Society's ChildS


Star of David

Apologists for genocide: The reasons why Gaza's population is so young

dead gaza child
The population density of the Gaza Strip has been disputed, but in comparison with other cities, Gaza City, with a population of around 750,000, is undoubtedly a densely populated urban area.

This goes some way to explaining the high numbers of casualties in the current conflict. Some 63 Israelis and about 1460 Palestinians have died since the current conflict started a month ago, with children accounting for at least 245 of the deaths. But why so many children? It turns out that there are unusual features about the population structure in Gaza that make it an enigma in the modern world.

First, the Gaza Strip's population of roughly 1.8 million has an unusually large proportion of children. Figures for 2013 from Index Mundi, the internet source of country data, show that that 43.5 per cent of the population is aged 14 or under, compared with 32 per cent in Egypt and 27 per cent in Israel.

Comment: This article on the New Scientist website is unconscionable, and is a prime example of the western mainstream media, once again, blaming the victim. As if the civilian resident's of the Gaza strip are somehow responsible for the atrocities committed against them.

In reality, deliberately targeting civilians, especially children, has been part of Israel's zionist agenda for a long time. Recent examples include the bombing of beach in Gaza where boys were playing football, the missile strike against a Gaza hospital, and the destruction of the only power plant in Gaza, upon which so many families depend.

Perhaps it is not quite accurate to say that the IDF is targeting children over mothers, or civilians over soldiers, because in the minds of the psychopathic leaders in Israel, Palestinians are no more than animals or insects, they want them all dead, regardless of age, gender or situation.

One can only speculate about who calls the shots on the editorial board at New Scientist, what the editor's political affiliations are, and where they get their funding from.

For when genocide becomes permissible, it's business as usual at New Scientist.


Health

Factory explosion in Jiangsu province in eastern China kills at least 65

Explosion in factory in China
© AP Photo/Xinhua, Chen Peiliang
A blast at a factory in China' s eastern industrial province of Jiangsu killed at least 65 people and injured more than 120, China's central television said.

The blast occurred in in the city of Kunshan on Saturday.

Local media reported the accident occurred at an auto metal parts making workshop because of carelessness when handling flammable materials or a steam boiler breakdown. Medics and rescuers were working at the site. Photo in the Internet show scores of burnt people sitting on the ground or lying on stretchers. Smoke was billowing over the workshop.

Some of the injured people are in grave condition.

Four hundred and fifty people worked at the factory.

Hourglass

Dutch investigators had "no opportunity" to reach MH17 site: Thanks, Kiev!

MH17 wreckage
© AFP Photo / Dominique FagetWreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 two days after it crashed in a sunflower field near the village of Rassipnoe, in east Ukraine, on July 19, 2014.
Dutch experts who have taken the leading role in the MH17 plane crash investigation are not able to reach the crash site in eastern Ukraine, a spokesperson of the Dutch Safety Board told RT.

RT: Have your experts already been to the MH17 crash site in the Donetsk Region?

Wim van der Weegen: No, our Dutch investigators have not been there yet. Since the Dutch Safety Board took over the leadership of the investigation on July 23, there has been no possibility for us to visit the crash site.

RT: Why is there no possibility? Are there security reasons behind that?

Wim van der Weegen: Two things: first, yes, safety; second - we don't decide on our own whether our investigators can leave for the crash site. We depend on the information and analyses from the Dutch Ministry of Safety and Security and the Dutch Ministry of Defense. So, we rely on their information on whether it is safe or not to go to the crash site. If we get positive insights, we can arrange the logistics for how to get there.

RT: Who is helping you to collect the information from the crash site?

Wim van der Weegen: The investigation started right after the crash. There was an international team of air crash investigators. This team has collected a lot of information in the past two weeks. For example, data recorders, satellite information, radar information from air traffic controllers. The search at the crash site is just one part of a bigger, complex investigation.

Stock Down

Sanctions against Russia hurting German businesses

Image
© RIA Novosti/Alexei Kuznecov
The West is tightening the financial screws on Moscow, but German companies are already feeling the kickback of a slowing Russian economy and weakening ruble.

Russia is Europe's third-largest trading partner, so a spluttering Russian economy, exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis, is seriously affecting German companies. In 2013, Germany exported 36 billion euro worth of goods to Russia.

A higher value ruble and inflation risk consumer spending in the region, and are cutting German involvement in the market accordingly.

German sports retailer Adidas lowered financial targets for the next two years, citing conditions in Russia as a major stumbling block.

Arrow Down

FBI, police surround Michigan town with checkpoints, stop & question every vehicle

Police Stop
© WXYZPolice question drivers at a checkpoint in Armada, Michigan.
Armada - Long lines of traffic formed as travelers attempted to enter or leave the Village of Armada; government agents roadblocked all routes around town and put every driver under scrutiny as part of a massive murder investigation.

The blanket search was conducted on the evening of Thursday, July 31, 2014. Swarms of FBI agents, Michigan State Police, and local police officers joined forces to create three massive checkpoints around the small community (population 1,730), causing traffic to be "backed up for miles."

The police action came one week after a local teen girl was found murdered in a drainage ditch on July 24th. Short on clues in the search for April Millsap's killer, investigators decided to stop, question, and document every traveler in town - "car by car."

Bomb

Massive blast kills at least 5 at explosives factory in India

indian explosion
Experts say India’s industrial accidents are often caused by a failure to comply with safety standards.
At least five workers have been killed when a massive blast ripped through an explosives factory in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police say.

On Friday, the powerful blast completely destroyed the factory, which provides detonators and other explosives to mines in the mineral-rich state.

"The explosion was so powerful that the entire cement building was totally destroyed and the victims' bodies blown to pieces," said police officer Gurjinder Pal Singh.

Police continued investigating the cause of the blast.

The incident marks the latest in a series of factory accidents in India.

Vader

Razing Gaza: Before and after satellite images show the true devastation of Israel's bombardment

gaza obliteration
The obliteration of Gaza from relentless Israeli air strikes and tank shelling was laid bare today in a series of satellite images charting the escalating violence across the region.

Analysis from UN satellite experts reveal how hundreds of buildings have been razed to the ground in a series of attacks that have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians over the last three weeks.

Using images from July 6 - before the conflict began - and comparing them with ones from July 25, they have identified 700 destroyed structures, many of them homes and mosques.

Comment: Is Israel wiping Gaza off the map?

No man's land: Israel further shrinks Gaza strip by 40 percent


Heart - Black

Racial bigots: The KKK wants a 'Shoot to Kill' policy to include migrant children

kkk shoot to kill
Robert Ray and the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan. Screenshot from Al Jazeera America.
The Ku Klux Klan doesn't want to leave all the immigrant-hating to gun-toting militias and US congressmen. The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is calling for a "shoot-to-kill" policy at the border. Robert Ray of Al Jazeera America caught up with two such "knights" in North Carolina, and asked if the policy would apply to child migrants.

The "wizard" hemmed and hawed for a moment, then said: "If we pop a couple of 'em off and leave the corpses laying on the border, maybe they'll see we're serious about stopping immigrants."

Megaphone

SOTT Focus: Pro-Palestinian protesters beaten by Israeli soccer players during football friendly in Austria

On July 24th, 2014, during renewed Israeli attacks on Palestine, a pre-season friendly soccer match in Austria between Israeli team Maccabi Haifa and French team Lille had to be abandoned in the 86th minute after pro-Palestinian protesters ran onto the pitch waving Palestinian flags and shouting "Free Palestine!"

A fight ensued between some of the soccer players, the protesters, and security personnel. The event made international news, and the protesters were roundly accused of "violently attacking the players" and of "being anti-Semitic" - with Israel again cast in the role of the victim.

On closer examination of the available video footage (see video analysis below), we see a rather different picture. Four protesters ran across the field, but clearly didn't have violence in mind. All they seemed to want to do was get a message across by reminding people that Apartheid Israel is currently engaged in war crimes. Frankly, Austria should be censured for hosting an Israeli sports team in its country at this time. Whatever happened to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions?

Some say Israeli sports, music, academia and other cultural activities shouldn't be lumped together with the Israeli state's actions. Too bad. If they choose to be associated with that ZioNazi entity, they must accept pariah status and face the consequences of international opprobrium.

Contrary to what the mainstream media claimed, the first 'violent act', which started the fight, was carried out by an Israeli player, who brought one of the protesters to the ground.


Arrow Down

'Massacre' of uncontacted tribe in Peru revealed in new reports

Indigenous tribe in Peru
© FunaiWhen young people from an indigenous tribe in Peru made contact with a settlement in Brazil, they reported violent attacks on elders in their community.
An indigenous tribe living near the Brazil-Peru border may be facing violent attacks from illegal loggers and drug traffickers who are exploiting the densely forested region, according to an advocacy group.

After years of living in isolation from the outside world, several young members of this "uncontacted" tribe recently entered a nearby settled community in Brazil. Through interpreters, they told harrowing stories about their encounters in the forests.

"The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted," an interpreter named Zé Correia reported through Survival International, a group that advocates for tribal people's rights. "They say that many old people died, and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn't bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures."