The UK is becoming the third largest consumer of the child sexual abuse “market”

The UK is becoming the third largest consumer of the child sexual abuse “market”

    3:41 PM   No comments

Thousands of children in the Philippines are being sexually abused in order to make money via live video streaming technology, and most of the cases are directed by child molesters in the United Kingdom, according to a report by the British newspaper “The Telegraph”.

According to the newspaper, estimates by the University of Nottingham and the International Justice Mission indicate that the number of children exposed to abuse in the Southeast Asian country may reach 500,000 children, or one in every 100 Filipino children.

The International Justice Mission found that more than half of the children who were subjected to violations were 12 years old or younger, and the youngest was only a few months old.

The new report notes that Western consumers are also guilty of directing child sexual abuse in the Philippines, and local traffickers are sexually abusing Filipino children, while one or more spectators watch and direct the action via an encrypted video call.

“Perpetrators pay traffickers in the Philippines at least £15 to engage in online child sexual abuse,” the report says.

The UK is the third largest consumer of live-streamed abuse, according to the National Crime Agency, and the US, Australia and Canada are also major consumers.

The newspaper reported that the use of end-to-end encryption services such as WhatsApp and Telegram to enable criminals to broadcast live abuse is not limited to child sexual abuse. Last June, it was revealed that monkeys were being tortured live through these services, with paid callers directing the torture procedures, and three women were arrested in Britain for their involvement.

Banning the cloak in French schools begins tomorrow, and Macron is calling for its strict implementation

Banning the cloak in French schools begins tomorrow, and Macron is calling for its strict implementation

    5:21 AM   No comments

The French authorities have confirmed that female students who wear abayas and students who wear long shirts will not enter their classes on Monday, the first day of the school year, amid condemnation by human rights organizations and opposition political currents.

According to a memorandum sent by French Education Minister Gabriel Attal to heads of educational institutions, wearing the abaya and long shirt "expresses religious affiliation in the school environment and cannot be tolerated."

France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority, has banned the Islamic headscarf in public schools since 2004.

According to French press reports, the ban on the abaya is a continuation of the implementation of the 2004 law, which prohibits the wearing of clothes or symbols that show religious affiliation in French educational institutions.

In July of last year, Le Figaro newspaper published an investigation revealing that despite the continued application of the 2004 law, there is a significant increase in the abayas worn by girls and long shirts worn by boys, so that they doubled in secondary schools, especially when Ramadan begins, so that some The managers expressed their dissatisfaction and wondered why the clothes were so popular.

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron called - in statements he made the day before yesterday, Friday - for firmness in implementing the abaya ban.

"We will not let anything pass," Macron said during his visit to a vocational high school in Orange, southern France. "We know that there will be cases - perhaps due to negligence - but many cases of trying to challenge the republican system. We have to be firm."

He added that "teachers and school principals should never be left alone to face the existing pressures or challenges on this subject," adding that these "knights of the republic" have "the right to defend secularism," as he put it.

On the other hand, a broad spectrum of French people expressed their condemnation of the decision to ban the cloak, led by the leftist opposition inside and outside Parliament.

Prominent French left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon strongly criticized the decision, and called on officials to avoid provoking conflicts of a religious nature.

Manuel Bombard, coordinator of the France Independence Party - which is led by Melenchon - said that he would propose to the party's parliamentary group to reject this decision - which he described as dangerous and cruel - and to submit it for review before the Council of State in order to prove that it is a decision contrary to the constitution.

Meanwhile, French female students expressed their annoyance at the decision and considered it a blatant interference in their personal freedom.

A student - who asked not to be identified - said in a statement to Al-Jazeera, "It is not within their authority to decide what to wear. They removed the veil from us in 2004, and now they are working to remove the abaya, which is not a religious dress, but rather a cultural traditional dress. To what extent will they continue this?"

Over 100 children illegally employed by US slaughterhouse cleaning firm

Over 100 children illegally employed by US slaughterhouse cleaning firm

    9:07 AM   No comments

More than 100 children have been discovered to be illegally employed by a slaughterhouse cleaning firm across the country, federal authorities said.

The Department of Labor announced that a federal investigation found Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc (PSSI) employed at least 102 children, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, to work overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states.

The investigation discovered that children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws and head splitters. At least three minors suffered injuries while working for PSSI, one of the country’s largest food safety sanitation service providers.

The states in which the children were employed include Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. The processor which had the largest number of employed minors is JBS Foods, with 27 children employed, followed by Cargill Inc, which had 26 employed children.

Other processors include Tyson Food, George’s Inc, Buckhead Meat of Minnesota, Gibbon Packing Co, Greater Omaha Packing Co Inc, Maple Leaf Farms and Turkey Valley Farms.

According to court documents, a 14-year-old child who worked at a Nebraska facility from 11pm to 5am five to six days a week from December 2021 to April 2022, cleaned machines “used to cut meat”.

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More than 7 mln children affected by major quakes

More than 7 mln children affected by major quakes

    9:01 AM   No comments

More than 7 million children have been affected by the massive earthquake and a major aftershock that devastated Türkiye and Syria last week, the United Nations said on Feb. 14. 

The death toll has risen to 31,974 in the Feb. 6’s quakes, approaching the number of people who lost their lives in the Erzincan quake in 1939, in which the most casualties were experienced in the history of the country.

Apart from the estimated death toll, Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) also reported that more than 81,000 others were injured following the tremors felt in 10 southern provinces.

More than 3,170 aftershocks occurred in the region since the first earthquake hit 10 provinces on Feb. 6.

Over 8,000 people have been recovered alive from rubbles by search and rescue teams so far.

Over 6,500 professionals have inspected 763,000 buildings and 1,586,901 single spaces. Damage assessment is set to be completed within a week, while constructions are aimed to start before the end of the month. Permanent residences are planned to be delivered to earthquake victims within a year.

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