Human rights

Albuquerque police face sweeping reforms after excessive force allegations
The beleaguered Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico has reached a deal with the Department of Justice to overhaul many of its practices. The reforms come amid protests fueled by the department fatally shooting nearly 30 people in four years. Sweeping in scope, the reforms involve new training and recruitment procedures and field supervision of officers, and will require the department t [...]
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Ukraine’s election: Behind the looking glass
The vote taking place this weekend in Kiev-controlled territories is part of the Maidan junta's desperate quest for legitimacy. Nazis still dominate Ukrainian politics, while Kiev dreams of a military "final solution" for the east. In 2001, the Austrian economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe wrote a book titled ‘Democracy: The God that Failed’, in which he – among other things – compared the proc [...]
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‘World moving away from hegemony model’
The unipolar world as we know it is moving to its end, Wolfgang Schüssel, Austria’s Chancellor in 2000-2007, told RT at the Valdai forum. Russia is to play a major role in the new order, but at the moment the Ukraine crisis dominates the country’s image. Wolfgang Schüssel: First of all, there was a story before the sanctions. We were absolutely surprised with what happened in Ukraine. [...]
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100s of Ukraine soldiers protest in front of presidential administration
Ukrainian National Guard troops are protesting outside the presidential administration office in Kiev as they demand demobilization. They are refusing to return to their barracks outside the capital. About 200 soldiers have surrounded the building claiming they have served six months longer than their contracts stipulated. [...]
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Nobel Peace Prize winner calls on Kiev to protect children of Ukraine
The recent Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Kailash Satyarthi has condemned the violence against children in Ukraine urging Kiev to act against it amid the ongoing crisis. “It is the responsibility of the Ukrainian government to save their citizens particularly children. [...]
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Ebola scare: LaGuardia on strike, 58% of Americans want to ban flights from W. Africa
Airplane cabin cleaning crews at New York's LaGuardia International Airport began a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, citing, in part, possible exposure to the Ebola virus. Meanwhile, a poll found most Americans want flights banned from Ebola-ravaged areas. Around 200 Air Serv employees who work on domestic flights to LaGuardia began their strike on Wednesday evening. [...]
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Terrorists among us: FBI starts anti-jihadist neighborhood informer campaign
The FBI counter-terrorism division is calling on to Americans to report on fellow citizens engaged in suspicious activities to help identify possible terrorists, in the first place those connected to terrorist activities overseas. In a statement published by the FBI on Tuesday, assistant director of the counter-terrorism division Michael Steinbach said the Bureau needs “the public's assistanc [...]
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“Who the f**k authorized this?” Obama’s chief of staff cursed Panetta over CIA torture probe
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta says that he was cursed at by President Barack Obama's former chief of staff after he agreed to cooperate with the Senate's investigation into his agency's torture tactics in the wake of 9/11. In passages taken from his new book and published online bythe Intercept, Panetta explains the event that triggered the outburst, which flowed from the former chief of sta [...]
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UN: 3,660 killed, 8,756 wounded in Ukraine conflict since April
Kiev doesn't have full control of its military and paramilitary forces, who continue to violate the principles of international humanitarian law, highlights the latest UN report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. The UN has stated that at least 3,660 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since April – including 330 since the ceasefire brokered on Sept. 5. [...]
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Young Oregonian to end life under death-with-dignity law, calls for more end-of-life rights
At age 29, Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with aggressive terminal brain cancer and given only six months to live. She has since moved to Oregon, which has a death-with-dignity law, and is advocating for more assisted-death legislation in the US. After suffering from debilitating headaches, Maynard, called a vivacious, adventurous individual from birth by her mother, was diagnosed on Jan. 1 wit [...]
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Battleground America: US Army surplus even going to coroners as militarization rampant
The Pentagon's 1033 Program, which is militarizing state and local police forces with everything from high-powered firearms to armored vehicles, is also giving weapons to officials who have no law enforcement functions. The practice is leading watchdogs and even some US government officials to question why the US military is so desperate to unload its cache of used military hardware that it is [...]
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European countries chose ‘destruction tactics for Ukraine’ from outset – Duma speaker
At the Autumn Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Russian official Sergey Naryshkin made the Ukrainian crisis a top European security issue, while speaking at a conference on new security challenges in the region. At a meeting on "New Security Challenges: The Role of Parliaments" on Friday, Naryshkin, the Head of the Lower House of Russian Parliament, who leads the Moscow delegatio [...]
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‘Unforgivable’: Cameron vows justice for slain hostage Alan Henning
Prime Minister David Cameron says members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) responsible for the murder of British hostage Alan Henning "will be hunted down and face justice." The PM's warning comes as militants threatened to murder a fifth hostage. On Saturday Cameron met with security chiefs and the Foreign Office at his official country residence Chequers to discuss the murder of Henning, D [...]
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Guantanamo force feeding videos must be released – US judge
Video footage of American officials force feeding inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison complex in Cuba cannot be kept secret and must be released to the public, a federal judge ruled on Friday. Specifically, US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler said the US government must release 28 videos that show hunger-striking inmate Abu Wa’el Dhiab – a Syrian man who has been in custody since 2002 [...]
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Germany handed law-protected private data to NSA for years – reports
Intelligence service BND failed to protect the private data of German citizens as it handed over internet data collected at a Frankfurt traffic hub to the US, German media report citing secret documents. The documents cited by VDR and EDR television and the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which broke the news together, were obtained from the federal government during an ongoing parliamentary in [...]
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Russia halts participation in US student exchange program
The Russian government has decided to pull out of a major student exchange program with the US. The American side apparently violated the terms and conditions, with a Russian schoolboy not returning home, having been adopted by a gay couple. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented a note to the US Embassy in Moscow, saying that the country is canceling the largest US-Russian educational excha [...]
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Ukraine recovery in Russia’s national interest – Putin
Moscow is ready to support Ukraine in its overcoming of the crisis, as the recovery of the bordering country is in Russia's national interests, President Putin said, adding that the state is keen to have a 'reliable, predictable partner and neighbor.' Speaking at VTB’s Russia Calling! annual investment forum on Thursday, Putin said Russia's “closest, fraternal” nation is now in deep polit [...]
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“Extremism prevention”: Austria to amend century-old law on Islam
Fear of extremism has led to Austria having drafted amendments to a 102-year-old law on Islam. Muslim organizations are to be banned from being financed from abroad, while the Koran is to get a unified German-language translation. The amendments have already been criticized for singling out Islam, which has so far existed in Austria on equal terms with other religions like Catholicism, Lutheran [...]
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‘IS –useful US foreign policy tool’
Islamic State has been a key foreign policy instrument for the US and a number of its allies and become one of the main drivers of the rebellion in Syria, Charles Shoebridge, security analyst and former British army officer, told RT. The US has one of the most powerful intelligence services in the world, but reports suggest it's not robust enough to target jihadists and safeguard civilians. How [...]
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