Meiktila, Myanmar Muslims massacred: Newly released satellite photographs have revealed the extent of the sectarian violence in central Myanmar last month, in which Buddhist mobs torched hundreds of Muslim homes, killing at least 43 people. According to Human Rights Watch, the group that released the images, more than 860 buildings in the town of Meiktila were destroyed damaged or incinerated […]
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According to China’s Ministry of Public Security news portal website, new laws implemented in 2015 citing criminal punishment for people buying trafficked women or children have proven effective. The new laws took effect on 10/1/15 and remains in effect today. The laws outlines the prosecution for buyers of trafficked persons, whereas previous provisions said they were exempt if they did […]
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Children and young adults who are bullied are more than twice as likely to consider suicide and two and a half times as likely to try to kill themselves, a new study has concluded—and those taunted online are even more vulnerable. The findings are based on more than 40 studies, involving more than 284,000 young people ages 9 to 21, […]
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The city of San Francisco is praising an addition to their “311” mobile application that is supposed to help the city deal with its growing homeless population. But the app is already under heavy criticism by anti-gentrification groups who say its unnecessary to report the homeless for interacting with the public, or for simply existing. Under Mayor Ed Lee’s watch, San Francisco’s homeless population has skyrocketed, increasing […]
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Russian orphanages are a scandal, said Jennifer Rankin. State institutions house nearly 400,000 children, a population larger than many cities. But less than one third of these children are actually orphans. Many “fall into the system when their parents, often fighting a losing battle with alcohol or drugs,” lose their parental rights. Even more of them—nearly half the total—have disabilities, […]
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Despite long-running drought, overall food situation appears similar to previous years. North Korea’s spending on imports of cereals decreased again in August, after recovering slightly the previous month, data from Chinese government figures show. Cereals – which include rice imports – decreased along with nearly every other food as classified by trade groups, and continued a downward trend that contrasts […]
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New research suggests that high levels of BPA, a chemical in many plastics and canned food linings, might raise the risk of miscarriage in women prone to that problem or having trouble getting pregnant. While the study is not nearly enough to prove a link, experts say it does add to “the biological plausibility” that BPA might affect fertility and […]
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In a controversial move that has caused a massive public backlash, the city of Montreal will go ahead with their plans to dump over 2 billion gallons (8 billion liters) of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River — Montreal’s primary drinking water supply — in mid-October. While the Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel has stated that the sewage dump […]
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Valletta, Malta Traffickers drown refugees: As many as 500 people, including scores of children, drowned off the coast of Malta when human traffickers rammed one of their boats. The traffickers had taken the group—which included Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, and Sudanese—by boat from Egypt and passed them to increasingly smaller boats during the journey. When the exhausted refugees refused to board […]
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Amsterdam ‘Scum villages’: Families that persistently behave badly and harass their neighbors are to be evicted from city-run housing projects and moved into trailer parks that have “minimal services” and are under constant police supervision. The new housing camps have been dubbed “scum villages” by the Dutch media, because the plan appears to echo a proposal by right-wing populist Geert […]
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