Thursday, April 30, 2015

Toxic mercury in the mist: Holding Unilever in India to account...

Scientists in India and the UK recently joined together to express solidarity with ex-employees and local residents exposed to toxic levels of mercury in Kodaikanal, India. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever and is being held responsible for dumping toxic mercury close to human settlements, polluting the ecosystem and placing workers’ lives in danger.

These actions relate to HUL operating a mercury thermometer factory in Kodaikanal between 1986 and 2001. According to a Government of India report submitted to Madras high court (Chennai) in 2011, 30 people died and 550 ex-workers are suffering due to mercury exposure.

Indian scientists recently wrote to colleagues associated with the Unilever-funded Leverhulme Trust in the UK to pressurise Unilever to clean up the environmental contamination in Kodaikanal, a hill station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. In turn, international scientists doing research with the Trust wrote a strongly-worded letter to Professor Gordon Marshal, director of Leverhulme Trust, questioning the credibility of Unilever’s sustainable living plan and its environmental policy.

Kodaikanal perches on a plateau at 2,133 metres in the mountain mists of the Palani Hills. Eucalyptus trees stand tall and cascading streams spill down rocky facades. Cypress, acacia and fruit trees sit next to rhododendron, magnolia and dahlia, and the glorious Byrant Park botanical gardens roll gently down towards the town’s beautiful, tree-lined lake.

Apart from the apparent unplanned sprawl across the hillsides, the occasional garish eyesore and the tourists who bring their boisterous city habits with them from the plains below, Kodai is still quite genteel by Indian standards. It’s also highly atmospheric when the mist comes rolling in across the mountains and hovers above the lake. Full story...

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Germany 'spied' on top French officials for US...

Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency helped the National Security Agency (NSA) carry out "political espionage" by surveilling "top officials at the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysee Palace and European Commission" the German daily paper reports.

A spokeswoman for the German federal government refused to comment when contacted by The Local on Thursday, saying only that it would answer to the parliamentary committees responsible for overseeing the spies in due course.

Long portrayed as a victim of snooping by allies, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has grappled this week with embarrassing reports of German spying on European firms on behalf of the United States.

Thursday's revelations are likely to be the most damaging on a diplomatic level, in so far as they affect relations with one of the Federal Republic's most vital allies.

“Behind the scenes right now there will be intensive negotiations and communication between the German and French counterparts," Josef Janning, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told The Local. Full story...

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France denies cover-up over troops' 'sex abuse' in Central African Republic...

France is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic after a leaked UN report said victims as young as eight were raped in exchange for food and money.

The French government "was made aware at the end of July 2014 by the UN's high commission for human rights of accusations by children that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers," the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

An investigation was opened shortly after by Paris prosecutors, it said.
French leader Francois Hollande on Thursday vowed to "show no mercy" if the peacekeeping troops were found guilty.

"If some soldiers have behaved badly, I will show no mercy," he told reporters on a visit to the northwestern city of Brest.

 The defence ministry vowed to take measures to ensure that "the truth be found" and said "the strongest penalties" would be imposed on those found responsible. Full story...

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She was sleeping in the dirt outside his home. What he built for her?

Malala Yousafzai's attackers are jailed for life by Pakistan court...

A court in Pakistan has reportedly sentenced 10 men for the attack on Malala Yousafzai, the education activist, to life in prison.

The men who are members of the Pakistani Taliban were responsible for the shooting of the then-15-year-old when she was on board her school bus in the Swat valley.

A court official confirmed the news to AFP: "Ten attackers who were involved in the attack on Malala Yousafzai have been sentenced to life imprisonment."

Militants boarded the teenage activist's school bus and shot her in the head in October 2012 for her outspoken views on girls' education, in an attack that also wounded two of her friends.

 Following her attack, she moved to Birmingham after she was sent to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the immediate aftermath of the attack for surgery on her skull. Source...

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Indian girl jumps off bus to escape molesters, dies...

A 15-year-old girl died and her mother was seriously injured on Wednesday evening when they were forced to jump off a moving AC bus, belonging to the Orbit bus service, to protect their modesty.

The family has filed a compliant with the police. The bus has been impounded.

The incident took place on the Moga-Bathinda highway, about 10 km from the district headquarters.

According to the complaint, Shinder Kaur, a resident of Landeke village, along with her daughter Arshdeep Kaur and son Akashdeep Singh studying in Class IX, took the bus in the evening from Moga-Kotkapura bypass for Gurusar Kothe village to visit her parents. When the bus crossed the city, some youths in the bus started molesting the girl in front of her mother and brother.

The girl and her mother raised the alarm and complained to the bus conductor. The conductor didn’t act and reportedly joined the youths who were passing lewd comments at girl.

 When the mother of the girl asked the driver to stop the bus, he — instead of stopping it — increased its speed. The woman and her daughter shouted for help when the bus crossed the toll barrier near Gill village. However, none came to their help. Full story...

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Mother kicked out of KFC for breastfeeding 42-year-old son!!!

A 76-year-old woman has been thrown out of KFC after being caught breastfeeding her 42-year-old son

Linda Berrety, 76, was asked to leave a KFC restaurant when she began breastfeeding her 46-year-old son Michael.

Staff asked the pair to leave the restaurant after customers complained about their behaviour.

Mrs. Berrety told local news: “It’s my right as a mother to breastfeed my child.”

She added: “If people don’t agree with the way I raise my son, that’s their problem. I have raised a great man, beautiful, tall, who still lives and stays with me. I think I’ve done a great job as a mother and don’t appreciate getting insulted and expelled just because I decided to breastfeed my child a little longer than other mothers.” Full story...

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France investigates accusations that its soldiers raped children in Central African Republic...

French prosecutors and military authorities are investigating accusations that French soldiers in Central African Republic sexually abused children they were sent to protect.

The French probes follow an initial United Nations investigation into the allegations a year ago — all of which were kept secret until a report in the Guardian newspaper Wednesday pushed officials to publicly acknowledge them.

A U.N. worker leaked information about the U.N. investigation to French authorities last year, the U.N. Secretary-General’s office said in a statement. That worker, identified by the Swedish government as Swede Anders Kompass, has been suspended and is now under internal investigation.

Central African Republic has seen unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims since late 2013. At least 5,000 people have been killed, and about 1 million are displaced internally or have fled the country. France sent troops in late 2013 and the U.N. set up a 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in September last year.

In spring 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country’s capital, Bangui, carried out a probe prompted by “serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by French military personnel,” the U.N. Secretary-General’s office said Wednesday. Full story...

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Roger Waters to Robbie Williams: Playing in Israel is endorsement of its racism...

Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters attacked singer Robbie Williams on Tuesday for planning to perform in Israel this Saturday.

He wrote his appeal to Williams on the Salon website under the headline, "Your decision to play in Tel Aviv gives succor to Netanyahu and his regime, and endorses their deadly racist policies."

Waters opened his letter by referring to the Israel Defense Force's killing of four Palestinian boys while playing soccer on a Gaza beach near the Al-Deira Hotel during Operation Protective Edge last summer.

 "I bring up this gruesome scene because popular UK entertainer Robbie Williams, soon to play a May 2 concert in Tel Aviv, is known to be a huge soccer fan. He is also UNICEF’s UK ambassador and a declared supporter of its Children in Danger campaign," Waters wrote. "Yet, sadly, when it comes to Palestinian children, like those killed on that beach in Gaza that day, Williams is showing a chilling indifference to their well-being." Full story...

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UN aid worker suspended for leaking report on child abuse by French troops...

(...)

The abuses took place in 2014 when the UN mission in the country, Minusca, was in the process of being set up.

The Guardian has been passed the internal report on the sexual exploitation by Paula Donovan, co-director of the advocacy group Aids Free World, who is demanding an independent commission inquiry into the UN’s handling of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.

It was commissioned by the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights after reports on the ground that children, who are among the tens of thousands displaced by the fighting, were being sexually abused.

Entitled Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces and stamped “confidential” on every page, the report details the rape and sodomy of starving and homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops who were supposed to be protecting them at a centre for internally displaced people in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.

Donovan said: “The regular sex abuse by peacekeeping personnel uncovered here and the United Nations’ appalling disregard for victims are stomach-turning, but the awful truth is that this isn’t uncommon. The UN’s instinctive response to sexual violence in its ranks – ignore, deny, cover up, dissemble – must be subjected to a truly independent commission of inquiry with total access, top to bottom, and full subpoena power.” Full story...

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'Am I being executed?' - mentally ill Brazilian killed by Indonesia unaware until end, says priest...

A Brazilian man executed by firing squad along with seven other prisoners in Indonesia on Wednesday had no idea he was about to be killed until his final minutes, the priest who counselled him has said.

He also revealed that Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who won a dramatic reprieve, had been aware a new suspect in her case had surrendered to police but was only removed from the prison about an hour before the killings.

Rodrigo Gularte, 42, was shot dead alongside seven others, including four Nigerians, two Australians and an Indonesian, for smuggling cocaine into Indonesia in 2004.

Doctors had diagnosed the Brazilian with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A second diagnosis, commissioned by Indonesia’s attorney general, has not been made public.

Father Charlie Burrows, a priest who ministers to prisoners in Cilacap, said he had tried in vain to explain to Gularte for three days that he was about to be killed. Full story...

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Over 30,000 doctors and health professionals in Argentina campaign to ban Monsanto...

Over 30,000 doctors and health professionals in Argentina are the latest to add their voice to the fight against Monsanto, asking the federal government to ban its products after recent studies found they may contain carcinogens, press reports stated Tuesday.

Other social organizations and researchers across Latin America have also spoken out against Monsanto's products, signs of a larger and more ambitious campaign to ban the agrochemical company from the whole region.

The demands come after the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report last month with the findings that glyphosate, the active chemical in Monsanto product Roundup, “probably causes cancer.” The chemical is also sold by other companies under the names Cosmo Flux, Baundap, Glyphogan, Panzer, Potenza and Rango.

According to Argentina's union of medical professionals, Fesprosa, glyphosate, “not only causes cancer. It is also associated with increased spontaneous abortions, birth defects, skin diseases, and respiratory and neurological disease.” Full story...

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore riots didn't start the way you think...

After Baltimore police and a crowd of teens clashed near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon, news reports described the violence as a riot triggered by kids who had been itching for a fight all day. But in interviews with Mother Jones and other media outlets, teachers and parents maintain that police actions inflamed a tense-but-stable situation.

The funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody this month, had ended hours earlier at a nearby church. According to the Baltimore Sun, a call to "purge"—a reference to the 2013 dystopian film in which all crime is made legal for one night—circulated on social media among school-aged Baltimoreans that morning. The rumored plan—which was not traced to any specific person or group—was to assemble at the Mondawmin Mall at 3:00 p.m. and proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward downtown Baltimore. The Baltimore police department, which was aware of the "purge" call, prepared for the worst. Shortly before noon, the department issued a statement saying it had "received credible information that members of various gangs…have entered into a partnership to 'take-out' law enforcement officers."

When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping busses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse. Full story...

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Ridiculously good looking? You're not going to get the job...

The advantages of being considered good looking are numerous and, to most of us, obvious.

But a new study suggests being a handsome man may not be entirely plain sailing.

Good-looking men are less likely to be given a job in a competitive workplace environment than their plainer competitors, according to a set of experiments carried out by researchers at the University of Maryland.

This is because attractive men are often seen as more competent, and so those who will be working alongside them are unlikely to want increased competition.

Marko Pitesa, the author of the study, gave the example of car salesmen, who are officially working with each other but at the same time competing for business. Full story...

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Thief being fed bananas to expel 25-gm gold necklace!!!

If you think you're having a bad day, just pause to think of Anil Yadav. The 30-year-old may soon have to excrete out a 2.5-tola gold mangalsutra, with a large pendant, that he had stolen and then swallowed to avoid getting arrested.

Yadav did land in the police net, however, and doctors are now feeding him bananas and have put him on a special liquid diet in a bid to make the necklace come out of his body the natural way. But the large pendant seems to be hindering the process.

On Monday afternoon, Rajeshri Mayekar (52), a resident of Pratiksha Nagar in Sion was walking back home. She was wearing a 2.5-tola (about 25 gram) gold mangalsutra, with a large pendant attached to it, worth Rs. 63,000.

When she was close to GTB Nagar station,Yadav, a resident of the Vashi Naka area, snatched the mangalsutra and ran. Mayekar screamed for help and locals gave chase.

 The Antop Hill beat chowkie was also alerted and API Rahul Pawar and his team also began chasing the accused. Yadav was finally caught after a long chase and he was beaten up by the locals before being handed over to the cops. Full story...

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Abracadabra! Over 2,000 wizards and witches gather to hold ritual in Kiev...

Over 2,000 adherents of Esotericism, who call themselves psychics, wizards, healers and even witches, are set to gather at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev on April 30, the Ukrainian news website Vesti reported on Tuesday.

The square that stretches between the Monastery and another of Kiev's most well-recognized buildings, Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, will then serve a ground for a mass moleben for peace and harmony, based on the “tried-and-true rituals of the civilizations of the world”.

Molebens are traditional Eastern Orthodox prayer services which are widely practiced in Russia and Ukraine, although the church itself hasn't condoned the gathering.

The coordinator of the event, Sergey Grechishkin, says that the people who are set to take part in the ritual have paranormal capabilities and are "decent people with kind hearts”; Grechishkin also refers to himself as Sabirius and claims to be a wizard who has reached the highest level of enlightenment. Full story...

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In every city in America there are people ready to riot, loot and set things on fire...

The city of Baltimore has been transformed into an “absolute war zone“, and the governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency as the rioting in “Charm City” continues to escalate. The funeral for Freddie Gray has unleashed a firestorm of violence, and none of it is going to do anyone any good. To their credit, some of the leaders of the African-American community are standing up and loudly condemning the violence. They know that smashing cars, throwing rocks at police and looting stores is not going to solve anything. But just like we saw in Ferguson, there are lots of people out there that are ready to riot, loot and set things on fire at the drop of a hat – all they need is an opportunity. The social decay that has been eating away at the foundations of our society for generations is now manifesting in some very ugly ways. We have raised an entire generation of young people in a “value free” environment, and now we are getting to experience some of the consequences of our foolishness. And what we are witnessing in Baltimore right now is just the start. Eventually, we are going to see scenes like this all over the nation.

Thanks to social media, the violence that we saw in Baltimore on Monday is being broadcast to the entire planet. The whole world is getting a really good look at what the decline of America looks like. The following is how the New York Times described what took place…

Angry youths could be seen surrounding a police cruiser and smashing its windows in what police described as an organized attack by criminals — not demonstrators. Cars were set on fire, and stores’ windows were smashed in. Heavy smoke poured out of a CVS drugstore, which had earlier been overrun by looters. Several other businesses, including a liquor store and a check-cashing shop, were also looted.

You can find some incredible photos of looting in progress right here. Do those young people believe that they are actually doing something constructive that will make a difference in our society? Of course not. They are opportunists that are taking advantage of the chaos to commit crime. Full story...

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Surrey school pupils abused by Jimmy Savile, police report says...

Jimmy Savile sexually abused at least 22 pupils and a visitor at a school for emotionally-disturbed girls in the 1970s, a report has said.

It follows an investigation by Surrey Police into offences by Savile at Duncroft Approved School in Staines.

It found Savile committed at least 46 offences including one allegation which would have been classified as rape, under current laws.

One girl was abused in the school principal's office, police said.

Ten victims were abused on a single occasion and 13 on at least two occasions.

Surrey Police said Savile was given "unrestricted and largely unsupervised" access to the school, which he visited at least 16 times, between 1974 and 1979 and even stayed overnight on two occasions. Full story...

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India’s shame, and the world’s...

A democracy is supposed to have the advantage of affording people of any social class, gender, or religious or ethnic group the opportunity to advance. In contrast with authoritarian political orders, democracies should be superior in their openness to change, to everyone’s participation in politics, and to equality before the law. In a word, democracies are based on the politics of hope and the virtues of transparency. Or so the theory goes.

India defies these expectations. Though it has democratic institutions and vigorous political competition, at least among elites, when it comes to human development and human security, India falls very short—embarrassingly so when compared with China. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which measures human development and reports annually on conditions in nearly all countries documents the comparison. Overall, among 177 countries for which data are available, India ranks 135th (in company with Tajikistan, Bhutan, and Cambodia), whereas China ranks 91st (along with Thailand, Armenia, and Fiji). In fact, there are very few categories of human development in which India does better on average than China, which surely explains why developing countries (and many Indian specialists!) looking for economic models are far more likely to choose China than India.

Statistically, among the most telling indicators of human development are those affecting children and women. Infant mortality is exceptionally high in India (44 percent, compared with China’s 12 percent), and life expectancy for children is lower than in the poorest African country. Poor nutrition and sanitation, and limited access to health care, are the observable reasons. Child labor in India, at 12 percent for ages 5 to 14, is also uncommonly high. Full story...

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'Where is our government?' ask angry survivors of Nepal earthquake...

The hilltop farming village of Jyamdi in the eastern hills above the Kathmandu Valley wasn't simply damaged by last weekend's earthquake – many of its hamlets were left without a single house standing.

On Tuesday, its dazed survivors were wandering in the rubble of their former homes, searching for treasured possessions and grieving for the 28 relatives and neighbours crushed to death when their traditional clay houses collapsed.

They had lost everything, their village had been effectively erased but not a single government official had visited them to offer help or gauge their needs, they said.

Jyamdi is just 35 miles from the capital Kathmandu, in Kavrepalanchok district, a two-hour drive, but according to UN officials its neglect reflects an alarming fact about the earthquake and its impact – the scale of human loss and damage to property in Nepal's vast rural hinterland has yet to be fully registered.

 Hirayamaya Tamang, 48, lost both her husband and the home they had built together and in which they had raised their four daughters. Two officials had visited her after the earthquake to confirm her husband's death but not to offer any assistance, she said. Full story...

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Pentatonix and Daft Punk...

Nepal: A history of never being conquered or colonized...

Nepal is a small country known for a big mountain, but its national identity is based in something else: A history of never being conquered or colonized.

No foreign country, including Britain, has been able to subdue the country during its roughly 2,000 year history, historians say. The British tried in the 19th century but, after failing, they ended up recruiting soldiers from Nepal to form the Gurkha regiments, whose fighters were known for being fierce and fearless.

"They take a lot of pride in their history of never being conquered," says Elizabeth Enslin, author of "While the Gods Were Sleeping: A Journey Through Love and Rebellion in Nepal." "It's really a formidable country. It wouldn't be easy to conquer."

But today, the Nepalese face a formidable enemy: nature itself. A magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Saturday, killing at least 3,000 people. International aid agencies are streaming into the impoverished country to offer help, but one resource for survival may be the resilience of the Nepalese people themselves, some say.

"Nepal has gone through seismic changes that have nothing to do with earthquakes," says Dan Szczesny, author of "The Nepal Chronicles: Marriage, Mountains and Momos in the Highest Place on Earth." He lived in Nepal and married a Nepalese woman. Full story...

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Suicide is leading cause of death among South Korean teens...

Suicide is the leading cause of death among South Korean teenagers and young people, a government survey stated on Tuesday.

Yonhap reported in 2013 those between the ages of nine and 24 experienced an increased rate of suicide than a decade earlier.

For this age category, the suicide rate rose to 7.8 per 100,000, up from 7.4 in 2003. The Korea Times reported nearly eight percent of young people surveyed said they have contemplated suicide in 2014.

In 2003, traffic accidents were cited as the leading cause of death for South Korean teens, with a rate of 9.6 per 100,000. Car accidents slipped to second place in 2013, reduced to 4.4 per 100,000, followed by cancer in the third spot.

South Korea's suicide rate has been increasing since the early 1990s, reaching an all-time high in 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis. Since 2000, however, the rate has been growing again.

Young South Koreans have said economic issues and the pressure to get top marks in school were behind the chronic stress they experienced in their daily lives, with more than 60 percent saying they suffered from school-related stress. Full story...

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Pro-GMO shills flee the Philippines after angry farmers demonstrate against Golden Rice...

While GMO shills such as former Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore and Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates continue to applaud the use of chemicals and technology to alter food, farmers in many areas refuse to accept the so-called benefits that these items offer. While GMO advocates are bent on forcing the technology on mass populations, choosing to instill health fears in people's minds rather than engage in common sense debates on the matter, many farmers are putting their foot down.

In other words, farmers aren't accepting the "my way or the highway" view that is so common among many GMO shills.

One particular hot topic where this is perhaps most evident is the issue of Golden Rice.

(...)

MASIPAG, which is a farmer-led network that opposes Golden Rice, is successfully voicing their concerns. They've even taken to social media to make their feelings known. On Facebook, for example, MASIIPAG says in a March 11, 2015, post, "The rabid Golden Rice lobby group, Allow Golden Rice Now! has left the Philippines with their tails behind their legs, and cowed by the intense
resistance showed by the farmers opposing the unsafe and unwanted Golden Rice." Below the post is a picture of farmers lining the streets with an assortment of anti-Golden Rice signs.(2)

The group is also focused on standing up to Bill Gates, known to have financial ties to the International Rice Research Institute. "While the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a
philanthropic organization, its focus is on high technological solutions like chemical farming and GMOs," says Dr. Chito Medina, National Coordinator of MASIPAG. "Thus we believe that the projects that they are funding will only cause further trouble among the poor farmers and consumers. Full story...

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Stanford professor left barefoot, homeless and trapped in Israel for 15 years...

An American citizen was left homeless and barefoot in Israel, and those who provided him with shoes were punished by the courts.

Gary visited Israel for a long weekend to attend his son’s coming of age – or bar mitzvah – ceremony. He was already a divorced man. He had emigrated to Israel (or “made aliyah”) many years before and, after his marriage broke down, he was told by an Israeli court that it would be better if he left Israel and went back to the USA to continue working as he would be better able to provide financially for his children.

Gary’s eldest son is now 28 years of age and is to become a father himself. All good news so far, except that since the bar mitzvah Gary has been held in Israel for 15 years. He is a dual national and is drowning in litigation. He did not know he had a No Exit Order placed upon him until he was at Ben Gurion airport. There he was turned back and since then has been unable to find his way home. He was ordered to pay money for child support for six children in advance, a sum of money so extortionate that only a multi-millionaire could pay.

Gary had arrived in Israel with absolutely no debt, no arrears, not one cent. At that time he was a professor at Stanford University and, after six weeks of being trapped, he no longer had a position. He was fired. He was ordered to pay 38,000 shekels [USD 9,693] each month for his kids. He turned to the American embassy, which provided him with a temporary apartment. Throughout the 15 years during which he was trapped in Israel, the embassy provided him with accommodation on four occasions, a total of two years in all. He has been homeless, living in hostels, and was forced to take a job in Israel which paid him between 5,000-8,000 shekels net [USD 1,275-2,041]. The court ordered that 100 per cent of his salary be taken towards the monthly payment, leaving him with absolutely nothing to live on, other than handouts and help. Full story...

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Organic milk 'is less healthy than regular milk and could harm child IQ'

Organic milk is less healthy than regular milk and could cause unborn babies to have lower IQs, a study suggests.

Compared with conventionally-produced milk, organic milk contains around one third less iodine which is essential for maintaining a strong metabolism.

Pregnant women who switch to organic thinking it will be healthier may also be putting the brain development of their unborn child at risk, experts have warned.

Iodine is known to be important for the healthy brain development of babies, especially in the early stages of pregnancy.

 Previous research has shown that mothers-to-be who are iodine deficient during this critical time can give birth to children with reduced IQs. Full story...

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The Baltimore riots...

Meet the man who cleans, eats and sleeps in a public toilet in India… for £70 a month!

While many people would complain about the toilets or kitchen at their workplace, for Premraj Das his job means a public lavatory has also become his home.

For the 40-year-old prepares his meals, eats and sleeps in a toilet in Delhi in India to earn his salary of £70 a month as a security guard.

But the father-of-three - who moved to Delhi in search of a better life - does not complain, saying his only regret is that he must shut the lavatories at 9pm leaving him with a lonely night ahead.

Mr Das was employed as a security guard at the public toilets after the city;s authorities decided they needed to be protected following a spate of thefts, as well as kept clean.

As the guard Mr Das spends his days in his toilet, where he prepares, cooks and eats his food.

He said: 'I don't feel any discomfort living inside the toilet as it has become a habit now. It's like my home. More + photos...

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Money sent home by overseas workers: blessing or curse?

In a sense, two of the Philippines’ most notable overseas workers face destiny this week. One is Mary Jane Veloso, who left home carrying a backpack, was given a borrowed suitcase filled with heroin, and is due to be shot in Indonesia. The other is Manny Pacquiao, a 65-kg. light welterweight who faces the richest paycheck from a prizefight in history in Las Vegas.

They are hardly typical overseas workers. But in a sense they represent the variegated tapestry of at least 10 million Filipinos, 1.8 million of whom left in 2013 alone for overseas jobs, sending home US$23 billion to their families, contributing 13.5 percent to the domestic economy – an astonishing third-largest segment of the country’s gross domestic product.

The Philippines pound for pound is the biggest recipient of inward remittances, despite being outweighed in population by bigger countries. Numerically it is the fourth largest after China, India and Mexico. The question is whether this is a good thing, or if it stunts domestic industries, starves important labor sectors – particularly healthcare in the Philippines – disrupts families and provides a cushion that shields governments from taking hard decisions to move their economies forward.

The Philippines is hardly alone. Across the region, a huge flow of remittances has helped to reduce poverty levels, mostly through increased spending on food and other essential items, housing, and education. According to the Asian Development Bank, it is estimated that remittances helped reduce the poverty level by 1.5 percent in Bangladesh, 5 percent in Indonesia, and 2 percent in Viet Nam from 2000 to 2005. Full story...

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Real Robocops of Dubai: UAE to introduce police robots ‘within two years’

Police in the wealthy United Arab Emirates plan to introduce interactive patrolling bots by 2017, and says “fully intelligent robots” could be on the force by the end of the decade.

“We are aiming to provide these kinds of services as the population is expanding. This way we can provide better services without hiring more people,” Colonel Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, who heads the city’s ‘smart’ unit, said during a keynote speech at the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference, Dubai’s Khaleej Times report.

Admittedly, the first generation of robocops, which will be dispatched to crowded, but generally, safe, public spaces such as malls, sound like more sophisticated versions of public info terminals than crime-stopping heroes.

“The robots will interact directly with people and tourists. They will include an interactive screen and microphone connected to the Dubai Police call centers. People will be able to ask questions and make complaints, but they will also have fun interacting with the robots,” said the official.

 But Alrazooqi has much more ambitious plans for the AI-equipped models, which he believes will appear in “four to five years.” Full story...

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Pepsi dumps controversial aspartame sweetener from diet drink - but only in America...

Pepsi is ditching a controversial sweetener from its diet drink in a bid to address falling sales.

The soft drink giant has announced that it is removing aspartame from Diet Pepsi and instead is using a different component.

The company will use sucralose and acesulfame potassium (ace-K) instead of aspartame as sweeteners for the drink - but only in the United States.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the company will still use the component in Europe, while it will also remain in other drinks the company has in the US.

(...)

Last year, Diet Pepsi volume was down 5.2 per cent, while Diet Coke was down 6.6 per cent.

Despite the move, health experts are still warning people to be wary of the new sweeteners - which, it is claimed, might have links to cancer.

Michael Jacobson, director of the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest,said: "Consumers should avoid [ace-K] as well. Full story...

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Baltimore riots: City on fire as violent protests continue after black man died in police custody...

A state of emergency has been declared in Baltimore as rioters set fires across the troubled city last night.

The American east coast city erupted in violence on Monday as hundreds of rioters looted stores, set buildings on fire and injured at least 15 police officers.

It was sparked after the funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died after he was injured in police custody.

The riots broke out just a few blocks from the funeral of Freddie Gray and then spread through much of West Baltimore in the most violent US demonstrations since looting in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard as firefighters battled blazes set by looters. Full story...

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'You're a creepy individual who pulls women's hair': John Oliver slams NZ Prime Minister...

U.S. TV host John Oliver is the latest person to make fun of 'creepy' New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who has come under fire for pulling girls' ponytails.

The comedian and host of the popular HBO show Last Week Tonight took Mr Key to task after he was forced to apologise to a waitress for touching her hair while she was at work.

After the story broke more footage emerged of Mr Key touching other young girls' ponytails.

'What are you doing? John Key can't pass any dangling hair without pawing at it, he's more cat than Prime Minister at this point,' Oliver said.

'...You're a creepy individual who pulls women's hair.' Full story...

Violence and vigilantism as Baltimore erupts into rioting...

Brian Woodyard Jr stood alone at the corner of McKean Avenue with a machete in his hand.

Behind him was the corner shop he had vowed to defend. Its glass door had already been smashed in by looters. Groups of youths ran through the darkness of nearby streets.

Was he prepared to actually use the weapon he was holding? "You're damn straight I am," he replied.

Would that be legal? "Nope," he laughed. "But forget the law when the law can't protect civilians. This is kind of all-out war."

 Mr Woodyard's lone watch was just one of many moments of chaos, disorder and lawlessness as the streets of Baltimore erupted into rioting last night. Full story...

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London ad asks if you're beach body ready, and everyone says f*ck off!!!

More than 40,000 people have signed a petition calling for the removal of an advert that's been deemed body shaming amid an online backlash.

Protein World's ad campaign, which features a woman in a bikini and various products in the company's "weight loss collection," asks the question: Are you beach body ready?

It angered a lot of people — but the company isn't backing down.

The posters have been defaced dozens of times, inspired an "Every Body's Ready" Facebook page, and seen the Advertising Standards Authority flooded with complaints.

The online petition says that Protein World "is directly targeting individuals, aiming to make them feel physically inferior to the unrealistic body image of the bronzed model, in order to sell their product."

However, the company has insisted there's nothing wrong with their posters and has "absolutely no intention of removing the adverts because of a minority making a lot of noise."

Here's how the Protein World campaign spectacularly unravelled. More + pictures...

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Israel responsible for Gaza strikes on UN schools and shelters, inquiry finds...

Israel was responsible for striking seven United Nations sites used as civilian shelters during the 2014 Gaza war in which 44 Palestinians died and 227 others were injured, an inquiry ordered by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has concluded.

Releasing the report on Monday, Ban condemned the attacks “as a matter of the utmost gravity” and said “those who looked to them for protection and who sought and were granted shelter there had their hopes and trust denied”.

Ban insisted that UN locations were “inviolable”.

The issue is particularly sensitive as the locations of all UN buildings – including schools used as shelters – are routinely provided to the Israeli military and updated in times of conflict.

Ban’s criticism was contained in the published summary letter of a confidential internal report, commissioned by the secretary general in November, running to 207 pages. Full story...

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