Refugee crisis: 'Orphan' children locked up in 'medieval' prisons alongside adult criminals on Greek island of Kos
After arriving by boat from Turkey, children as young as 11 are routinely being detained in filthy police cells - and the UN has been forced to intervene
The United Nations refugee agency has been forced to step in to save scores of “orphan” children from detention in filthy police cells on the Greek island of Kos after its complaints at the squalid conditions went unheeded.
Children as young as 11 who arrived by boat from Turkey without their parents or other adult relatives have been held for weeks at a time in cells smeared in faeces, alongside adult criminals, while Greek authorities determined where to relocate them.
Greek officials say they are obliged to keep the children securely for their own safety as legal minors. But volunteers from a non-governmental organisation that visits prisoners at Kos’s central police station every day said they were shocked by the “medieval” conditions there.
Chinese media: military must be ready to counter US in South China Sea
Editorial in Global Times, which is close to Communist rulers, condemns Washington’s ‘ceaseless provocations and coercion’
Chinese media criticised the US on Thursday for “ceaseless provocations” in the South China Sea, with Washington expected to soon send warships close to artificial islands Beijing has built in disputed waters.
An editorial in the Global Times, which is close to China’s ruling Communist party, condemned US “coercion”, adding: “China mustn’t tolerate rampant US violations of China’s adjacent waters and the skies over those expanding islands.”
It said China’s military should “be ready to launch countermeasures according to Washington’s level of provocation”.
Tensions have mounted since China transformed reefs in the area – also claimed by several neighbouring countries – into small islands capable of supporting military facilities, a move the US says threatens freedom of navigation.The German Lynchmob: Islamophobe Movement Returns With a Vengeance
It was nearly dormant for months, but recent weeks have seen the return of Germany's islamophobic, anti-refugee Pegida movement. More confident and aggressive than ever, officials worry the hatred could spread to the mainstream. By SPIEGEL Staff"I'm not a Nazi," the innkeeper says, standing without an umbrella in the rain. "I know negroes, I know the döner kebab Turks. I just want my peace and quiet and my German rights."
"Those aren't Nazis," the neighbor says, pointing to a group of young men. "Those are young people who the system has turned into who they are."
We're going to have to defend ourselves against the "Kanaken," says a steward wearing a white band on his upper arm, using a German racial slur that refers to Southern Europeans and people from the Middle East.
Israeli police under scrutiny for shooting knife-wielding assailants
Team Observers
In the last few weeks, Israeli security forces haven't hesitated to use live rounds to take down multiple knife-wielding assailants, with numerous such cases captured on amateur videos and uploaded to social media networks.
When these videos have been published, the Israeli authorities’ response has always been the same: “If the assailant doesn’t obey the police’s orders to drop the knife, they are authorised to shoot him,” says Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. “And if police officers believe their lives or the lives of civilians are in danger, it is absolutely necessary for them to shoot the attacker, at the risk of killing him.”
So is the use of live ammunition justified? We took a close look at three cases, and asked the opinion of a French security consultant who has worked with the French authorities.
Iran broadcasts rare images of underground missile bases
Updated 0941 GMT (1641 HKT) October 15, 2015
At first glance it looks like the set of a James Bond movie -- a seemingly impregnable mountain base packed full of uniformed men and sinister-looking missiles on their launch vehicles parked along a long tunnel buried deep underground.
But this is in fact a real-life missile facility in Iran, according to the country's semi-official FARS news agency.
In a rare moment of openness, Iran on Wednesday broadcast pictures from The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force of a tunnel reportedly dug some 1,640 feet (500 meters) under a mountain.
The release of this footage comes just a few days after state media reported that Iran had test-fired new generation long-range ballistic missiles.
Myanmar signs peace deal with armed rebel groups
The government of Myanmar has signed what it says is a nationwide ceasefire deal with eight armed ethnic groups.
The signing ceremony in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, was the culmination of two years of peace talks.
But the most active rebel groups - seven of the 15 groups involved in negotiations - stayed out of the deal.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been engaged in armed conflict with various groups seeking greater autonomy since independence from the British in 1948.
The government hopes Thursday's deal will be the first step on a path to a lasting political settlement.
Among the groups which have not signed are the largest armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), whose Kachin Independence Army (KIA) controls large areas of north-eastern Kachin state and regularly clashes with the Burmese army.
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