre, a so-called "defensive aggression". In reality it is a ruthless assault of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity. We wish to report the facts as we see them and their implications on the lives of the people.

We are appalled by the military onslaught on civilians in Gaza under the guise of punishing terrorists. This is the third large scale military assault on Gaza since 2008. Each time the death toll is borne mainly by innocent people in Gaza, especially women and children under the unacceptable pretext of Israel eradicating political parties and resistance to the occupation and siege they impose.

This action also terrifies those who are not directly hit, and wounds the soul, mind, and resilience of the young generation. Our condemnation and disgust are further compounded by the denial and prohibition for Gaza to receive external help and supplies to alleviate the dire circumstances.

Vader

US paratroopers stationed in Italy arrested for beating, raping pregnant Romanian

us base caserma del din
© flickr.comThe U.S. base Caserma Del Din in Vecenza, Italy.
Two American paratroopers stationed at a US military base in Italy have been arrested for allegedly beating, raping and robbing a pregnant Romanian prostitute in her six month, whose sex services they originally offered to pay for.

The suspected rape happened in the city of Vecenza in north eastern part of Italy on Monday night last week, Italian media reported.

The suspects are believed to have agreed to pay for the sexual favors of a 24-year-old Romanian girl. But after the three reached a secluded area, they allegedly decided to get what they wanted for free.

The two soldiers reportedly beat up and raped the prostitute, who is in her sixth month of pregnancy, and this went on for a period of three hours. Then they allegedly left their victim in the remote field, and made off with her purse.

The victim's lawyer Alessandra Bocchi told journalists that her back is badly scratched and her face and entire body, including her belly, are bruised from the beating.

The life of the baby is not in danger.

Comment: The military is rife with sexual abuse and does little more than attempt to cover up scandals. The US military does not even protect its own soldiers, which is why many areas hosting US bases are reporting violence of this nature.

The U.S. Military's Rape Culture
Rape rampant in US military
Panetta: Could be 19,000 Military Sex Assaults Each Year
Military justice 'broken', say sexual assault survivors at Senate hearing
Already affecting 71% of U.S. female military personnel by 2004, reported sexual assaults jumped 50% higher in 2013 alone


Evil Rays

Wild monkeys living in Fukushima region have blood abnormalities linked to radiation

fukushima monkeys
© Reuters / Issei Kato

Monkeys living in the wild in the Fukushima region have tested positive for blood abnormalities linked to radioactive fallout from the 2011 nuclear power plant disaster, according to a new report.

The wild monkeys, Japanese macaques popularly known around the world for their habit of bathing in the country's hot springs, have demonstrated blood abnormalities that could leave them vulnerable to infectious diseases, reported the Guardian.

Specifically, the monkeys in the region which was impacted by fallout from the stricken Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility, were found to exhibit low white and red blood cell counts, along with low hemoglobin levels. The study examined a 61 monkey community living 44 miles from the disaster site to 31 monkeys almost 250 miles away, in the Shimokita Peninsula. The former community tested positive for radioactive caesium, linked to caesium in the soil of their habitat.

The macaques feed on tree buds and bark where caesium can accumulate in high concentrations during winter, according to professor Shin-ichi Hayama of the Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University in Tokyo, who spoke to The Guardian.

Comment: As usual a bevy of corrupt authoritarian scientists have arisen to counter the truth of the devastation caused by the Fukushima disaster. This disaster is ongoing as well as the cover-up.

Fukushima radiation killing children, government hiding the truth
Tokyo mother reports Japan's "total media blackout" of people developing symptoms, sickness and death related to Fukushima disaster
Radiation level in tuna off Oregon coast triples after Fukushima
Fukushima radiation more than 10 times the normal level is detected on California beaches


Airplane

Breaking news! Watch first video of the AH5017 crash area

First video of the Air Algeria AH5017 crash area.


Comment: More information and discussion on this forum thread.


Pumpkin 2

Cost of fracking boom? California farmers' water costs surge 700% after government cuts supply

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When we reported on the government's decisiosn to withhold irrigation water to California for the first time in 54 years, we warned there would be consequences: farmers are hit hardest as "they're all on pins and needles trying to figure out how they're going to get through this." Fields will go unplanted (supply lower mean food prices higher), or farmers will pay top dollar for water that's on the market (and those costs can only be passed on via higher food prices). Sure enough, as Bloomberg reports, farmers in California's Central Valley, the world's most productive agricultural region, are paying as much as 10 times more for water than they did before the state's record drought cut supply.

Comment: Apart from drought, these cuts to water for agricultural use, wouldn't have anything to do with fracking or would they? Efforts are underway to make California the biggest on-shore oil producing state in the nation and all due to fracking, which is very water intensive.


Gear

Ethiopia: Where China goes to outsource its own rising labor cost

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© Bloomberg
Ethiopian workers strolling through the parking lot of Huajian Shoes' factory outside Addis Ababa last month chose the wrong day to leave their shirts untucked.

Company President Zhang Huarong, just arrived on a visit from China, spotted them through the window, sprang up and ran outside. The former People's Liberation Army soldier harangued them loudly in Chinese, tugging at one man's aqua polo shirt and forcing another's shirt into his pants. Nonplussed, the workers stood silently until the eruption subsided.

Shaping up a handful of employees is one small part of Zhang's quest to profit from Huajian's factory wages of about $40 a month - - less than 10 percent the level in China.

Handcuffs

City Council bans saggy pants in Ocala, FL

Baggy pants
© Reuters / Mohamad Torokman
A city in Florida doesn't want people showing off their 'whale tails,' 'plumber's cracks' or boxers on public property so much that they banned the saggy-pants fashion statement within city limits.

"Lookin' like a fool, walkin' downtown with ya pants on the ground," 'General' Larry Platt famously sang in his 'American Idol' audition. "Giddy up! Get ya pants off the ground!"


Comment: Another sign of our totalitarian society, where people are forced to conform to the values of the rulers. For an interesting study about conformity and the types of people who are enforcers of conformity, read the book by Bob Altemeyer called "The Authoritarians".


USA

Teen girl raped on field trip then treated horribly by Seattle high school that refused to help her

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© Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons
Editor's note: The alleged victim in this case did not participate in this report. Because naming her parents would identify her, her first name and her family name are pseudonyms.

Emily Miller was on a three-day nature field trip with Seattle's Garfield High School in November 2012 when her parents got a call that their 15-year-old daughter had been raped and was headed to a hospital.

Teachers, Garfield's principal, district officials, a rape advocate, the National Parks Service and the FBI, which has jurisdiction over the national park, were all alerted, and details tumbled out quickly: The alleged perpetrator was a classmate, who admitted that he had had anal sex with her. He acknowledged to law enforcement that she told him to stop several times but said he persuaded her to "roll with it."

Medical records reported mild vaginal trauma, semen streaked on her pubic hair and in her anus and a diagnosis of rape trauma syndrome. Emily vomited, possibly because of a nauseating megadose of prophylactic antibiotics. Her rape advocate at the hospital, who had 10 years of experience working with rape victims, said she "presented as one who had experienced a rape."