Society's ChildS


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Sanctions against Russia hurting German businesses

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© 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."

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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."

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At least 100 Palestinians killed on 22nd day of war in Gaza - Health Ministry

Palestinian girl
© AFP Photo / Said KhatibPalestinian relatives carry the body of five year old, Rana Duheir, a Palestinian girl killed in an Israeli air strike, during her funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 29, 2014.
At least 100 Palestinians have been killed since Monday midnight after Israel beefed up its military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza health officials.

At least 100 people have been killed by Israeli shelling as Operation Protective Edge entered its 22nd day on Tuesday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombing of Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza has nearly completely erased five whole families, writes Haaretz.

Reporters present at the site of the intense shelling say that for now it is impossible to tell for sure how many people have been killed since many are missing or buried under the rubble of ruined buildings.

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'Americans are so broke...': Twenty-one signs that there is no economic recovery

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© unknown
Did you know that 77 million Americans have unpaid debts that are "in collections" and that Congress is actually thinking about letting post offices offer payday loans? We live in a country where almost everyone is drowning in debt and where most people are either flat broke or very close to flat broke. Years ago, "your Mama is so broke" jokes were all the rage, and at the rate we are going they could make a big comeback. Some of my favorites were "your Mama is so broke she went to McDonald's and put a milkshake on layaway" and "your Mama is so broke your family ate cereal with a fork to save milk". Unfortunately, the facts that I am about to share with you are not funny at all. In fact, they are quite sobering. Yes, things are going fairly well for the elitists that live in the good areas of New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco right now, but most of the country is deeply struggling as our economic fundamentals continue to crumble. Please share these numbers with as many people as you can, because we need people to understand that there has not been an "economic recovery" for most of America. In fact, in many ways things just continue to get even worse. The following are 21 ways to end the phrase "Americans are so broke"...

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Over 30 civilians killed during two days of shelling in Gorlovka, E. Ukraine

Donetskoblenergo  firefighter
© RIA Novosti / Mikhail VoskresenskiyA firefighter in the Donetskoblenergo power company office building damaged during a rocket and mortar attack on Gorlovka, Donetsk region.
Two days of shelling in Gorlovka, in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, have resulted in 31 civilians being killed there, local authorities say. Ukrainian troops and anti-government forces are blaming each other for the bloodshed.

The town of Gorlovka witnessed more shelling Tuesday morning, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

"Over the past 24 hours 17 residents of Gorlovka, including three children, have been killed in the center of the town, which got under artillery fire. 43 civilians have been wounded," Itar-Tass reported the press service of the Gorlovka city administration as saying.

A day earlier, the Donetsk region administration said that 14 civilians, including five children, had being killed in Sunday's shelling of Gorlovka.

Survivors of the attacks say they've gotten accustomed to spending most of their day hiding in basements.