Walmart, one of the world's largest retailers, has sparked outrage by selling an "Israeli Soldier Costume for Kids."

The Halloween outfit is particularly distasteful at a time when human rights groups are strongly condemning Israel's policy of extrajudicially executing Palestinians forced to live under its decades-long military occupation.

The costume, seen above, includes a dark green uniform and red beret. The jacket includes the Hebrew abbreviation for "Israel Defense Forces." An Internet search shows that it is sold by other online retailers as well.

"When I first saw the Israeli soldier costume for kids I thought it was a joke," Gaza writer and editor Refaat Alareer told The Electronic Intifada. "The model boy used to promote this costume is probably the age of my niece, whose father Israeli soldiers murdered in Gaza in 2014 when they destroyed our family home."

In the summer of 2014 the Israeli army killed 551 Palestinian children during its assault on Gaza. Many child survivors of Israel's attack now have lifelong injuries.

Richland County, South Carolina has fired Ben Fields, the sheriff's deputy recorded using force on an African-American student during a school discipline incident. Footage of Fields throwing the student across the classroom has caused outrage.


"From the very beginning that's what's caused me to be upset, and continued to upset me is that he picked the student up and threw the student across the room," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a press conference Wednesday, announcing that Fields was being let go.

The department interviewed witnesses and reviewed several cell-phone videos taken in the classroom, and concluded the moves Fields used in the confrontation were "not acceptable."

By now, many doctors and scientists can agree that weed won't harm you — and in many cases, it can be medically therapeutic. But this certainly isn't the case when it comes to other types of drugs, especially cheap ones that are created with an array of toxic chemicals and sold on the street.

This new video explains what the top 10 most deadly street drugs are and how they tear apart your body over time. The list includes the likes of bath salts, Whoonga, AH-7921, crystal meth, and purple drank.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Krokodil takes the award for the No. 1 most dangerous street drug. Known as the "flesh-eating drug," Krokodil is widespread in poor regions of Russia, where addicts inject the deadly dose of opioids, codeine, and gasoline into their bodies. It's a third of the price of heroin, which makes it appealing to addicts with low funds. The drug is named "Krokodil" due to its tendency to rot the skin from the inside out, making it scaly like a crocodile's.

Whoonga, which has risen in use in South Africa in the past several years, is listed as the second most dangerous street drug — and bath salts are third. According to a 2013 report, bath salts led to over 22,000 emergency room visits in the U.S. in 2011. They've been shown to cause a variety of health problems like high blood pressure, suicidal thoughts, and psychosis.

Other drugs on the list include heroin and Flakka, a new type of drug that is made from the same chemicals as bath salts, which can also cause numerous life-threatening syndromes. Flakka involves excited delirium, psychosis, and hyperthermia — raising a person's core body temperature to a very dangerous level. Flakka was placed higher on the list than crystal meth, as research recently found that it's even more addictive.

The full list is below:

1. Krokodil

2. Whoonga

3. Bath salts

4. Crack cocaine

5. Heroin

6. Flakka

7. AH-7921

8. Crystal meth

9. Purple Drank

10. Scopolamine

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that pediatricians screen all children for food insecurity. In a new policy statement identifying the short and long-term adverse health impacts of food insecurity, the AAP also recommends that pediatricians become familiar with and refer families to needed community resources, and advocate for federal and local policies that support access to adequate, nutritious food.

The new policy statement, "Promoting Food Security for all Children," will be presented at the AAP's National Conference & Exhibition in Washington, DC, and published in Pediatrics on Friday, Oct. 23. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack will give a plenary address at the Conference on Monday, Oct. 26, "Healthier Kids, Healthier Economy: How nourishing the next generation will help to secure America's future," which will address the new policy in the context of child nutrition reauthorization efforts underway on Capitol Hill.

Despite improvements over the past few years, the latest data show that more than 15 million U.S. children live in households still struggling with hunger. The policy statement identifies the immediate and potentially lifelong health effects of this pervasive problem.

US retail giant Walmart has got into hot water for selling a Halloween costume of an Israeli soldier and a fake "Arab sheikh" nose, sparking a wave of widespread indignation.

The store's website offers sells a soldier's uniform, including a shirt, trousers, belt and hat, bearing Hebrew writing, at the price of $27.44, reduced from $57.62.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said thousands of terrorist are fleeing Syria now, and many refugees are coming back home, according to Russian Senator Dmitry Sablin who recently visited Syria with a delegation.

"Assad praised the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria. He said thousands of terrorists are now fleeing Syria, and refugees are returning," Sablin said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Recently, a group of Russian lawmakers visited Syria. During the trip, they met with President Assad and high-profile Syrian officials. A number of issues, including bilateral ties and the fight against terrorism, were on the agenda.

Prior to the late 1800's, education was a private practice which took place in private institutions or through home schooling. That all changed in 1902 when John D. Rockefeller created the general education board in conjunction with Frederick T. Gates, Rockefeller's business and personal adviser and good friend. The general education board was responsible for funding the American public school system, and provided over one hundred million dollars in 1902; they continued their support in a lesser capacity beyond that date. The board was responsible for the creation of the American public school system and has been used as a model globally for more than a century.

"I want a nation of workers, not thinkers." - John D. Rockefeller

The Senate on Tuesday passed CISA, a controversial bill encouraging companies to share private user data with the government that is worrying to civil liberties advocates. Four amendments were proposed to address privacy concerns, but they all died on the floor.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) in June 2014 following several high-profile cyber-attacks targeting major US corporations. It would purportedly protect user data from falling into the wrong hands. After debating the merits of the bill, it passed the Senate in a 74 to 21 vote.

The bill now goes to a conference committee between the House of Representatives, which previously passed its own version, and the Senate. If or when that is approved, the bill would head to President Barack Obama.

In the US and certain other countries, like the UK, German Shepherds are among the most popular dogs used by police. While the dogs can be fierce and learn to display aggression when instructed, their primary skill is to find.

German Shepherds may be used, for instance, to find a suspect inside a building and alert police (via a head camera) to his whereabouts. They're also valued for their ability to track dead bodies and find other valuable pieces of evidence (like a dropped weapon or article of clothing) from which police can draw DNA evidence.1

In countries such as India, German Shepherds are also being used for fighting crime, in the form of wildlife sniffer dogs trained to help stop animal poaching.

In a rare case of gun rights and religious freedom overlapping, an Amish man from Pennsylvania is challenging a federal law that requires a photo ID to buy a firearm, saying that his religious beliefs prevent him from being photographed.

Andrew Hertzler filed a suit on Friday in the US Middle District Court claiming that the photographic identification requirement violates both the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and his constitutional right to bear arms.

Hertzler tried to purchase a firearm at a Pennsylvania firearm dealer with a state-issued ID. The sale was denied because the identification card didn't have a photograph on it, which the law requires.