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Turkish camps have become detention centers for rape and torture as Syrian women who returned to their homes stressed they were the victims of rape by armed terrorist groups and some Turkish Soldiers.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pets are snatched in Thailand, then smuggled into Vietnam, destined for Hanoi's top restaurants and street stalls. Demand for dogmeat is so high that supply has become a highly lucrative - and brutal - black market.
Nguyen Tien Tung is just the sort of man you'd expect to run a Hanoi slaughterhouse: wiry, frenetic and filthy, his white T-shirt collaged with bloodstains, his jean shorts loose around taut, scratched-up legs, his feet squelching in plastic sandals. Hunched over his metal stall, between two hanging carcasses and an oversized tobacco pipe, the 42-year-old is surveying his killing station - an open-air concrete patio leading on to a busy road lined with industrial supply shops.
Two skinless carcasses, glistening pure white in the hot morning sun, are being rinsed down by one of Nguyen's cousins. Just two steps away are holding pens containing five dogs each, all roughly the same size, some still sporting collars. Nguyen reaches into one cage and caresses the dog closest to the door. As it starts wagging its tail, he grabs a heavy metal pipe, hits the dog across the head, then, laughing loudly, slams the cage door closed.
Down the leafy streets of north Hanoi's Cau Giay district, not far from Nguyen's family business, sits one of the city's most famous restaurants, Quan Thit Cho Chieu Hoa, which has only one thing on the menu. There's dog stew, served warm in a soup of blood; barbecued dog with lemongrass and ginger; steamed dog with shrimp-paste sauce; dog entrails sliced thin like sausage; and skewered dog, marinated in chilli and coriander. This is just one of a number of dogmeat restaurants in Cau Giay, but it is arguably the most revered, offering traditional dishes in a quiet setting along a canal.
© Luke DugglebyTrucks containing 130 dogs are seized on the highway between Thailand and Vietnam.
Two skinless carcasses, glistening pure white in the hot morning sun, are being rinsed down by one of Nguyen's cousins. Just two steps away are holding pens containing five dogs each, all roughly the same size, some still sporting collars. Nguyen reaches into one cage and caresses the dog closest to the door. As it starts wagging its tail, he grabs a heavy metal pipe, hits the dog across the head, then, laughing loudly, slams the cage door closed.
Down the leafy streets of north Hanoi's Cau Giay district, not far from Nguyen's family business, sits one of the city's most famous restaurants, Quan Thit Cho Chieu Hoa, which has only one thing on the menu. There's dog stew, served warm in a soup of blood; barbecued dog with lemongrass and ginger; steamed dog with shrimp-paste sauce; dog entrails sliced thin like sausage; and skewered dog, marinated in chilli and coriander. This is just one of a number of dogmeat restaurants in Cau Giay, but it is arguably the most revered, offering traditional dishes in a quiet setting along a canal.
© BBC
Goodbye, US passport.
That's not a concept that Americans contemplate lightly. But it's one that many of them seem to be considering - and acting on.
The number of expatriates renouncing their US citizenship surged in the second quarter of 2013, compared with the same period the year before - 1,131 cases to 189 in 2012. It's still a small proportion of the estimated six million Americans abroad, but it's a significant rise.
The list is compiled by the Federal Register and while no reasons are given, the big looming factor seems to be tax.
A new law called the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) will, from 1 July next year, require all financial institutions around the world to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all the assets and incomes of any US citizens with $50,000 (£31,000) on their books. The US could withhold 30% of dividends and interest payments due to the banks that don't comply.
© wikipediaJose Guerena
On the morning of May 5, 2011, after working the graveyard shift at a copper mine, Jose Guerena and his wife were awoken at 9:30 AM to loud noises and voices outside their house. Guerena, a 26-year-old former U.S. marine who served 2 tours in Iraq, sprang from his bed began to secure his family. He and his wife thought that their home was being invaded. He hid his wife, Vanessa, and his 4-year-old son in a closet and grabbed his rifle.
He was correct that his home was being invaded. What he did not realize was that the invaders would be wearing uniforms labeled "police." The noises that jarred Guerena awake would later be revealed to be the detonation of concussion grenades in their back yard. Unbeknownst to him - only seconds earlier - an armored truck had parked in their front yard and a SWAT team was rapidly preparing to break down his door.
© FacebookAmmo the Dog shot in the head
On September 22, Anna "Chrissy" Music-Peed, of Macon, GA, drove to the Jones County Sheriff's Department to request an officer come to and investigate a vehicle that had been brought to her property by an acquaintance, that both she and her roommate strongly suspected to have been stolen. Music told policestateusa.com that it was a Nissan Xterra from Virginia Beach, VA. As Music wrote in a blog post, "I will not have that influence around my family," saying she was trying to do the right thing by making a report. The acquaintance was still on the property and Music had not let on that she had gone to talk to the police. Music wrote on that while she was providing officers with details of the stolen property, and the individual who had brought it over, she also explicitly told the police not to shoot her dogs.
"The puppy may jump, we have been trying to get her out of that," Music explained, stating that the dogs were friendly puppies. She said the officers laughed and told her not to worry about it. Unconvinced, she emphasized again: "PLEASE don't shoot my dogs, they are my babies."
A bizarre scene was recorded in Toledo involving an officer aiming his Taser at an entire family, including a boy, as they were forced to lay in the middle of the street. According to witnesses, the aggressive encounter originated when a man questioned the way an officer was handling a license plate citation for his neighbor. The man who spoke up, and his entire family, were ripped from their vehicle and threatened with a taser.
© Galveston Police DepartmentReginald Deon Davis’ mugshot, clearly showing facial bruising and swelling from being beaten.
Reginald Deon Davis, 34, was returning to his home in La Marque after a friend's birthday party early in the morning of March 19th when he decided that he was too exhausted to drive any further. Pulling his car over to the seawall, Davis let his wife know he would be late coming home and dozed off. Unfortunately for Davis, it is against city ordinance to sleep in a car without a camping permit. Around 1:45AM, Officer Jose Santos, one of the officers named in the lawsuit, found Davis sleeping and asked him to get out of his vehicle.
© FacebookBlaine Cooper
Blaine Cooper, 33, contacted policestateusa.com with a concerning story about how his sentiments posted on Facebook had drawn the attention of the federal government. He showed me the comment and told me that within 24-hours of posting it, he was being contacted by the police and FBI.
His colorful comment was in reference to what he believes is an "American Police State," in which the power of the federal government is growing in a direction which may one day lead people to fight back.
Cooper, who is training to be a wild land fire fighter, said that on August 23, he was contacted by Officer Jason Kuafman of the Prescott Valley Police Department and was told that he needed to come to the police station for an interview with the FBI.
© Wikimedia Commons
The Communities and Local Government minister made the comment in a recorded confrontation with constituent Teresa Cooper earlier this month. Ms Cooper was one of at least six women who say they were drugged as teenagers at the Kendall House care home, Kent, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, whose children now have genetic defects.
Confronting Mr Pickles, who is her constituency MP, she said: "Nothing has changed on the Kendall House abuse. Only you have ignored it. You have ignored it." Pickles then interjected, shouting: "just, just, adjust your medication".
The two met while at a wildlife event in Ongar, Essex, on 14 September and Ms Cooper recorded the conversation. Ms Cooper, 46, said: "I was shocked to be honest. He's implying I'm mentally ill which is really rude of him because people do have mental health problems and they should not be spoken to that way."
She added: "The Conservatives say 'we need to change attitudes about mental health' but clearly they need to start with Eric Pickles."
Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said: "It is disappointing that a minister would use language that can feed the prejudice around mental health. We would encourage everyone to really consider the impact of using mental health language in a way that could contribute to fuelling stigma."
The driver and his passenger were forced to pull onto the hard shoulder of the M6 near Wigan after the red and black cornsake revealed itself
This is the three foot snake which crawled across a van driver's dashboard as he drove at 60mph on a motorway at night.
A horrified front seat passenger sparked a 999 alert after he watched the snake slither inches above the driver's hands on the steering wheel.
The passenger phoned police and yelled: "Pull over - now."
Amazingly, the unnamed driver in his fifties, did not see the snake until he stopped on the hard shoulder of the M6 motorway near Wigan at 2am.
The two men fled the white box van until police officers arrived at the scene with two motorway traffic officers and an RSPCA inspector.
This is the three foot snake which crawled across a van driver's dashboard as he drove at 60mph on a motorway at night.
A horrified front seat passenger sparked a 999 alert after he watched the snake slither inches above the driver's hands on the steering wheel.
The passenger phoned police and yelled: "Pull over - now."
Amazingly, the unnamed driver in his fifties, did not see the snake until he stopped on the hard shoulder of the M6 motorway near Wigan at 2am.
The two men fled the white box van until police officers arrived at the scene with two motorway traffic officers and an RSPCA inspector.
