Secret jail torturer becomes police chief in Israel

The appointment of an infamous Israeli interrogator to a high-ranking police post has sent shockwaves among human rights groups. Known among inmates as Captain George, he's accused of numerous cases of torture and abuse of Arabs. Now that he's in charge of Arab affairs, many Palestinians fear for their lives. RT's Paula Slier reports from Israel.

When Being Poor Is a Crime.

Sean Matthews is a homeless construction worker who was convicted of marijuana possession in 2007, and was assessed $498 in legal fines and costs. He was arrested two years later after being unable to pay that $498, and spent five months in jail at a cost of more than $3,000 to the City of New Orleans.

Gregory White, also a homeless man, was arrested for stealing $39 worth of food from a local grocery store. He was assessed $339 in fines and fees. Because he could not pay the $339, the City of New Orleans imprisoned Mr. White for 198 days at a cost of over $3,500 to the city.

You can see where this is going. In a time when states are laying off school teachers and firefighters, cities and counties are locking up people who can't pay legal fees, at costs that exceed the actual amount owed.

Read Full Report:

Commonwealth Games becomes a "Filthy game" !

Commonwealth Games in India Bridge Collapse

YouJudgeThis | September 21, 2010 - Building Work behind schedule. Areas uninhabitable. Police say 23 injured.

.....NZ questions if New Delhi Games will go ahead

Photographs expose athletes' village  The state of the athletes' village has caused concern among participating nations The full extent of the poor conditions at the Commonwealth Games athletes' village in India has been exposed in photographs seen by BBC Sport. The pictures, taken in the last two days, show dirty bathrooms, animal footprints on beds, exposed wiring and flooding outside the buildings.

"The United States of America Has Gone Mad"

John le Carré: September 20, 2010

"The United States of America Has Gone Mad"

While John le Carré is famous for his spy novels, he wrote a widely read antiwar essay in 2003 titled "The United States of America Has Gone Mad." He reads an excerpt.

Indians, Asians - the want to be white!

A whiter shade of pale - India's skin-whitening cosmetic industry is worth billions of dollars and growing, but not all of the products are safe.

02 Sep 2010. Aljazeera - In India, real beauty is proving to be skin deep with a massive growth in the sale of skin-whitening creams.

India's obsession with pale skin has created a billion-dollar industry, with predictions it will grow in 2010 by 25 per cent.

Endorsed by top Bollywood stars in TV ads, marketers lure consumers with a bewildering supply of products that promote fair skin that they promote with bring romance or a new job after the user becomes markedly fairer.

Skin-lightening products aimed at Indian men are also booming with marketers constantly adding new products including whitening soaps, moisturisers and aftershaves.

The desire for pale skin has deep roots in India's complex caste-driven history. Those higher up the scale were typically fair-skinned while lower castes often worked outdoors and were darker skinned.

101 East looks at India's billion-dollar skin whitening industry and asks, can there be fairness in India, without fair skin?

More than 3,000 Mexican federal police fired, commissioner says

it's insane in Mexico........
in their war against drug........

From the world's biggest embassy !

Cost of Iraq's 'new era':

AlJazeeraEnglish | August 28, 2010

The US government has said that the change of military strategy in Iraq is a "new era" for the country.

Operation Iraqi Freedom will become Operation New Dawn from Wednesday.

This means fewer soldiers in the country, but more diplomats who will be living in the world's biggest embassy in Baghdad.

The embassy stretches across 2km and and 104 acres of land - six times the size of the UN headquarters and bigger than the Vatican.

Along with four new regional offices it will house nearly 2,500 diplomats, protected by as many as 7,000 private security guards.

For travel anywhere outside of the embassy, the diplomats have a new fleet of armoured cars, trucks and special aircraft.

All this will cost the US $2.5bn next year, over and above the costs of maintaining a military force of 50,000 American soldiers.

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports.

The Rainbow Warrior.

journeymanpictures | August 25, 2010 - 41min Documentary

The sinking of the Green Peace flagship by French Secret agents in 1985 would shame a nation. For the first time, we get to the bottom of the man behind the mission, the agents' repeated blunders, and the nationwide cover-up that followed.

See Full Film Here:

The Girls are at the receiving end!

August 25, 2010 | AlJazeeraEnglish  -  At least 70 students and teachers at an all girls school in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, have been sickened by an unknown gas that spread through classrooms.

School authorities evacuated everyone from the building and many of the girls were taken to hospitals.

It is still not clear who is behind the incident, but there is suspicion that the Taliban, who has opposed sending girls to schools, is responsible.

Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Kabul on what has become a part of a pattern of attacks on schoolgirls in the country.

Swiss Trafigura deep shit!

A Reggae by Sly and Reggie :

thesuburbanpirate | July 23, 2010 - Swiss Co. Trafigura, the oil multinational, used Carter Ruck,the tough guy litigators, to sue the ass of as many people they could find, including the BBC and the Guardian. in order to cover their smelly backsides on their toxic waste scandal.

Today Trafigura got sent down in a Dutch court for illegally exporting toxic waste, a charge they have been denying for years. Now we can say toxic waste and Trafigura in the same breath and not get blasted by a super-injunction.

Post 911 syndrome - American courts not longer interested in Justice!

They more interest in prosecution & punishment!

Riz Khan - Justice denied: What next?

AlJazeeraEnglish | Jul 03, 2010 - Rendition victim Maher Arar talks about the US supreme court's refusal to hear his appeal.

Republicans Block Investigative Power for Oil Spill Commission.

SenateDemocrats | June 30, 2010 - Senate Democrats today asked unanimous consent to pass legislation that would give the BP Oil Spill Commission the subpoena power it needs to do its job. "Frankly, it's time we have a vote after so many Republican objections to this commonsense legislation," said Sen. Robert Menendez. "[This bill] asserts that we want to protect those families, taxpayers, not oil company profits."

The Political Economy of Israel's Occupation.

TheRealNews | July 06, 2010 - Hever: 18 families control 60% of Israel's wealth.

Comments by kharitonov300 : Nice to see normal people in Israel, not totally brainwashed crying "everybody want to kill us"

So basically these "loopholes" allow big time criminals (prob banksters) to come to Israel and become heroes.

And the 18 familys are running the show and making all the money, while the rest are screaming "terrorist want to kill us all" and signing up to the IDF and hating on muslims. Wow Israel need to slap herself in the face and wake up.

Rising sexual exploitation in the Philippines.

AlJazeeraEnglish | July 03, 2010 - Officials in the Philippines say a rising number of women and children are being sexually exploited by criminal rings, often through a trusted family member.

But the problem remains invisible because of its clandestine and underground nature, with victims often keeping silent because they are ashamed.

Poverty and poor education contribute greatly to the problem, officials say.

Toronto G 20 : No right to freedom of assembly

TheRealNews | June 30, 2010 - Howard Morton: There is evidence the police infiltrated "Black Bloc" and should have known their plans.

"IT WAS DEHUMANIZING... COMPLETELY"

Toronto G20- Reports from witnesses and subjects of police action - testimony #1 from Queen Street and Spadina