The nominee, Michael L. Dourson, had faced criticism on several fronts for his ties to the chemical industry.
Daily Archives: December 13, 2017
WATCH: Israeli troops taking away 7 and 8-year-old Palestinian boys
Video shows armed Israeli forces attempting to drag the children into their jeeps in a West Bank refugee camp.
Israeli Border Police officers were filmed dragging very young Palestinian children into their jeep in a West Bank refugee camp on Tuesday. The footage, provided by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and shot by one of its volunteers in Bethlehem, shows the officers detaining the three boys, aged seven and eight.
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According to the Israeli human rights organization, the children were playing at the time near their home in Aida Refugee Camp in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. Protests were presumably taking place in the area.
The video, shot by B’Tselem volunteer Jamal Abu S’ifan, becomes clear from minute 0:44, at which point the Israeli troops are dragging the young boys by their clothes as they are screaming. Several local residents managed to intervene and free the children from the officers.
The incident came just days after a different video, also released by B’Tselem, which documented a large group of Israeli soldiers taking turns assaulting a handcuffed Palestinian minor in the West Bank city of Hebron. The video shows the soldiers repeatedly kicking, punching, slapping, and manhandling the boy before blindfolding him and leading him away.
Arrests, detentions, and physical assaults of Palestinian minors by Israeli security forces are not unique. An average of 700 Palestinian children are arrested and prosecuted by Israeli forces each year, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine, and around 10,000 Palestinians between the ages of 12 and 17 in the West Bank have been subject to arrest, detention, interrogation, and imprisonment under the in Israeli military courts since 2000.
In July 2013, for example, I reported on the detention of a five-year-old Palestinian boy who allegedly threw stones in Hebron. Five. Years. Old.
While there seems to have been an increase in such incidents over the past week during unarmed Palestinian protests against Donald Trump’s declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, such violence is part and parcel of the routine of the occupation and the system of state violence Israel imposes on the Palestinian population, from the river to the sea. Trump’s statement simply fuels it more, and gives it more media coverage.
The age of criminal culpability in Israel — and under Israeli military law, which applies to Palestinians in the West Bank — is 12. The arrest of a minor under the age of 12 is illegal.
Sen. Rob Portman wrecks his credibility with tax bill deceit: Brent Larkin
Sen. Rob Portman’s refusal to abandon his deceitful talking points about the GOP tax bill has all but ruined a carefully crafted reputation designed to convince voters he’s as fair-minded as his predecessor, the late Sen. George Voinovich, writes Brent Larkin.
US torture continues at Guantanamo Bay, warns UN expert
The US has continued to torture detainees held at the controversial detention center in Cuba, said the UN’s expert on torture. He warned that enacting a policy of torture is among “the most serious international crimes.”
Muslim leaders urge world to recognise East Jerusalem as capital of Palestine
Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process.
Canada to buy fleet of 30-year-old fighter jets from Australia in snub to US
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Ottawa ditched plan to buy newer fleet of Boeing Super Hornets after US imposed 80% import tariff on Canadian Bombardier jets
Canada will purchase a fleet of 30-year-old F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from Australia amid an escalating trade dispute with the US.
Plans to buy a newer fleet of 18 Boeing Super Hornets were ditched after the US imposed an 80% tariff on imports of Bombardier passenger aircraft and Canada will instead spend about $500m on the fleet of vintage RAAF planes.
Palestinians no longer accept US role as mediator, Abbas tells summit
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Recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel was a crime that threatens world peace, Palestinian president tells delegates in Istanbul
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has formally declared that Palestinians will no longer accept the US as a mediator in the Middle East peace process following Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In his strongest public statement since Trump’s announcement last week, Abbas called the move a “crime” that threatened world peace. He demanded the United Nations take charge of the peace process as Washington was no longer “fit” for the task.
White House contradicts Tillerson and says not right time for North Korea talks – ROTFLMAO – Who’s on First?
Spokesman says ‘clearly right now is not the time’ for talks, going against what Tillerson had said and underlining chaotic nature of Trump’s foreign policy
Source: White House contradicts Tillerson and says not right time for North Korea talks
Israeli undercover soldiers seen arresting Palestinian protesters
And how many are urging more violent protest?
Footage shows officers posing as protesters before pulling out pistols and seizing stone throwers in West Bank
Dramatic footage has emerged of plain clothes Israeli troops – known as “mustarabeen” – infiltrating a Palestinian demonstration in Ramallah and arresting stone throwers.
The soldiers, dressed as Palestinian protesters, were caught on camera by AFP journalists during a demonstration near the “DCO” checkpoint to the north of Ramallah, which is a frequent location for stone-throwing protests.
Libya:Up to One Million Enslaved Migrants, Victims of ‘Europe’s Complicity’
The Geneva-based UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that the number of migrants trapped in Libya could amount to up to one million, and it is now rushing to rescue the first 15,000 victims through a massive repatriation emergency plan. A major airlift is underway as IOM starts flying 15,000 more migrants from Libya before year end.
“European governments have not just been fully aware of these abuses… they are complicit in them” — John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International
“Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya are at the mercy of Libyan authorities, militias, armed groups and smugglers often working seamlessly together for financial gain. Tens of thousands are kept indefinitely in overcrowded detention centres where they are subjected to systematic abuse,” said John Dalhuisen, AI’s Europe Director, on Dec 12. [IPS] Rome -“European governments are knowingly complicit in the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in appalling conditions in Libya,” Amnesty International charged in the wake of global outrage over the sale of migrants in Libya.
