Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Local residents reveal horrific details of the Aleppo rebel's trade in human organs


Sputnik
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 19:54 UTC
Ambulances in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria
© Sputnik/ Mikhail AlayeddinAmbulances in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria
After the liberation of Syria's second-largest city of Aleppo from jihadists, horrific details of their rule continue coming to light: local residents have revealed to Sputnik Arabic the mechanisms of a well-established network of organ traders and their price list.

Amid so much western fuss concerning the so-called "Russian atrocities" during the liberation of Aleppo, local residents of the liberated city sat down with Sputnik Arabic to reveal for the first time the horrific details of the jihadists' rule.

They spoke of a massive illegal human organ trade across the border with Turkey, set up by the militants. Civilians learned to fear the local emergency vehicles as they sped around the city hunting for potential donors.

One of the "patients" happened to be 60-year-old Abu Mohammad.

"We were shelled from a grenade launcher and immediately afterwards rebels came in an emergency vehicle. They ended up stealing one of my kidneys and part of my spleen," he told Sputnik.
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Handcuffs

Nabeel Rajab, Bahraini rights activist, released on bail is immediately rearrested


RT
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 16:41 UTC
Nabeel Rajab
© Hamad I Mohammed / ReutersNabeel Rajab, President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights and prisoner of Bahrain.
Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been released from prison on bail, following a seven-month pre-trial detainment over a series of tweets, but was ordered back into custody over separate investigations. Rajab's lawyer, Jalila Sayed, confirmed the activist would stay in prison, AP reported. "Nabeel is overall weak because of so many health problems he started facing, including heart problems and other physical issues," she said. "He's under tremendous stress because of this length of detention."

Rajab was arrested on June 13 on charges of "spreading false information and rumors with the aim of discrediting the State" for tweeting and re-tweeting statements that criticized the actions of Bahrain's forces in Yemen. He has led a busy life of activism from behind bars, most recently focusing on the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen, as well as human rights abuses in his country's prison system.

The activist had published a series of letters to papers such as the New York Times and Le Monde, for which he faces separate charges. It is likely that he has been ordered back into custody in connection with those investigations. According to Sayed, Rajab was released on bail in the case concerning the tweets because a prosecution witness failed to prove the activist had been in control of his Twitter account at the time of the posts. "We hope this will end with an acquittal because the case has no evidence," she said.

Rajab, a prominent human rights activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), has repeatedly advocated freedom of expression and debate. He has organized numerous protests against the Bahraini regime since 2011 and has been in and out of jail.

Comment: See also:

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People 2

Woman beheaded in Afghanistan for shopping 'without husband'


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:45 UTC
A 30-year-old woman has been beheaded in a remote Afghan village for visiting a local market alone, without her husband, local media report citing officials. The people behind the beheading may have links to the Taliban.

The incident took place in a village of Latti, Sar-e Pol Province, in northern Afghanistan on Monday evening, TOLO news reported, citing the provincial governor's spokesman Zabiullah Amani.
Afghan woman
© AFPFarshad Usyan
According to Amani, the woman was beheaded because she went to the market to do some shopping alone. The victim's spouse is currently in Iran and the couple has no children, he added.

The incident was also confirmed by Sar-e-Pul women's affairs head Nasima Arezo.

"The woman was beheaded with a bayonet attached to an AK-47 after an argument with the Taliban in her remote village, which is part of the provincial capital," Arezo said, as cited in the media.

Comment: Afghan woman beheaded after refusing prostitution

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Pistol

U.S. Federal court rules dogs can be shot if they bark, move when officer enters home

Brian Lisi
New York Daily News
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:16 UTC
Three Michigan police officers, who shot two dogs for lunging and barking at them during a drug raid, were once again justified in their actions — this time by a federal appeals court. Mark and Cheryl Brown of Battle Creek, Mich., filed suits over unreasonable seizure of their property and a violation of their constitutional rights for the deaths of their pets.
gavel
© BrianAJackson, Thinkstock
According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, officers shot and killed the Browns' pit bull terriers during an April 2013 operation, with Emergency Response Team members claiming one lunged at them and that the other barked as they executed a search warrant for drugs.

"The standard we set out today is that a police officer's use of deadly force against a dog while executing a search warrant to search a home for illegal drug activity is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment when ... the dog poses an imminent threat to the officer's safety," wrote Judge Eric Clay in the decision that saw the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati side with the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids' dismissal.
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Red Flag

President of Japan's top ad firm to resign over employee's suicide linked to overwork

Justin McCurry
The Guardian
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:02 UTC
Tadashi Ishii
© KyodoTadashi Ishii, president of Japan's top advertising agency Dentsu Inc, attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan
The head of Japan's biggest advertising agency is to resign, as prosecutors launch an investigation into his firm for enforcing excessive overtime after an overworked employee took her own life.

Tadashi Ishii, the president of Dentsu, said he would step down next month, just over a year after Matsuri Takahashi killed herself at a company dormitory in a case Japanese authorities classified as karoshi, or death from overwork.

"Excessive amounts of work is something that should never be allowed to happen," Ishii told reporters. "I deeply regret and feel responsible for this. I will take full responsibility and resign as president at January's board meeting."

Ishii said he regretted his failure to tackle the company work practices that led to Takahashi's death, eight months after joining Dentsu in April 2015. "We deeply regret failing to prevent the overwork of our new recruit. I offer my sincere apologies," he said.

Takahashi, 24, had worked more than 100 hours of overtime a month leading up to her death. In September, a labour standards inspection office in Tokyo said she had been driven to kill herself due to stress brought on by long working hours.
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Sheriff

Nearly 450 drug charges overturned in Philadelpia after crooked cops were caught framing innocent people

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
drug money laundering, police corruption
Leroy Gonzalez says that he spent over two years in jail after he was framed by crooked cops and wrongfully convicted of a drug charge. While Gonzalez sat in jail, the officers that arrested him continued their spree of corruption until it eventually caught up with them, resulting in a corruption investigation.

Unsurprisingly, after being investigated by their own agency, the officers were acquitted and allowed to return to their jobs in July of 2015. However, their luck ran out when one of the officers in question, Officer Jeffrey Walker ended up getting caught in a drug-related robbery. In court, Walker quickly turned on his partners, and admitted that officers Thomas Liciardello, Michael Spicer and Perry Betts regularly planted evidence and framed innocent people.

When Gonzalez learned that the officers who framed him were under suspicion of corruption, he filed his own lawsuit in relation to his two years spent behind bars.
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Health

Flashpoint: At least 4 soldiers killed in Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting


RFE/RL
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 17:48 UTC
Azerbaijan Armenia Nagorno Karabakh
© Twitter / RFE/RL
Officials say at least four soldiers were killed and several others wounded in a border clash between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces early on December 29.

Armenia's Defense Ministry said three of its servicemen were killed and several wounded in a shoot-out prompted by what it described as an infiltration attempt by Azerbaijani troops at the northeastern section of the border between the two South Caucasus countries.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said one of its troops was killed in fighting.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisian wrote on Facebook that sniper rifles and grenade launchers were used in fighting near the Armenian village of Chinari.

Comment: Further reading:

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Attention

China: Terror attack on Communist Party office in Xinjiang kills 1

Reuters
The Guardian, UK
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 17:40 UTC
xinjiang uighur china
Attackers drove a car into a government building in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang on Wednesday and set off explosives, killing one person while all four of the assailants were shot dead, the regional government said.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent years in resource-rich Xinjiang, on the borders of central Asia, in violence between the Muslim Uighur people who call the region home and Han Chinese who are China's ethnic majority.

The government has blamed the unrest on Islamist militants, though rights groups and exiles say anger at Chinese controls on the religion and culture of Uighurs is more to blame for the unrest. China denies any repression in Xinjiang.

The Xinjiang government said in a short statement on its main news website that the incident occurred just before 5pm in Karakax county, deep in southern Xinjiang's Uighur heartland.

Comment: Katehon adds:
The Uighur factor

The Uighur factor is one of the strongest centers of destabilization in China. Beijing is working hard to assimilate Muslim Uighurs. For example, some time ago, the resettlement of the Uighurs in different regions and provinces of the country was carried out. But it has brought only partial results, because it is beneficial to destabilize by certain forces outside China that support and fund terrorist groups, and who advocates for the creation of Turkestan.

The failure of the Hong Kong project

In recent years, anti-Chinese activity has been significantly enhanced. The situation in Hong Kong was quite serious after the scandals with the opposition. However, it was transferred to the Chinese intelligence agencies in a fairly quiet channel, after which the activation of Taiwan started. Nevertheless, without outside support Taiwan is not a serious destabilizing factor. Perhaps that is why the Uighurs were involved in the current situation.
See also:

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Eye 1

Facebook confesses it has given British government personal details of thousands of users


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 11:20 UTC
facebook surveillance
© Global Look Press
Social media giant Facebook has confessed to giving the personal details of thousands of its users to the British government this year.

Facebook says that officials requested access to 7,199 profiles between January and June of 2016 - a 30 percent increase on last year.

The social media giant says it was asked to provide data from 6,039 accounts related to criminal proceedings, and another 1,160 were requested under an emergency clause that mandates the release of data in cases when there is an "imminent risk of serious injury or death."

Facebook admitted that it handed over data in 87 percent of cases, but says it turned down hundreds of requests from UK officials for being"overly broad or vague."

Comment: How Facebook gives the US government access to your private data

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Sheriff

Police bust drug smuggling ring in Australia, seize $260mn worth of cocaine


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 16:57 UTC
cocaine Australian Federal Police
© Handout via Reuters / ReutersOfficers with some of the seized shipment of around 1.1 tonnes of cocaine by the AFP, which they say has an estimated street value of around A$360 million (US$300 million). Australian Federal Police
Australian police have cracked a trafficking ring, arresting 15 people in Christmas sting operations during which they seized some 500kg of cocaine, in addition to some 600kgs confiscated earlier, making it the largest drug seizure in Australian history.

The Australian police, assisted by a multitude of Australian agencies, carried out a large-scale operation preceded by two and a half years of thorough investigation jointly conducted by the New South Wales [NSW] Police and Australian Federal Police. Within the course of the investigation in March 2016, the French Navy discovered and seized some 606 kilograms of cocaine worth A$197 million (US $142 million) bound to Australia off the coast of Tahiti, the Daily Telegraph reported. The gang members allegedly used fishing boats to import cocaine from South America.
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