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Belgian government will negotiate with prostitutes who refuse sex

prostitute
© Getty Images
A new labor law concerning Belgian sex workers will allow a pimp to demand that the government mediate in cases where a prostitute refuses sex with clients too frequently. Anti-prostitution activists say that the law will allow prostitutes' managers to "further entrench and maintain their power."

Passed earlier this month, the law allows sex workers to obtain employment contracts from their pimps. These contracts classify prostitutes as hospitality employees and entitle them to health insurance, pensions, unemployment benefits, holidays and maternity leave.

Pimps must be licensed by the government to issue employment contracts, and must allow prostitutes to refuse or to stop sex with clients for any reason. However, if a prostitute refuses or stops sex more than ten times over six months, their pimp can open a labor dispute and involve a government mediator.

Bug

'Disgust factor' must be overcome if planet-friendly insect food to become mainstream

bugs crickets
© iStock
The "disgust factor" must be overcome if insect-based foods are to become mainstream, according to a study.

Insects can be high in protein and making them more acceptable could help cut the high greenhouse gas emissions that come from farming cattle.

There are also potential benefits for cutting obesity and researchers say the idea of farming insects is gaining more attention.

Comment: You vill eat ze bugs and you VILL be happy.


NPC

The New York Times denounces cancel culture... after fueling cancel culture for years

relief
© Wikimedia CommonsRelief with Menander and New Comedy Masks - Princeton Art Museum
For those of us who have criticized the cancel culture in higher education for years, the attacks and shunning have been unrelenting. The media has played a role in that culture and none more prominently than the New York Times. Recently, however, the mob came for liberal professors and media who have remained silent for years as conservatives and others were targeted on campus. Suddenly, there is a new interest in free speech and academic freedom, including by the Times editors who blamed cancel culture for the recent demonstrations and disruptions on campus.

Until good liberals were targeted on campus, cancel culture was treated as free speech. It did not matter that preventing others from speaking or being heard is the very antithesis of free speech.

The New York Times reached true infamy in the controversy over publishing Sen. Tom Cotton's (R., Ark.) op-ed where he argued for the possible use of national guard to quell violent riots around the White House.

Comment: Has the New York Times flip-flopped because the mob is protesting Israel's genocidal campaign against Palestine?


Clipboard

Germany may introduce conscription for all 18-year-olds

German guys
© WPA POOL/Getty ImagesNumber of German soldiers is declining
Both men and women could be called up to boost numbers in the armed forces.

Germany is considering introducing conscription for all 18-year-olds, as it looks to boost its troop numbers in the face of Russian military aggression.

Military planners in Berlin are in the final stages of discussing three options, two of which involve a form of conscription, according to leaked plans reported in the German media.

Boris Pistorius, the defence minister, is set to go public with the official plans by June.

In one of the options being discussed, Germany would bring back a compulsory military year for young men once they turn 18, which was suspended in 2011, and apply it to women as well. This would require a change to the German constitution, but is seen inside the ministry as most likely to receive societal approval.

Comment: War drums are softly beating. (It's the 'get ready' part.)


Whistle

Australian war crimes whistleblower David McBride jailed for six years

walker
© Mick Tsikas/EPAWar crimes whistleblower David McBride arriving at court in Canberra
Eight years after Australia began investigating alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, a whistleblower is the first to be punished.

Former Australian Army lawyer David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months for revealing information about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.

Supporters of McBride have long expressed his concern that the Australian government was more interested in punishing him for revealing information about war crimes rather than the alleged perpetrators.

"It is a travesty that the first person imprisoned in relation to Australia's war crimes in Afghanistan is not a war criminal but a whistleblower," said Rawan Arraf, the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, in a statement released after the sentencing.

"This is a dark day for Australian democracy," Kieran Pender, the acting legal director of the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre, said in the same statement, noting McBride's imprisonment would have "a grave chilling effect on potential truth-tellers".

Map

France prison break leaves 2 guards dead, manhunt is ongoing

france prison
© ReutersA screengrab from a security camera video shows gunmen wearing balaclavas ambushing a prison van to free a drug dealer in France
Armed men ambushed a prison van to free a prisoner killing two prison guards, triggering a major police manhunt.

Armed men wearing balaclavas ambushed a prison van in northern France on Tuesday to free a convicted "criminal", notorious as "the fly", killing two prison guards, severely wounding three and triggering a major police manhunt.

Here is what we know about the incident:

What happened in France and when?

Two prison officers were killed in an ambush on a prison van in the Normandy region in northern France. The incident took place shortly before 11am (09:00 GMT) near a toll booth in Incarville commune.

Family

Utah mom sues AstraZeneca, claiming she was left 'permanently disabled' in COVID vaccine trial

Brianne Dressen / District of Utah
© Brianne DressenDressen said she “walked into the clinic fine, and walked out the beginning of a nightmare.”
A Utah mother who says she was "permanently disabled" after taking part in the US clinical trial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is suing the drug manufacturer because it failed to cough up enough cash to cover her medical expenses.

Brianne Dressen, 42, was "the picture of good health" when she started the British-made vaccine's clinical trial in 2020 — but ended up developing a severe neurological condition, the lawsuit filed Monday alleges.

"I walked into the clinic fine, and walked out the beginning of a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," Dressen said, per the court papers.

The former teacher developed side effects just hours after being injected with the vaccine, including arm tingles, blurred vision, a headache, ringing ears and vomiting, according to the court filing.

Some of the symptoms worsened and spread to her legs before she discovered she had developed paresthesia — a neurological condition in which nerves are irritated, the suit charges.

Comment: See also:


Star of David

Israel forces Palestinians to evacuate from more areas of Gaza's previous "safe zone" Rafah

rafah border crossing  bombed idf gaza hamas
© Agence France-PresseSmoke billows from Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024
Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

The Israeli military also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza to clear out, saying it was returning to operate there after it noticed Hamas trying to re-establish its control of the area.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed in overnight airstrikes across the enclave, including in Rafah, the Strip's southernmost city bordering Egypt. It does not distinguish how many were civilians or militants.

Comment: More from Politico:
The Israeli army plans to "work with great force" against the Hamas militant group, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avichai Adraee said in a post on X, calling the areas to be evacuated a "dangerous combat zone."


The evacuation order covers the southeastern part of Rafah along the Israeli border and the Egyptian border — including the Rafah crossing, which the Israeli military blocked on Tuesday.

According to the IDF statement, Hamas has been "trying to rebuild its capabilities in the region."

People were told to go to a humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi in the western part of the Gaza Strip, where more than 400,000 people have sought refuge, according to the latest situation report from the U.N.'s Palestinian humanitarian agency UNRWA.

But the humanitarian camp cannot house any more people, the agency said, as about 80,000 people have already fled Rafah and moved to the area since the Israeli army issued its first evacuation order on Monday.

The evacuation orders come as a much-anticipated U.S. State Department report on the Israel-Hamas conflict stopped short of declaring that Israel has violated international law in its war with the militant group.

"It is reasonable to assess" that Israel used U.S.-provided weapons in ways that are "inconsistent" with international law, the report states. But Israel didn't give Washington enough evidence to adjudicate whether those arms were used to violate human rights in Gaza, the West Bank or East Jerusalem, according to the document.
It appears more and more that Zionist fanaticism will be the downfall of Israel as the majority of the world turns away in disgust:


Book

Ashley Biden's journal confirmed to be factual yet again

Snopes Entry
© Armstrong Economics
The mainstream media continues to sweep this information under the rug, but if it were not (D)ifferent), this would be one of the biggest presidential scandals in modern history. Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, left a diary a rehabilitation facility for sex-related trauma. The diary was shrouded in mystery and Biden's PR team vehemently denied that the diary ever belonged to Ashley Biden. Snopes, a fact-checking website used by the left to promote propaganda, quietly revealed that the diary does indeed belong to Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley.

"I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online," Ashley Biden wrote in a letter on April 8, 2024, to a New York judge who sentenced the woman who attempted to sell the diary to time behind bars. In the letter, Ashley claims she was a private citizen whose father just so happened to be running for president. Ashley also demanded that the judge sentence the woman who found the diary to the fullest extent of the law. "I worry that a non-incarceratory sentence will send a message- -to her and to others like her that it is okay to violate and exploit others for your own personal gain, regardless of the humiliation and pain it causes," Biden's daughter asked the judge.

Colosseum

Thieves loot copper cables from Tesla charging stations in California

tesla
© K9Optima | TikTok
A Tesla Supercharger station in California's Bay Area was recently hit by vandals who cut each and every charging cable, rendering the entire site useless.

Vandalism of Tesla vehicles is not uncommon, and we have reported on it many times in the past. Tesla Superchargers are also prone to various forms of vandalism and abuse, with damage to charging stalls or the act of "ICEing," which entails gas-powered cars blocking Supercharger piles, all being popular forms of disruption.

However, we are now seeing vandalism continue in a strange and extremely disruptive way. A Bay Area Supercharger with several stalls was completely rendered useless after people sliced each of the cables from the individual piles.

Comment: As perhaps a sign of the direction parts of the US are headed, copper cable theft is a serious problem over in South Africa:


See also: Massive fire breaks out at electric vehicle charging station factory in Italy