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Raqqa civilians rise against US-backed rebel forces amid dire humanitarian conditions


RT
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 14:15 UTC
SDF fighters
© Erik De Castro/Reuters
SDF fighters in Raqqa, Syria
Facing the dire plight of living in devastated Raqqa, people have begun an uprising against US-backed rebel forces unable to meet civilians' basic needs, the Russian military reported.

Civilians living in the "liberated" suburbs of Raqqa, Syria, are now facing persecution from US-backed rebel groupings whose ruthless conduct have forced people to react, according to Sergey Rudskoy, deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff. He noted that access to basic amenities in the city destroyed in the fighting is virtually non-existent. It also contributes to growing anger and frustration over how the rebels are running the city.
"The native Arab population is subjected to reprisals and exactions while forced mobilization is being carried out. This causes sharp discontent among local residents. Consequently, the locals have staged an uprising against the high-handedness of rebel forces controlled by the US" in Al-Mansour, a town 25km southwest of Raqqa.
Raqqa, which was one of Syria's largest cities before the war, is now facing a "disastrous humanitarian situation" which affects some 95,000 people who decided to return. Meanwhile in the city, "the infrastructure has been destroyed almost entirely, [and] residents don't have access to public and social services."
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Bad Guys

Israeli army uses live fire, rubber bullets, tear gas against Palestinian protesters; 12 dead, 1,000 hurt


Sputnik
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 19:25 UTC
IDF using tear gas on Palestinians
© Reuters/Mohammed Salem
The IDF, which have doubled its troops and deployed snipers ahead of the rally, have started shooting and using riot control weapons.

According to officials, at least 12 Palestinians have been killed and about a thousand wounded by live fire, rubber-coated steel pellets or tear gas as the mass protests have grown violent on the Gaza border, where about thousands of Palestinians have been protesting against Israel.

They demand the right of Arab refugees to return to the territory of Israel, which the country has blocked over fears that it will lose its Jewish majority. The IDF have started shooting and using riot control weapons as mass sit-ins went out of control and dozens of protesters clashed with the Israeli troops.
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Arrow Up

UK hospital reports daughter of poisoned ex-spy out of critical care following swift improvement in health


PressTV
Thu, 29 Mar 2018 17:35 UTC
Yulia Skripal

This file photo shows Yulia Skripal, the 33-year-old daughter of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.
Yulia Skripal, hit in a nerve agent attack that has chilled relations between Russia and the West, came out of critical care on Thursday following a swift improvement in her health.

The 33-year-old daughter of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is "improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition. Her condition is now stable", said the hospital treating the pair since the March 4 attack.

Sergei Skripal, 66, remains in a critical but stable condition, Salisbury District Hospital's board said.

The attack on the Skripals in the southwestern English city has been met with a major response that has seen more than 150 Russian diplomats expelled from countries around the world.

British authorities have blamed Moscow, which denies any involvement, and said a Soviet-designed nerve agent dubbed Novichok was used in the poisoning -- the first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II.

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

CUNY's Palestine Solidarity Alliance students launch a landmark divestment campaign

Jesse Rubin
Mondoweiss
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 16:12 UTC
Hunter College Palestine Solidarity Alliance
© Jesse Rubin
Hunter College Palestine Solidarity Alliance members on a skybridge overlooking campus.
If you were traveling downtown on Lexington Avenue on Thursday, March 22 at rush hour and looked up while crossing 67th Street, you might have found the following declaration in big bold letters looking back down: "CUNY Must Divest".

Student members of the Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA) at Hunter College, one of the largest of the twenty-five City University of New York (CUNY) colleges, took to one of the four windowed "skybridges" that connect Hunter's buildings, with signs calling for the university system to divest from US companies complicit in Israel's ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights. The list is comprised of the usual suspects including weapons manufacturers Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Electric; technology and security giants Motorola Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and G4S; and construction supply and engineering firms Cemex and Caterpillar.

The act drew the attention of the busy campus and crowded sidewalks - one of many Israeli Apartheid week events, which culminated with the soft release of PSA's divestment resolution.

"[The public display] is a good way to attract attention because people in general do not know where their money is going" said Pooja Chopra, a Hunter student and PSA member. "We all pay our tuition, we all get our reimbursement checks [but] we don't really know what's going on."
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Dollar

DoD report finds more than $3billion in taxpayer money lost in Afghanistan due to complete incompetence by US military

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:05 UTC
us soldiers
© Lt. Egdanis Torres Sierra/Navy
A new report from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD IG) exposes even more fraud, waste and/or corruption in America's ongoing war in Afghanistan. This latest report reveals that more than $3.1 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds provided to the Afghan Armed Forces from 2014 through 2017 was grossly mismanaged.

According to the DoD IG, U.S. military leaders overseeing operations in Afghanistan "failed to accurately record" some 95,000 vehicles transferred to Afghan Armed Forces, along with fuel expenses and maintenance costs to keep the vehicles operational. The report issued last Wednesday was the last in a series of DoD IG audits that examined the Pentagon for "systemic challenges" in how senior officials oversee U.S. direct funding to the Afghan Armed Forces said the Military Times.

The DoD IG warned the lack of accountability via military leaders overseeing Afghanistan leaves U.S. taxpayer funds vulnerable to "fraud, waste, and abuse."
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Pocket Knife

Delivery man stabbed, robbed & kidnapped 'over late parcel'


RT
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 16:21 UTC
Picture of a knife.
© David Moir / Reuters
A delivery man is reportedly fighting for his life in India after a customer flew into a violent rage when he brought her parcel late.

The 28-year-old victim, an employee of Flipkart, the Indian electronics company, sustained more than 20 stab wounds during the incident in Delhi. The man was set upon on March 24 by an irate woman who became violent when a mobile phone delivery was late to her home, reported The Hindu.
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Pistol

Body camera footage captures South Carolina volunteer cop shoots fleeing suspect


RT
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 15:48 UTC
Body cam in police car
© PoliceActivity / YouTube
A volunteer constable in Florence, South Carolina fired as many as eight shots at a suspect as he attempted to flee a traffic stop, body camera footage from the officer reveals.

State Constable Christopher Bachochin and Florence police officer Edward Seiben stopped the suspect, later identified as Brandon Fludd, at 11:10pm on Saturday night, March 24. After asking for his information, the officers asked Fludd to step out of the car, as they could smell marijuana.

Fludd refused, took a drag of a cigarette, and reversed his car into a parked police cruiser, before driving away. As Fludd tried to make his escape, Bachochin can be seen stepping back from the car and firing up to eight shots at the vehicle.

Fludd was wounded and taken to a nearby hospital, and was released on Monday, according to AP. No weapon was found in his car after the incident.
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2 + 2 = 4

Early indoctrination: Compulsory schooling in France to start age 3


The Connexion
Tue, 27 Mar 2018 15:40 UTC
empty classroom

A total 97% of three-year-olds already enrolled in nursery classes.
Compulsory education in France is set to start at the age of three from September 2019, the Elysée has said.

President Emmanuel Macron was expected to formally announce the decision, which will require an additional 800 school staff, during the inauguration of the Assises de la maternelle in Paris on Tuesday.

It is the latest in a string of reforms to the education system in France during Mr Macron's presidency, which have already seen CP class sizes cut in targeted disadvantaged areas, modifications to university access procedures, reforms of the bac and vocational training.

Comment: Numerous studies have stated that children should not be separated from their parents for any length of time before age 9. Age 9 is also the ideal time for a child to begin formal schooling.

Parental bonding makes for happy, stable child

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Compass

Eastern Ghouta fighter joins the Syrian army


Sputnik
Thu, 29 Mar 2018 12:53 UTC
Eastern Ghouta Militant Joins Syrian Army
© Reuters/Stringer
Sputnik has spoken with a fighter from the al-Rahman Legion militant group from Eastern Ghouta, who joined the Syrian army after it had begun to liberate the area.

"The leaders of al-Rahman Legion oppressed and starved us a lot. They made us fight for them otherwise they would deprive us of food and water. We were oppressed as much as the other Eastern Ghouta residents. When the Syrian army approached, we joined it as the truth is with them," he told Sputnik Arabic.

"Together with Syrian soldiers I am fighting for Eastern Ghouta and the whole Syrian land to be free from terrorist filth. The fighters forced hundreds of people like me to fight for them," the man said.

"The leaders of the group were instructed from abroad to starve and torture local people. The orders were followed automatically. It was impossible to deceive the commanders," he added.

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Family

The Inequality Delusion: Evidence indicates majority of people are not bothered by income inequality

Mark Sheskin
New Scientist
Wed, 28 Mar 2018 20:24 UTC
capitalism
You are probably aware that there are high levels of inequality in the world and that inequality is getting worse. But it is unlikely that you appreciate just how unequal things are. So here is a way of visualising it. Take the wealth of the eight richest people on the planet and combine it. Now do the same for the poorest 3.5 billion. The two sums are the same, £350 billion. Correct: just eight people own as much wealth as half of the world's population.

That is just one of many eye-watering measures of inequality. Consider that in the US, almost 85 per cent of the wealth is owned by just 20 per cent of the population, and the bottom 40 per cent own just 0.3 per cent of it. In 1960, a chief executive in the US typically earned 20 times as much as an average worker. Today it is more like 354 times.

Most people find these numbers shocking, even obscene, and inequality has become one of the world's most serious issues. Early in his second term, President Obama called it "the defining challenge of our time"; Pope Francis has described it as "the root of social evil". The general public also rank it highly. When the Pew Research Center asked people in 44 countries whether they thought the gap between rich and poor was a "big problem", a majority in all 44 said it was. A majority in 28 said it was a "very big" problem.
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