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All-women's aid boat hijacked, commandeered by Israeli pirates on its way to Gaza - "We don't know where our friends are"

Allison Deger
Mondoweiss
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 17:11 UTC
gaza flotilla
© Kia Ora Gaza
A boat and its 13-woman crew sailing toward the shores of occupied Gaza was taken into custody by the Israeli navy this afternoon, ending a month-long sea voyage to "break the siege on Gaza." The Israeli military said the vessel - organized by the international activist group the Women's Boat to Gaza - was still in international waters, around 35 nautical miles from the Israeli port of Ashdod, at the time of the "uneventful" seizure.

"We do not know where our friends are," the Women's Boat to Gaza said in a statement in the hours after they lost communication with the sailors, "The U.S. embassy confirmed that the boat was intercepted."

According to the Israeli military, the all-female activist ship was warned they were nearing Gaza's shores and told to change course. The ship did not reroute.

"Following their refusal the Navy visited and searched the vessel in international waters in order to prevent their intended breach of the lawful maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. The visit and search of the vessel was uneventful," the Israeli military said.


Comment: The IDF are bullies, plain and simple, and the Israeli government is a criminal enterprise.


Comment: The boat is registered in the Netherlands. Therefore, according to former head of the Maritime Section of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office Craig Murray, Israel is guilty of aggression against the Netherlands:
"In this case this is an act of aggression by Israel against a ship from the Netherlands state. Whatever happened on board is governed by Netherlands law. The Dutch authorities have a duty to react to Israeli military seizing people on what was in effect Dutch territory. The role of the Dutch government is going to be very important."

"If Israel were in a state of war it would arguably have the authority to enforce a blockade under the San Remo convention. But Israel in general, doesn't accept it's in a state of war," Mr. Murray told Sputnik.

"In any event, even if you were to accept Israel was at war, the San Remo convention does not allow you to blockade food and essential supplies from the civilian population. This particular ship wasn't carrying any cargo at all. So really, there is absolutely no blockade argument for preventing it passing.

"Plainly this was just an act of illegal aggression on the high seas," Mr. Murray added.
Have we come to expect anything less from the Israeli regime?

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Chess

Trump effect? President Rodrigo Duterte's popularity soars with Philippine crime war


France 24
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:49 UTC
Philippine President Rodrigo
© AFP/File | Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte holds up a certificate showing a Glock 30 handgun, awarded to him by a Philippine firearms importer for his fight against illegal drugs, in Manila on October 4, 2016
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's popularity has soared during his first three months in office, an independent survey showed Thursday, in an apparent endorsement by Filipinos of his brutal war on crime.

Defence ally the United States, the United Nations and the European Union have led global condemnation of Duterte's unprecedented crime crackdown, which has left more than 3,000 people dead and raised fears of mass extrajudicial killings.

However 76 percent of Filipinos polled by Social Weather Stations said they were "satisfied" with Duterte's performance, with just 11 percent reporting being "dissatisfied" and the rest undecided.

The Manila-based polling group surveyed 1,200 adults nationwide from September 24-27, asking them simply about Duterte's performance as president without reference to the drug war.

Duterte won the May elections in what was considered a landslide, but still with just 37.6 percent of the votes. In the Philippines, the presidential election is decided simply by whoever gets the most votes, and his nearest rival secured 22.6 percent.
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Bomb

Molotov cocktails, grenades - French police clash with Corsican nationalists


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:00 UTC
corsica
© Fdebranche Toute l'actualité en vidéo / YouTube
Dozens of masked nationalists took to the streets of Bastia, northern Corsica, throwing Molotov cocktails at police and setting garbage on fire to protest the trial of three fellow nationalists charged with attacking a sub-prefecture on the island.

Four officers were injured in the skirmishes with partially masked Corsican nationalists on Wednesday evening, RT France reports.

Some 20 people marched through the city rallying against the resumed trial against three activists of Corsican youth separatist movement Ghjuventù Indipendentista (Youth independence).

A car was reportedly set ablaze by protesters and partially burned down. A small group of rioters attempted to break through the police cordons to the central Place du Marché before it was dispersed by security forces.

Comment: See also: Corsica: Violent brawl injures 4, cars aflame, clashes between locals and N. Africans (August 14)

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Attention

Clown hysteria: Pennsylvania college students stage 'clown hunt' after reports of creepy sightings increase


Yahoo News
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
Penn State clown hunt
As unsettling reports of clowns stalking the country have left many in fear, college students in Pennsylvania have decided to turn the tables on the menaces and do something about the creepy terrors.

After rumors spread that a clown was on the loose on Pennsylvania State University's campus early Tuesday, at least 500 students set out to find the source of so much concern, Penn State Police Sgt. Mike Nelson told the Centre Daily Times.

"Some people run away from clowns, Penn State runs towards them," one witness tweeted.

Footage on social media shows students running together in the streets, chanting "We are Penn State!"

"What the f*** is happening?" a girl can be heard yelling in one video of the rally.

There were no clown sightings and no credible clown threats, Nelson told the Times.

"The cause of this specifically was social media," Nelson said. "If there were any clowns with this many students out there and with our police responding to calls, we would have ran into it. Some photos we've seen were photo shopped or incidents from across the country."

Comment: The hysteria has escalated to the point where many school districts have gone on high alert. Although many of the school threats have been deemed to be hoaxes, other pathological individuals are taking advantage of the situation to threaten and intimidate people. Recent incidences: a knife wielding man dressed as a clown chased people out of a subway station in New York and a child was chased by a knife-wielding man in Michigan. The situation has gotten so out of hand, that professional clowns are experiencing a backlash causing many to be forced out of the business.

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Ambulance

American overdose nightmare: 7 year old wakes up to dead parents, saves her 3 siblings by telling school


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:53 UTC
parents overdose
© Christopher Dilly / Facebook
When a seven-year-old girl tried to wake up her parents on Monday, they didn't stir. So she got herself ready, caught the bus, and told school employees she was concerned. Police followed up, finding the parents dead from an apparent drug overdose.

When officers arrived at the apartment in McKeesport, Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh, they found Christopher Dilly, 26, and Jessica Lally, 25, dead in the living room.

"Early indications are they may have been there for a day or two," Allegheny County police Lieutenant Andrew Schurman told local news channel WTAE-TV.

Comment: Another tragic example of the wave of heroin overdoses in the US:

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Heart

Russian transport jet airlifts humanitarian aid from Armenia to Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:15 UTC
russia aid syria
© Sputnik/ Ali Abrahim
Armenia sent its second batch of humanitarian aid to the people of war-torn Syria.

A Russian military transport jet has airlifted some 40 metric tons of essentials from Armenia to people in need in war-torn Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"A second batch of food and clothes has been delivered to Syria from Armenia as part of a humanitarian assistance effort. An Il-76 military airlifter of Russia's Aerospace Forces brought 40 tonnes of preserves, vegetables, fruits, flour, sugar and other essentials to the Hmeymin airbase," the ministry's statement read.

The first batch of supplies from Armenia, a small ex-Soviet nation in the Caucasus mountains, is already being shared out among worst-hit Syrian towns.
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Take 2

Silicon Valley billionaires convinced we live in Matrix-style simulation are pouring money into efforts to break out of it

Andrew Griffin
The Independent
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:54 UTC
Matrix
© REUTERS/ Kacper Pempel
Some of the world's richest and most powerful people are convinced that we are living in a computer simulation. And now they're trying to do something about it.

At least two of Silicon Valley's tech billionaires are pouring money into efforts to break humans out of the simulation that they believe that it is living in, according to a new report.

Philosophers have long been concerned about how we can know that our world isn't just a very believable simulation of a real one. But concern about that has become ever more active in recent years, as computers and artificial intelligence have advanced.

That has led some tech billionaires to speculate that the chances we are not living in such a simulation is "billions to one". Even Bank of America analysts wrote last month that the chances we are living in a Matrix-style fictional world is as high as 50 per cent.

And now at least two billionaires are funding scientists in an effort to try and break us out of that simulation. It isn't clear what form that work is taking.
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Arrow Down

'Get out of Canada': University of Calgary students feeling vulnerable after finding hate filled anti-Muslim flyers


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 15:30 UTC
anti-muslim activity University of Calgary
© Riley Brandt, University of Calgary
Muslim Students’ Association President Umair Tazeem talks to the news media, as University of Calgary students, faculty and staff rally to support the Muslim community.
Muslim students at the University of Calgary say they're feeling vulnerable after anti-Muslim posters making derogatory references to the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad were found on campus. The university says campus security will now be reviewed.

Around 40 posters were found by students at 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday. The flyers said "Dear Muslims, f**k your beheadings, f**k your Sharia, f**k your genital mutilations, f**k your TAQIYYA, f**k your [Muhammad], f**k your [Koran]."

They went on to state: "On the other hand, you can keep your barbaric ways, right where they belong, in your 7th century homeland!"

At the bottom of the posters was the hashtag #GetTheF**kOuttaHere.

Comment: Muslims have good reason to be concerned. Those provoking racial and religious hatred are becoming bolder, and innocent Muslims are their primary victims:

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Roses

20 killed, scores injured in ISIS-claimed suicide bomb attack at Syria refugee camp


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 10:05 UTC
Suicide bomb attack at Atma refugee camp
© Firat News Agency
A suicide bomb attack on a refugee camp in Syria has taken at least 20 lives, sources told Turkish media. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for the terrorist act.

The attack took place at Atma refugee camp in the northwestern province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, sources told Anadolu Agency.

An eyewitness told the agency that a suicide bomber entered the camp through a checkpoint unobserved, before detonating his explosive vest.

The attack reportedly took place during a Free Syrian Army (FSA) shift patrol change. According to other sources, it targeted rebels backed by Ankara in its operation Euphrates Shield against both IS and Kurdish militants, which is unfolding further to the northeast, along a separate stretch of border.

In addition to at least 20 fatalities, "scores" of people were injured, Anadolu reported. Those who were slightly injured were taken to nearby field clinics, while people with more serious injuries were transferred to local hospitals.

IS claimed responsibility on social media for the deadly assault.
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Handcuffs

Authorities bust international sex-trafficking ring leading to hundreds of sex slaves being rescued


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 13:22 UTC
sex slave
© Bogdan Cristel / Reuters
A two-year investigation into an international sex-trafficking ring has led to arrests in the US and other countries. The ring targeted impoverished women from Asia who spoke little English, for whom their American dream was turned into a living hell.

Authorities announced federal indictments against 17 members of the international sex trafficking organization on Wednesday. Four defendants remain at large, according to a statement from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"The 17 people charged in this indictment ran a highly sophisticated sex trafficking scheme," said Andrew Luger, US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, in the statement. The scheme drew in hundreds of impoverished women from Bangkok, Thailand who were held in the US with debt bondage.

"They promised women in Thailand a chance at the American dream, but instead exploited them, coerced them and forced them to live a nightmare," Luger said.
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