Thousands of women and girls who survived Boko Haram's brutal rule while kept captive by the militant Islamist group have been raped by Nigerian soldiers who claim to be rescuing them, Amnesty International has revealed

The human rights organization has urged Nigeria to act on claims that soldiers and members of the civilian militia have raped women and girls in remote camps for people displaced by Boko Haram. Amnesty said that it had gathered multiple testimonies about alleged abuse by the security forces, including claims that soldiers coerced vulnerable survivors into having sex in exchange for food. Nearly 1.8 million people have been displaced within Nigeria by the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 since 2009, according to the latest available figures. When including statistics from neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, the number of people forced to flee their homes by the violence reaches nearly 2.25 million, says the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Health workers fighting Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo have run into an invisible but powerful hurdle — a belief system that deems the disease to be a curse or the result of evil spirits

Some people are refusing medical care and turn instead to preachers and prayers to chase away the threat. The pastor of an evangelical church died several days after he “prayed” for an Ebola victim who went to him for help, a doctor said. “Some sick people believe that the Ebola epidemic comes from sorcery — they refuse to be treated and prefer to pray,” said Julie Lobali, a nurse on the front line against the DRC’s ninth Ebola outbreak. She is working in a hospital in Mbandaka, a port city on the Congo River in northwest DRC where the first urban case was reported. Since the outbreak was declared in the remote area of Bikoro on May 8th, 2018 fifty-one cases of Ebola have been reported with 27 deaths. One superstition that has become prevalent in the city, she says, is believing that Ebola began in Bikoro as “a curse on those who ate stolen meat” — a wild animal hunted in the countryside. Blandine Mboyo, who lives in Mbandaka’s district of Bongondjo, said that a hunter put a curse on the village because his big game was stolen. “This curse is so powerful because it hits those who ate this meat, having heard about the theft or having seen the stolen animal,” added Nicole Batoa, a local vendor. Another resident, Guy Ingila, observed that officials have said on the radio “this disease is incurable... It’s because it’s about witchcraft.”. For doctors and health officials these beliefs raise serious concerns, complicating efforts to contain and roll back the deadly Ebola virus. In Geneva, African health officials said that they were preparing to send anthropologists to the DRC to help with an Ebola vaccination campaign. A prototype vaccine will first be given to frontline health workers and then to people who have been in contact with Ebola cases. “If we do not handle communication well, the vaccination program may suffer,” John Nkengasong, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC), said in Geneva. “So we are also assessing how in the next two weeks or so to deploy anthropologists to support the vaccine efforts.” In DR Congo, as elsewhere in Africa, disease and death are often not looked on as natural phenomena. “So many deaths is a sign of a curse and can only have been provoked by a bad spirit,” said Zacharie Bababaswe, a Congolese specialist in cultural history, explaining people’s perceptions of Ebola. Before the expansion of evangelical churches in the country, Bababaswe says that many Congolese would go see the witch doctor or village healer for treatment. Today there is still widespread superstition — but, since the 1980s, it has taken a different form, with some people turning for help to a church or a pastor who claims to have healing powers. Two people infected with Ebola from Bikoro went to the churches rather than a medical center for help. Another patient, who had been hospitalized in Mbandaka, left the medical center to seek out a local healer. To brake the spread of Ebola, “we have to convince villagers that the disease is not a curse,” said Bavon N’Sa Mputu, an elected official from Bikoro, pointing to the key role that churches can play.

African American children are taking their lives at roughly twice the rate of their white counterparts, according to a new study that shows a widening gap between the two groups

The 2001-2015 data confirm a pattern first identified several years ago when researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio found that the rate of suicides for black children ages 5 to 12 exceeded that of young whites. The results were seen in both boys and girls. Although suicide is rare among young children, the latest findings reinforce the need for better research into the racial disparities, lead author Jeffrey Bridge said. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for older children and adolescents in the United States. “We can’t assume any longer that suicide rates are uniformly higher in white individuals than black,” said Bridge, an epidemiologist who directs the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at the Columbus hospital. “There is this age-related disparity, and now we have to understand the underlying reasons. Most of the previous research has largely concerned white suicide. So we don’t even know if the same risk and protective factors apply to black youth.” Historically, suicide rates in the United States have been higher for whites than blacks across all age groups. That remains the case for adolescents, ages 13 to 17, according to the new study. White teens continue to have a 50% higher rate of suicide than black teens. Overall between 1999 and 2015, more than 1,300 children ages 5 to 12 took their own lives in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those numbers translate into an average of one child 12 or younger dying by suicide every five days. The pace has actually accelerated in recent years, CDC statistics indicate. The researchers based their latest analysis on the CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, which does not include geographical or socioeconomic data. Previous studies have looked at some of the characteristics and circumstances surrounding children's suicides. In 2017, research by Bridge and colleagues found that among children, ages 5 to 11, and young adolescents, ages 12 to 14, those who took their own lives were more likely to be male, African American and dealing with stressful relationships at home or with friends. Children who had a mental health problem at the time of death were more likely than young adolescents to have been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Young adolescents who killed themselves were more likely to have had relationship problems with a boyfriend or girlfriend. They also had higher rates of depression. More than a third of elementary school-aged suicides involved black children compared to just 11.6% of early adolescent suicides.

Over 40% of all the rapes in South Africa are committed against children

Of the 124,526 total rape cases reported in the last 3 financial years, children were the victims in 41% of these cases. In the same time period, 2,600 children were also murdered. That amounts to 5% of the total murder numbers across South Africa. This also means that at least 46 children are raped every day and at least two children are murdered every single day in South Africa. Only 21% of child rapes cases and only one in three murder cases resulted in successful convictions. The numbers become even more frightening when you realize that the number of child rapes has continually increased over the years. In 2014-15, there were 15,520 child rapes reported. Only 1,799 ended up in successful convictions. In 2015-16, 16,389 were reported. Just 2,488 were convicted. In 2016-17, the numbers rose even further to 19 071. There was a small improvement in convictions; 6,366 were convicted. The horrific brutality with which these children were murdered is also frightening. Weapons used, include firearms, axes, spades, pangas (African machetes), hammers, belts and poison – many of these children were practically butchered to death.

A new poll has revealed that Scots are far less royalist than other Britons

In the run-up to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, just 41% of people in Scotland said that they backed the monarchy. However, only 28% said that they were opposed to the institution with 27% describing themselves as ambivalent. This compared with clear majority backing for the monarchy in England where 55% were for and just 14% against. Delta Poll surveyed around 500 people in each of the four nations of the United Kingdom on behalf of the center-right think-tank Policy Exchange. Support for the monarchy was 49% in Wales and 52% in Northern Ireland. Royal Wedding fever appeared much less intense in Scotland than elsewhere. Only two street parties were organized in the country. Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie MSP said: “Given the challenges we need to tackle in our society - including inequalities in income, health and education - it’s no surprise that Scots are least likely to support the anachronism that is the monarchy. It serves only as a distraction from those important issues and a reminder of the social inequality that the UK class system is based on.” Scotland was the only nation of the UK where a majority did not see the monarchy as a unifying force after Brexit, the poll found.

A Muslim man accused of killing a cow was beaten to death by a mob in central India, police have said, the latest vigilante murder over the animal considered sacred by Hindus

Siraj Khan, a 45-year-old tailor, was attacked in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh state and died at the scene, local police official Arvind Tiwari said. Kahn's friend Shakeel Maqbool, who was also attacked, has been admitted to hospital with critical injuries. As details of the violent assault emerged 400 additional police were deployed to the district as inquiries widened. "We have arrested four people, and they have been sent to judicial custody. We are investigating what prompted the attack," Tiwari said. He added that meat and a bull carcass was found at the scene, but did not elaborate as investigations were ongoing. Hindus consider cows sacred and slaughtering the animals, or possessing or consuming beef, is banned in most Indian states. Cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh carries a maximum seven-year jail term but many other parts of India impose life sentences for infringements. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised to completely outlaw cow slaughter in India. The Hindu BJP has been accused of turning a blind eye to a rising number of vigilante attacks in the name of cow protection. Rights groups say that Hindu mobs have been emboldened under the party, who stormed to power in 2014. Many of the victims are Muslims. In two prominent cases, a dairy farmer was killed on a roadside for transporting cows and a Muslim teenager accused of carrying beef was stabbed to death on a crowded train.

Voters in England would prefer to lose Scotland than Gibraltar in the Brexit process, a new poll has found

Pollsters from Panelbase asked people in England for their views on a scenario in which the price of leaving the EU would be for Britain to be without Scotland or Northern Ireland or Gibraltar. Voters expressed most concern about Gibraltar heading off, followed by Scotland, and were least concerned about Northern Ireland opting to go. Some 37% said that losing Gibraltar would not be a price worth paying for Brexit, while 35% said that losing Scotland would not be worth it. In terms of losing Northern Ireland just 31% that said it was not a price worth paying for Brexit. Some 1020 people were asked their views by researchers carrying out the poll, which was commissioned by pro-independence website Wings Over Scotland. The sample included both leave and remain voters. The website's Stuart Campbell said: "Many will remember bitterly the short-lived 'lovebombing' campaign from the indyref, in which a list of semi-celebrities from the rest of the UK was assembled to assure Scots of how much they were valued and cherished by their UK partners. Four years on, not so much. Because overall, the voters of England – that’s Remainers and Leavers combined – would drop Scotland like a hot potato if it were somehow to be necessary in order to secure Brexit. (And remember, very nearly half of them don’t even WANT Brexit. How much must those guys hate us?) Just a third of English voters don’t think it’d be worth ditching Scotland to get out of the EU. The only thing that our English cousins were almost reluctant (51-49 excluding Don't Knows) to sacrifice was the part of the UK that’s actually just a tiny rocky outcrop of someone else’s country and has roughly the same population as Dumfries or Irvine or Falkirk. (To be honest we’re kicking ourselves for not asking about the Falkland Islands now.) The people of England would, by a comfortable distance, rather hang on to the 34,000 citizens (plus some apes) of Gibraltar than the 7.2 million of Scotland and Northern Ireland, but they’d still quite happily surrender all three just to reduce the number of immigrants coming to the UK and trash the economy."

A Dominican nanny who was convicted of brutally murdering two small children in her care while their parents were out has been sentenced to life in prison without parole

Yoselyn Ortega has been convicted of the gruesome October 2012 stabbing deaths of 6-year-old Lucia Krim, known as Lulu, and 2-year-old Leo Krim. The children's parents, Marina and Kevin Krim, spoke in court of how Ortega robbed them of their children and how Ortega's family and friends helped with this by lying to them about Ortega's personality and experience as a nanny. Ortega, who's from the Dominican Republic, had been recommended by her sister, a nanny for another New York family, and her background and references were faked by her family. The consequences, the Krims said, were horrifying. Judge Gregory Carro referred to Ortega as pure evil and said that she should spend the rest of her life in prison. Kevin Krim eviscerated Ortega for not pleading guilty and forcing the case into a courtroom. He said that she should never have put the family, the jurors, or the audience through it. "The defendant is an evil and utterly dangerous narcissist," he said. "It is right that she should live and rot and die in a metal case, like the ugly and dark shadow of Lulu and Leo's bright and shiny lights."

A horrifying incident is becoming a trend in India, where a third teenager has been raped and then burned alive, with all the incidents happening in the span of one week

The 16-year-old was killed after informing her attacker, a man police have named as 28-year-old Ravi Chadhar, she wouldn't stay quiet about the rape. She was doused with fuel and set on fire in her Madhya Pradesh home. The girl's cousin told her attacker that she was home alone; both the cousin and Chadhar have been arrested. The other attacks occurred in Jharkhand, with one of the girls, 17, surviving in critical condition with burns to 70% of her body. Her attacker had wanted to marry her but had been denied. The first case involved a 16-year-old who was killed after her parents reported her rape to village leaders. Enraged by the punishment the elders imposed — 100 sit-ups and a fine of roughly $750 — police say that Dhanu Singh Bhuiyan stormed into the girl's house in the village of Chatra, attacked her parents, and fatally set the girl on fire.

The latest Equal Employment Opportunity reports filed by Google, Facebook and Twitter showed that only 758, or 1.8%, of their combined workforce of 41,000 employees, were black

In the majority of tech companies, fewer than 5% of the workforce is black, while at least half of the workforce is white or Jewish.

Recently two teenage girls were raped and then burned alive in Jharkhand, India

One 16-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home while her family attended a wedding. The group of men took her to a deserted area, then raped her. When the girl's father found out about the attack, he went to his village council and demanded retribution, according to officials. Four of the accused men were ordered to do 100 sit-ups and pay the girl's family about $734, reports said. The attackers were reportedly furious that the girl's father had gone to authorities. The next day, the attackers broke into the girl's home, beat her parents and then set the teenager on fire. She did not survive. Twenty men have been arrested in connection with the crime, police officials said. Officials will also seek to punish the village council for “trivializing” the rape, according to police. Another girl, 17 years old, suffered the same violence. The cases are unrelated, authorities said. The teenager was attacked by a man who wanted to marry her, officials said. The man came to visit her at her relatives' home in Pakur. She rejected his proposal, telling him she was too young to wed, according to officials. The assailant waited until the girl was alone, then broke into her house and raped her before setting her alight. Neighbors reported hearing screams as they rushed to help. The teenager is in critical condition in the hospital. Police said that she suffered burns over 95% of her body. The assaults are the latest in a string of vicious attacks on girls and women in India. In January 2018, an 8-year-old Kashmiri Muslim girl was gang-raped, drugged and murdered. Eight men were arrested for the crime, which sparked protests across the country. There were 40,000 rape cases reported in India in 2016, the most recent year in which data is available. Experts believe the true number is far higher. Many sexual assaults go unreported because of the stigma faced by victims of sexual assault and their families.

In just the past five years, the number of gonorrhea cases in Los Angeles County doubled, with minorities suffering more than most

In L.A. County, syphilis rates among African American women are six times higher than white women and three times higher than Latina women.

Frustration over the disappearance of three university students in Mexico has turned to outrage as authorities revealed that the men were tortured and killed by cartel members who wrongly suspected them of belonging to a rival gang

Enrolled at Guadalajara's University of Audiovisual Media, Javier Salomon Aceves Gastelum, 25; Marco Avalos, 20; and Jesus Daniel Diaz, 20, were filming a school project at the Tonala home of one of their aunts when they were abducted by armed men dressed as police officers on March 19, 2018. The home had previously been used as a safe house by a rival gang of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which had been keeping an eye on it. When car trouble left the students stranded, the cartel apparently saw an opportunity. Though Gastelum, Avalos, and Diaz had no known connection to criminal gangs, authorities believe they were taken to another home to be interrogated. One of the three was beaten to death before the others were executed, authorities say. Their bodies — and possibly others — were then dissolved at a separate location where 46 barrels of sulfuric acid were found, police add. Students who recently took to the streets to demand the men's safe return in a country that saw its deadliest year with more than 25,000 homicides in 2017 were outraged by the news, even as authorities said that two of eight suspects were in custody. "They murdered the film students and dissolved their bodies in acid for doing homework," reads one tweet. "This country is hell."

In the generation since apartheid ended in 1994, tens of billions of dollars in public funds — intended to develop the economy and improve the lives of black South Africans — have been siphoned off by leaders of the A.N.C., the very organization that had promised them a new, equal and just nation

Corruption has enriched A.N.C. leaders and their business allies — black and white South Africans, as well as foreigners. But the supposed beneficiaries of many government projects, in whose names the money was spent, have been left with little but seething anger and deepening disillusionment with the state of post-apartheid South Africa. While poverty has declined since the end of apartheid, inequality has risen in a society that was already one of the world’s most unequal, according to a recent report by the World Bank and the South African government. South Africa has a large, advanced economy, an aggressively free press and a wealth of independent organizations and scholars who keep a close watch on government malfeasance. But even with its vibrant democracy, in which the details of corruption schemes are routinely aired and condemned by the news media and opposition politicians, graft has engulfed the country. The nation was governed for nine years by the scandal-plagued President Jacob Zuma, whose close ties with the Gupta family — three Indian brothers at the helm of a sprawling business empire built on government contracts, including the dairy farm — outraged voters. Their cozy relationship contributed to the A.N.C.’s recent electoral losses and helped lead to Zuma’s ouster. Promising a “new dawn,” Zuma’s replacement, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that he would make fighting corruption a priority as the nation’s new president. But he is also a veteran A.N.C. insider, and the early signs have not been encouraging. Having become party leader by a razor-thin margin, Ramaphosa has tried to keep together a fractured A.N.C. by moving cautiously. He formed his first cabinet by appointing some well-respected officials, but also included allies — his own and Zuma’s — who have been accused of corruption by the Public Protector’s office and good governance groups. Beyond that, politicians who long oversaw provinces rife with public corruption now sit at the top of the A.N.C.’s hierarchy. National prosecutors, often criticized for being servile to the sitting president, say that they are trying to recover more than $4 billion lost to corruption related to the Gupta family’s undue influence on Zuma’s administration. And that is just a small measure of the corruption that has whittled away at virtually every institution in the country, including schools, public housing, the police, the power utility, South African Airways and state enterprises overseeing everything from rail service to the defense industry.

Black infants in America are more than twice as likely to die as white infants — 11.3 per 1,000 black babies, compared with 4.9 per 1,000 white babies

Is this caused by white racism or abusive black boyfriends?

Gang rape continues in India

The victim was an 8-year-old girl in Kashmir who belonged to a nomadic Muslim tribe, and the details are rough. Police say that she was lured away from the horses she was grazing, sedated, and raped multiple times by men in a Hindu temple over the course of at least three days. At that point, police say the men killed the girl by hitting her head with a stone, and her body was found in a nearby forest a week after she disappeared. Authorities say that Muslim-Hindu tensions are behind the murder of the girl, known as Asifa. The custodian of the local Hindu temple wanted to frighten away her Bakarwals tribe from the area and saw the girl as a "soft target," say police. The custodian, Sanji Ram, is among eight Hindu men charged in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Two of the eight are police officers accused of taking bribes in their investigation. The murder happened in January 2018, but new court proceedings have inflamed tensions. Thousands of members of a Hindu group linked to the ruling BJP party have marched to demand the release of the suspects, and a large group of Hindu lawyers tried to block the filing of charges at the local court. They claim the men are innocent but will not get a fair trial because the investigating officers are Muslim. Protests and counter-protests are now spreading.

Crime in New York City: Despite being only about 22% of the city’s population, blacks comprised a majority — 52.4% — of murder and non-negligent manslaughter arrests

Hispanics also exceeded their population share, accounting for 35.9% of arrests for these crimes even though they are only 29.1% of the city's population. Despite being almost a third of the city’s population, white suspects accounted for less than 7% of the share. Blacks are a staggering 67.5%t of shooting arrests in New York City, while Hispanics accounted for 29.2% of arrests. Whites were only 2.3% of shooting arrests. In 2016, 88.3% of those arrested for murder or non-negligent manslaughter and 96.7% of those arrested for shootings were black or Hispanic in New York City. Statistics from Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Chicago show a similar story regarding black and Hispanic crime.

A black woman is in jail after trying - and failing - to prove the existence of God to her children

Bahari Warren was driving with her two children — ages 5 and 7 — when she crossed into oncoming traffic and drove straight into a telephone pole. Warren later admitted that she crashed the car on purpose to prove to her children that God was real and would protect them. Warren is facing two counts of child cruelty, and her children are currently with their grandparents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that an electronic fence along the Israel-Egypt border has saved the Jewish state from jihadist attacks or what he believes would be worse — a tide of African migrants

“Were it not for the fence, we would be faced with… severe attacks by Sinai terrorists, and something much worse, a flood of illegal migrants from Africa,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as telling a development conference in the southern Israel desert town of Dimona. The interior ministry says that there are currently some 42,000 African migrants in Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, and the government has ordered that thousands of them must leave or face indefinite imprisonment. The frontier with Israel’s Negev desert has since been given a 124 mile hi-tech fence and the influx has halted. Netanyahu said that a tide of non-Jewish immigration would threaten the very fabric of Israel. “We are talking about a Jewish and democratic state, but how could we assure a Jewish and democratic state with 50,000 and then 100,000 and 150,000 migrants a year,” Netanyahu said. “After a million, 1.5 million, we might as well shut up shop,” he added. “We did not close down, we built a fence.”

Austria's capital Vienna once again defended its position as the city offering the best quality of life in the world, while Iraq's capital Baghdad remains the worst in an annual survey from consulting firm Mercer

Europe has eight of the world's top 10 most pleasant cities: Germany and Switzerland each have three cities in the top 10, while New Zealand, Canada and Australia each have one. With a population of 1.8 million, Vienna topped the survey for the ninth year in a row, boasting a vibrant cultural scene, comprehensive health care and moderate housing costs. Vienna is followed by Switzerland's Zurich and then New Zealand's Auckland and Germany's Munich in joint third. Vancouver, ranked fifth, offers the best quality of living in North America. Singapore at 25 and Montevideo at 77 topped the Asian and Latin American places. The best African entry on the list was South Africa's Durban in 89th place.

One of Israel’s most senior religious leaders, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, has stoked controversy after calling black people “monkeys”

Yosef made the remarks while citing a hypothetical story about encountering a black person in the United States. He then referred to black people using the pejorative Hebrew word “kushi” and called a black person a “monkey.” Yosef, who is the most senior rabbi in one of two mainstream strands of Orthodox Judaism, was addressing a religious legal question when he made the remarks. It is not the first time the religious leader has caused controversy with his sermons. In May 2017, Yosef compared secular women to animals because they dressed immodestly. In March 2016, Yosef was forced to retract a comment that non-Jews should not live in Israel. He said that he was speaking theoretically and in practice non-Jews could live in Israel if they kept religious laws such as not committing idolatry and not eating the limbs from a live animal. He did add that non-Jews in Israel should serve Jews.

Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds, according to a sweeping new study that traced the lives of millions of children

White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way. Black boys raised at the top, however, are more likely to become poor than to stay wealthy in their own adult households. Even when children grow up next to each other with parents who earn similar incomes, black boys fare worse than white boys in 99% of America. Black men raised in the top 1% — by millionaires — were as likely to be incarcerated as white men raised in households earning about $36,000. A black man raised by two parents together - making around $140,000 a year - earns about the same in adulthood as a white man raised by a single mother making $60,000 alone.

A black lawmaker has apologized for saying that Jewish people control the weather

A Washington, DC, council member has apologized after posting a video in which he made anti-Semitic comments, claiming that a Jewish family was controlling the weather. Trayon White, who is currently in his first term on the council, posted a video to his Facebook account of a snowy sky. White can be heard narrating in the background about the cold weather. “It just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y’all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation,” White says in the video. “That’s a model based off the Rothschilds, controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful.” White was apparently referring to the Rothschild family, a prominent business dynasty descended from Jewish banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Many members of DC’s Jewish community quickly condemned White’s comments. “This kind of anti-Semitism is unacceptable in any public official. This so diminishes what America is about and adds to the oppressive feeling going on in the country right now,” Rabbi Daniel Zemel of Temple Micah in Northwest Washington said.

This year's happiest place on Earth is Finland, according to an annual UN report - toppling Norway from the top spot

Nordic countries regularly appear in the top five, while war-hit countries and a number in sub-Saharan Africa regularly appear in the bottom five. Burundi was the least happy, taking over from the Central African Republic. The survey ranks some 156 countries by their happiness levels. Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland were the other countries in the top five. Britain and the United States came in at 19th and 18th places respectively. This year's biggest loser is Venezuela, which dropped 20 places to 102nd.

A recent study has found that African Americans with a common genetic variation are at an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, while European Americans who have the same variation are not

"This correlation only shows up in African-Americans. We have some ideas but aren't sure why," says study author Elizabeth McAninch from Rush University Medical Center. The variation, which is a Thr92AlaD2 polymorphism, affects an enzyme that activates thyroid hormone and almost half the population are carriers. The study, which was undertaken specifically to investigate the association between Thr92AlaD2 polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease, looked at data from three long-term studies conducted at Rush between 1993 and 2012. The Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP) involved 3,656 participants, 2321 of whom were African American, who underwent cognitive testing in three-year cycles for more than 18 years. The Religious Orders Study (ROS), and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) included 1,707 European Americans without known dementia who underwent yearly assessment. McAninch says that it was through analyzing the CHAP data, which involved both African Americans and European Americans, that the huge discrepancy in risk for Alzheimer's disease dementia was observed. The study found that African Americans with the Thr92AlaD2 polymorphism were at a 30% greater risk for Alzheimer's disease dementia than African Americans without the polymorphism. However, the variation was not associated with an increased risk of the disease among European Americans. The authors add that minorities generally tend to be understudied in medical research and that more, larger studies are now needed to evaluate the risk of Alzheimer’s among African Americans. The team is now planning to investigate further to try to understand why African-Americans are at this increased risk, while European-Americans are not.

By studying the genetic data from more than 240,000 people, scientists have found 538 genes which are linked to intelligence

Apparently intelligence is linked to how well brain cells communicate with each other.

Pakistanis continue to molest white children in Britain

It seems that the British want to continue turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children in the name of diversity.

Blacks and Hispanics are 67% of New York City’s school population, but only 10% get spots in elite high schools

It is almost as if blacks and Hispanics are less intelligent than whites and Asians.

South Africa: White farmers will be removed from their land after a landslide vote in parliament

The country's constitution is now likely to be amended to allow for the confiscation of white-owned land without compensation, following a motion brought by radical Marxist opposition leader Julius Malema. It passed by 241 votes for to 83 against and the policy was a key factor in new president Cyril Ramaphosa's platform after he took over from Jacob Zuma in February 2018. Malema said that the time for reconciliation is over.

Religion and human rights in countries around the world

Researchers have found a positive association between the percentage of Christians and human rights in a nation and a negative association between the percentage of Muslims and human rights. In other words, if you think that human rights are a good idea then avoid living in countries that have a growing Muslim population and a shrinking Christian one.

Sub-Saharan African nations account for eight of the 10 fastest growing international migrant populations since 2010

The total number of emigrants worldwide from all sub-Saharan African countries combined grew by 31% between 2010 and 2017, outpacing the rate of increase from both the Asia-Pacific (15%) and Latin America-Caribbean (9%) regions. Some 25 million sub-Saharan migrants lived outside their countries of birth in 2017. The number of international migrants from sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2017 has grown at a higher rate (31%) than in the 2000s (25%) and the 1990s (1%). And as international migration has increased, the breakdown of where sub-Saharan emigrants live has changed. In 1990, 75% of emigrants from the region lived in other sub-Saharan countries, a share that dropped to 68% by 2017. More substantially, the share of sub-Saharan migrants living in European Union countries, Norway and Switzerland rose from 11% in 1990 to 17% in 2017. Looking ahead, the number of international migrants from Africa as a whole is expected to increase in coming decades, due in part to the continent’s growing population.

7.5% of African Americans were unemployed in 2017, compared with 6.7% in 1968 — still roughly twice the white unemployment rate

The rate of homeownership, one of the most important ways for working- and middle-class families to build wealth, has remained virtually unchanged for African Americans in the past 50 years. Black homeownership remains just over 40%, trailing 30 points behind the rate for whites, who have seen modest gains during that time. The share of incarcerated African Americans has nearly tripled between 1968 and 2016. African Americans are 6.4 times as likely than whites to be jailed or imprisoned, compared with 5.4 times as likely in 1968. The wealth gap between white and black Americans has more than tripled in the past 50 years, according to Federal Reserve data. The typical black family had zero wealth in 1968. Today the median net worth of white families — $171,000 — is 10 times that of black families. The hourly wage of a typical black worker grew by just 0.6% a year since 1968. African Americans make 82.5 cents of every dollar earned by the typical white worker. And the typical black household earns 61.6% of the annual income of white households, with black college graduates continuing to make less than white college graduates. Despite the poverty rate dropping from more than a third of black households in 1968 to about a fifth of black households, African Americans are 2½ times as likely to be in poverty than whites.

Japan received a record 19,628 asylum applications in 2017, but only 20 were successful, according to preliminary figures released by the Justice Ministry

There were 8,727 more applications compared with 2016, when 28 people were granted refugee status. Apparently, the Japanese don't see diversity as a strength.

Emotion is turning from shock and anguish to frustration and anger in the Nigerian town of Dapchi, where Boko Haram arrived recently and abducted more than 100 schoolgirls, an attack reminiscent of the mass kidnapping in 2014 of 276 girls from Chibok

Black Muslim savages up to their usual barbarism.

A genome-wide analysis of more than 5,000 opioid users has revealed a gene variant associated with opioid dependence in European-Americans

The new study builds upon earlier work by Yale researchers who identified a different group of variants associated with increased risk of opioid addiction in African Americans. An increased risk of addiction in European Americans was associated with a variant of the gene RGMA, which is involved in cell death and nerve damage. The variant RGMA allele was found more frequently in subjects of European ancestry who were opioid-dependent. RGMA has also been linked to damage caused by stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease. In 2014, researchers identified several variants in African Americans involved in potassium and calcium signaling in nerve cells that were linked to increased risk of opioid addiction. That genome-wide association study failed to turn up gene variants linked to dependency in European Americans. When study population was expanded, the link to RGMA was found. The study also provided more limited evidence that an RGMA variant increases risk for opioid dependence in African Americans, but the association was much stronger among people of European ancestry.

The most common type of intermarriage in the United States is between a partner who is white and one who is Hispanic of any race – those relationships accounted for 38% of all intermarriages in 2010

White-Asian couples accounted for another 14% of intermarriages, and white-black couples made up 8%. In 2008, 22% of black male newlyweds chose partners of another race, compared to just 9% of black female newlyweds. The gender pattern is the opposite among Asians. While 40% of Asian females married outside their race in 2008, just 20% of Asian male newlyweds did the same. For whites and Hispanics though, there was no gender differences. While 72% of black respondents said that it would be fine with them if a family member chose to marry someone of another racial or ethnic group, 61% of whites and 63% of Hispanics said the same. More specifically though, Americans aren’t comfortable with specific kinds of intermarriage. A survey found that acceptance of out-marriage to whites (81%) was higher than is acceptance of out-marriage to Asians (75%), Hispanics (73%) or blacks (66%). Systematic incarceration of young black men, together with higher death rates contribute to the fact that black women are much less likely to get married than women of any other race or ethnicity in the United States. This, together with higher black unemployment rates means that black individuals make up a relatively small share of all marriages, including intermarriages.

A black Church of England vicar has been caught on video inhaling from a crack pipe and discussing prostitutes

Footage shows the Rev Stennett Kirby, a vicar in East London, snorting cocaine and saying: "I'm a very happy man". The 64-year-old Protestant clergyman was seen sitting on a sofa with a friend, watching porn and talking about escorts. Kirby is the vicar of West Ham Parish Church in Stratford and has held the position since 2007. The video shows him lighting up a pipe and separately snorting powdered cocaine. He was talking about paying for a female escort, saying: "I wish I could. If I had money, I would. I've only got £10 left."

Indonesia is moving toward outlawing gay sex — and even sex outside marriage — in a jarring change for a country long seen as a bastion of tolerance in the Islamic world

The proposed sexual crackdown in the Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 260 million people — the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and third-largest democracy — is drawing criticism at home and abroad from human rights organizations and LGBT activists. They warn that penal-code revisions now under consideration in parliament would discriminate against large numbers of people, promote extremist views and reverse democratic gains. LGBT Indonesians are often rejected by their families or the victims of violence within the family. In cases of gay sex, the proposed changes call for prison sentences for acts committed in public, with a minor or when used for commercial or pornographic purposes. Police began using existing pornography laws in 2017 to crack down on gay parties.

Jews make up 26% of the 250 richest people in South Africa, despite constituting only 0.14% of the population

For some reason the New York Times has a problem with anti-white bigotry in South Africa but not in the United States.

Israeli authorities have begun distributing deportation notices to thousands of African refugees and migrants, who have been threatened with jail if they do not leave the country

About 60,000 migrants, nearly all from Eritrea and Sudan, crossed Israel’s border with Egypt before the government erected a fence along the desert frontier. Many were fleeing persecution and violence. Roughly 20,000 have already been expelled, according to the Israeli government. The Jewish nation has granted asylum to fewer than 1% of those who have applied and has a years-long backlog of applicants. Israel's Population and Immigration Authority told asylum-seekers that they would be sent to an unnamed country with a "stable government" that has "developed tremendously over the last decade and has absorbed thousands of returning residents as well as migrants from various African countries". The Israeli government has refused to publicly name the country but officials have indicated migrants would be sent to Rwanda. Many of those ordered to leave have expressed fear of being sent to the East African nation and said that they would rather be sent to prison. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the migrants “illegal infiltrators” and claimed that their presence was a threat to Israel’s social fabric and Jewish character. One government minister has referred to the migrants as “a cancer”. “We have expelled about 20,000 and now the mission is to get the rest out,” Netanyahu said.

Haitian superstition: Two sisters tied down and burned a 5-year-old girl, permanently disfiguring her, in a voodoo ritual meant to rid her of a demon causing her to misbehave, police said.

The women also threatened to cut off the head of the girl’s 8-year-old brother with a machete, authorities said. Peggy LaBossiere, 51, and Rachel Hilaire, 40, denied injuring the girl and threatening the boy. Police say that the girl’s mother is a hair stylist of Haitian descent who has LaBossiere as a client and requested the ritual. Voodoo refers to religious practises developed centuries ago by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, primarily in Haiti, where the practises are sometimes spelled “vodou.”

You are less likely to be murdered in Europe than in the United States

The lower homicide rates in Europe probably has something to do with the fact that Europe is less diverse than the United States.

The crime rate among illegal immigrants in Arizona is twice that of other residents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said, citing a new report based on conviction data

The report, from the Crime Prevention Research Center, used a previously untapped set of data from Arizona that detailed criminal convictions and found that illegal immigrants between 15 and 35 are less than 3% of the state’s population, but nearly 8% of its prison population. The type of person who goes through the process to legally immigrate in the United States appears to be very law-abiding versus even the U.S.-born population. The reverse is true for illegal immigrants — they are committing crimes, and more serious crimes. Among nearly 4,000 first- and second-degree murder convictions, illegal immigrants accounted for nearly 13% — significantly higher than their percentage of the population. Legal immigrants, by contrast, were less than 1% of convicts. Native-born made up the rest. Illegal immigrants also accounted for five times the rate of convictions for money laundering and kidnapping, and were three times more likely to be convicted of drive-by shootings. The data covered from 1985 to 2017.

In analyzing federal data for an in-depth examination of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, researchers found that the six-year graduation rates at 20 schools were 20% or lower in 2015

This means that four of five beginning freshmen at those schools didn’t earn a degree within six years.

Some prosecutors argue that IQ tests are biased against blacks so it would be racist not to execute black murderers with IQs less than 70

Prosecutors in at least eight states have been hiring experts to testify about the "racist" nature of IQ, in order to kill more blacks and Hispanics.

Black individuals with cancer are 25% more likely to die of their disease than white patients

Although persisting across tumor types, this disparity is particularly evident among black women, whose population-based breast cancer mortality rate is 42% higher than white women, and among black men with prostate cancer, who are more than twice as likely to die as white men. For decades, researchers attributed higher mortality rates to socioeconomic factors such as inadequate health insurance, fewer years of education and lower income. However, research now supports the hypothesis that tumor biologic differences among blacks could have a greater impact on response to treatment and outcomes. “I do not dispute that socioeconomic disadvantages are always going to play a huge role in terms of access to care and, ultimately, outcomes from any health threat,” Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, director of the breast oncology program at Henry Ford Health System, said. “But, when it comes to breast cancer, there are so many powerful clues suggesting the contribution of tumor biology linked to African ancestry that it’s bad science for us to close our eyes to it and not explore it fully.”

An Amnesty International survey of 385 Central American migrants suggests that Mexican authorities routinely force people to return to dangerous conditions in their home countries

Apparently the Mexican government does not want people migrating to Mexico.

Saudi Arabia is holding its annual month-long camel festival — and cheaters are not welcome

With around $60 million up for grabs in races and show competitions, unscrupulous owners have been drugging animals and even giving them Botox injections in an attempt to win camel beauty pageants. At least a dozen camels have already been disqualified for Botox, which can give camels the full lips that judges look for. "They use Botox for the lips, the nose, the upper lips, the lower lips, and even the jaw," says the son of a top Emirati camel breeder. "It makes the head more inflated so when the camel comes it’s like, 'Oh look at how big is that head is. It has big lips, a big nose.'" According Saudi media, one veterinarian was caught actually performing plastic surgery on camels to give them the small, delicate ears also considered beautiful. Anti-cheating measures include blood tests, microchipping — and requiring owners to swear on the Koran about their animal's age.

Comic book readers are apparently not fans of progressive politics — a fact no more evident in Marvel’s decision to cancel every single one of its comics that has been nominated by the LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD

In December 2017, the publisher announced its decision to cancel many of its comics, citing poor sales. LGBTQ, feminist, and social justice-themed comics involving stories that revolved around Black Lives Matter, illegal immigration, and LGBTQ issues were among those to end up on the chopping block. At a New York Comic Con panel in October 2017, Marvel executives faced tough questions from retailers who complained about the company’s social justice push, with poor-selling products that took up valuable inventory space on store shelves. GLAAD’s 2018 Outstanding Comic Book category included several of the canceled comics for their contributions to “queer culture” and social justice. As has been the case with these sort of cancellations in the past, it’s not difficult to understand the why of Marvel’s decision. The publisher is, above all else, in the business of making money, and if certain comics don’t sell, it makes sense to cut them. The lineup includes “America,” featuring a teenage Latina girl named America Chavez, whose stories revolve around her life as a queer immigrant in college. The comic’s author, Gabby Rivera, is an outspoken “Latinx” writer who goes on periodic rants about “sexism,” “antiblackness,” and President Trump on social media. Another GLAAD-nominated comic to get the axe is “Black Panther: World of Wakanda,” written by feminist and “body positive” activist Roxane Gay, and black writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose other comic, “Black Panther & The Crew,” was also canceled earlier in 2017 following dismal sales. Sina Grace’s “Iceman,” which reimagines the classic character as a gay man who “comes out of the closet” later in life, was also canceled in December 2017. According to the author, the comic was a “hard sell for retailers.” ComicChron, which collects comic book sales figures, reported that “Iceman” sold around 15,000 comics when it first launched in July 2017 — a figure that decreased by almost 30% by the end of the year. None of the three titles managed to break past the top-100 rankings, selling a fraction of Marvel’s own “Star Wars” lineup, and DC’s “Batman,” “Justice League,” and “Suicide Squad” comics. Aside from DC’s “Batwoman,” which showed relatively poor sales throughout 2017, the rest of the comics that picked up nominations from GLAAD are largely published by BOOM! Studios, selling fewer than 3000 copies each month — a far cry from DC’s “Doomsday Clock,” which sold 158,000 copies in December 2017. The Marvel titles on the awards slate have been widely derided on social media for being hamfisted, sociopolitically-charged drivel.

Most people know about, but few are willing to condemn, the strict taboo in the media, of criticizing Jews as a group, using that term

Charles Bausman writes about the Jew Taboo.

British and Canadian tourists in Jamaica have been warned not to venture from resorts in Montego Bay after a state of emergency was imposed in response to a spate of deadly shootings

Soldiers have been deployed on the streets in St. James parish after a series of killings led to a military response. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the extra security measures were necessary to “restore public safety” in the St. James area. Chief of defense, Major General Rocky Meade, said that Jamaican armed forces were targeting gangs, with "particular focus on those that are responsible for murders, lotto scamming, trafficking of arms and guns, and extortion.” The British Foreign Office warned British citizens to stay in their hotels. Canadians were also urged to stay in resorts after a spike in violent crime in the St. James parish. Tourists have been warned to avoid traveling to the area, citing "an extreme risk to your personal safety and security," and to remain within the resort compounds if they are already there. The latest State Department travel advisory issued January 10, 2018 warns Americans to exercise “extreme caution” when traveling to Jamaica. It warns Americans not to travel to areas including some areas of Kingston and Montego Bay. “Violence and shootings occur regularly in some areas of Montego Bay,” it warns. "Violent crime, such as home invasions, armed robberies, and homicide, is common. Sexual assaults occur frequently, even at all-inclusive resorts. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents." This year has seen murder rates in Jamaica continuing to spiral, with at least 38 homicides committed since the start of 2018. This is up from 23 over a similar period last year. St James parish saw the highest number of killings, with 335 recorded in 2017.

Toronto police are disputing an 11-year-old Muslim girl's claim that her hijab was cut by a scissors-wielding man as she walked to school

Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said that an extensive investigation was conducted and police concluded it did not happen. The sixth-grader, her mother, and her younger brother held a news conference at her school during which Khawlah Noman said that she was walking to school with her younger brother when a man came up behind her, pulled off her jacket hood, and started cutting the bottom of her hijab. She said that she turned around, screamed, and the man ran away. She also said that the man returned a short time later and continued to cut her hijab from behind before he smiled and ran away. Her mother called on police to treat it as a hate crime. The story made international headlines and drew public condemnation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "It's something that received, quite understandably, a lot of media and social media attention and I know it caused significant concern, as it should," Pugash said. Pugash declined to say whether the girl acknowledged that it didn't happen. He said that police wouldn't take a step like this unless they were absolutely confident.

Only 4% of white graduates who never attended a for-profit defaulted within 12 years of entry, compared to 67% of black dropouts who ever attended a for-profit

Debt and default among black college students is at crisis levels, and even a bachelor’s degree is no guarantee of security: black BA graduates default at five times the rate of white BA graduates (21% versus 4%), and are more likely to default than white dropouts. The overall student loan default rate among Asians since 2004 is 6.2%, among whites 12.4%, among Hispanics 20.0%, and among blacks 37.5%.

In their 2016 report, Stanford researchers found that black students in Seattle tested three and a half grade levels behind their white peers

In an update in 2017, they found that the gap had widened to 3.7 grade levels.

Red-haired women, but not red-haired men, are more sensitive to pain

Red hair is also associated with a higher risk of developing endometriosis, Parkinson's disease, and decreased platelet function. A new study has confirmed that red hair, especially in women, is linked to certain health issues. In a sample of over seven thousand participants, red-haired women did worse than other women in ten health categories and better in only three, being especially prone to colorectal, cervical, uterine, and ovarian cancer. Red-haired men seemed as healthy as other men, doing better in three categories and worse in three. Reproductive success, i.e., number of children, was the only category where redheads of both sexes did better than other respondents. This study has also confirmed that red hair is naturally more frequent in women than in men. To a lesser degree, the same is true for blond hair and green eyes. These bright colors seem to result from a selection pressure that mainly targeted women, perhaps sexual selection.

Of the major racial and ethnic groups, white adults who are in a cohabiting relationship are the least likely to be living with a partner of a different race or ethnicity (12%)

This share rises to 20% among black cohabiters and 24% among Hispanic cohabiters. These rates are very similar to intermarriage rates among white (11%), black (18%) and Hispanic (27%) newlyweds. The story is different for Asian adults who cohabit. Almost half (46%) are living with a partner of a different race or ethnicity. This is far higher than the share of Asian newlyweds who are intermarried (29%). One factor that might partially explain this difference is that a larger share of Asian cohabiters (39%) than Asian newlyweds (25%) were born in the United States, and U.S.-born Asians are more likely than those who are foreign born to have a spouse or partner of a different race or ethnicity. (Among Asian immigrants who cohabit, 38% have partners of a different race or ethnicity compared with 59% of Asian cohabiters who are U.S. born.)

The largest study to date of population-based cancer survival in the United States shows significant disparities in survival rates over a five-year period between blacks and whites for nine of the leading 10 cancers in the country studied

The study, which covers the years 2001 to 2003 and 2004 to 2009 in the United States, follows and draws on the 2015 worldwide CONCORD2 cancer study published in England. It shows lower survival rates for black women compared to white women with breast, cervical, or ovarian cancers, as well as lower survival rates among black men with prostate cancer compared to white men with the disease, and lower survival rates for blacks compared to whites for a number of other cancers including colon, rectal, and lung. Survival rates are low over a five-year-period for stomach cancer, which showed only small differences between whites and blacks, as are survival rates for liver cancer. Black children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the one cancer studied in children, also had lower survival rates compared to white children. The American Cancer Society's report, "Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans 2016-2018," shows results similar to the just published study. The ACS report, looking at data from 2008 to 2012, said black men have a 12% higher incidence of cancer compared to white men, as well as a death rate from all cancers combined that is 27% higher. The ACS report found black women to have a 6% lower risk of a cancer diagnosis than white women, but a 14% higher risk of cancer death. Death rates for breast and uterine cancers for black women are said to be 42% higher for breast cancer than for white women and 92% higher for uterine cancer. Breast cancer survival was high between 2001 and 2009, but there were wide and persistent differences in survival between black women and white women. Colon cancer survival showed little improvement between 2001 and 2009. Five-year survival among black patients has yet to reach that of white patients who were diagnosed 15 to 20 years earlier. Lung cancer survival improved slightly between 2001 and 2009, but was lower among black people than white people. Cervical cancer survival stayed at about 64% between 2001 to 2003 and 2004 to 2009. The survival rate for black women was lower than the survival rate for white women in both time periods. Ovarian cancer survival was about 40% between 2001 and 2009. Large and consistent racial differences were seen in most states, and black women have lower survival than white women.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the presence of African immigrants a threat to Israel's social fabric and Jewish character

Netanyahu cited the large presence of African migrants in Tel Aviv's poorer neighborhoods, where he said "veteran residents" - a reference to Israelis - no longer feel safe. Why is it wrong to keep America and Europe white but alright to keep Israel Jewish?

Black illegal aliens are roughly three times as crime prone as illegal immigrants overall

Blacks are only 7% of non-citizens in the United States, but they make up 20% of those facing deportation on criminal grounds.

A black New Yorker is 50 times more likely to commit a shooting than a white New Yorker

Proactive policing still matters. Police critics who assiduously ignored the 20% increase in the national homicide rate over the previous two years have suddenly become enthusiastic purveyors of crime statistics. Fueling their newfound interest in crime data is the announcement that the New York City homicide rate is at a near-60-year low. That homicide drop shows that proactive policing is irrelevant to crime levels, say these policing skeptics. New York City’s formerly high-crime neighborhoods have experienced a stunning degree of gentrification over the last 15 years, thanks to the proactive-policing-induced conquest of crime. It is that gentrification which is now helping fuel the ongoing crime drop. Urban hipsters are flocking to areas that once were the purview of drug dealers and pimps, trailing in their wake legitimate commerce and street life, which further attracts law-abiding activity and residents in a virtuous cycle of increasing public safety. The degree of demographic change is startling. In Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, for example, the number of white residents rose 1,235% from 2000 to 2015, while the black population decreased by 17%. In Bushwick, Brooklyn, the number of whites rose 610% over that same decade and a half; the black population was down 22%. Central Harlem’s white population rose 846%; the black share dropped 10%. In 2000, whites were about three-quarters of the black population in Brownsville-Ocean Hill; by 2015, there were twice as many whites as blacks. In 2000, whites were one-third of the black population in Crown Heights North and Prospect Heights; now they exceed the black population by 20,000.

The epidemic of drug overdoses, often perceived as a largely white rural problem, made striking inroads among black Americans last year — particularly in urban counties where fentanyl has become widespread

These are the first numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to break down 2016 mortality along geographic and racial lines. They reveal that the drug death rate is rising most steeply among blacks, with those between the ages of 55 and 64 hit hardest. Drug deaths among blacks in urban counties rose by 41% in 2016, far outpacing any other ethnic group. In those same counties, the drug death rate among whites rose by 19%. The data suggests that the common perception of the epidemic as an almost entirely white problem rooted in over-prescription of painkillers is not accurate, as fentanyl, often stealthily, invades broader swaths of the country and its population. Driven by the continued surge in drug deaths, life expectancy in the United States dropped for the second year in a row last year. It is the first consecutive decline in national life expectancy since 1963. Drug overdoses have now surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 55. Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, said it appeared that many of the black deaths were among older men who had become addicted to heroin during a previous epidemic in the 1970s. “Despite beating the odds for the past 40 to 50 years,” he said, “they’re dying because the heroin supply has never been so dangerous — increasingly it’s got fentanyl in it or it’s just fentanyl sold as heroin.” Fentanyl-laced cocaine, too, may be playing a role. A recent study found that cocaine-related overdose deaths were nearly as common among black men between 2012 and 2015 as deaths from prescription opioids in white men over the same period. Cocaine-related deaths were slightly more common in black women during that period than deaths from heroin among white women, according to the study. But it also found that the largest recent increases in overdose deaths among blacks were attributed to heroin. One of the researchers, David Thomas of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said that he did not know whether some of the cocaine-attributed deaths in the study were from fentanyl. The study, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also found that the recent rise in overdose death rates was sharpest among older blacks. The same held true last year in New York City. In Ohio, which had the nation’s second-highest overdose rate last year (West Virginia was first), the medical examiner in Cuyahoga County told a U.S. Senate subcommittee in May 2017 that a fast-rising rate of fentanyl-related deaths among blacks was probably a result of drug dealers mixing fentanyl with cocaine. In Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, fentanyl contributed to the death of five black people in 2014, 25 in 2015 and 58 in 2016, although both opioids and cocaine still kill far more whites than blacks there.

Automation is bad for Latinos

According to a Pew report, Latinos are far more likely than whites and blacks to cite automation as the key cause for why their hours or pay have been reduced, or even why they lost a job. In an effort to gauge the impact of automation on different racial groups, the Brookings Institution’s Muro and Whiton assessed the “automation potential” — a measure developed by McKinsey that pertains to how many tasks can be automated using today’s technology — for the 20 occupations in which each racial group is most concentrated. They then compared that to the number of workers in each occupation. Latinos, the researchers found, face the highest automation potential at close to 60%, followed by blacks at 50%, Asians at almost 40%, and whites at roughly 25%. Without digital skills, Latinos can be automated out of jobs that extend far beyond the construction and hospitality sectors: According to Brookings, the share of jobs that don’t require workers to have experience beyond basic digital skills — such as knowing how to use Excel and Word — has fallen from 56% to 30% between 2002 to 2012. Automation threatens to exacerbate a pattern in which Latinos are stuck at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

The Department of Justice has released new quarterly numbers, as required through an executive order signed by President Trump earlier in 2017, detailing how many foreign born individuals are currently incarcerated in the U.S. federal prison system

According to the numbers, one-in-five individuals were born outside of the United States and a significant number are illegal aliens. A total of 58,766 known or suspected aliens were in DOJ custody at the end of FY 2017, including 39,455 persons in BOP custody and 19,311 in USMS custody. Of this total, 37,557 people had been confirmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be aliens (i.e., non-citizens and non-nationals), while 21,209 foreign-born people were still under investigation by ICE to determine alienage. Among the 37,557 confirmed aliens, 35,334 people (94%) were unlawfully present. These numbers include a 92% unlawful rate among 24,476 confirmed aliens in BOP custody and a 97% unlawful rate among 13,081 confirmed aliens in USMS custody. This report does not include data on the foreign-born or alien populations in state prisons and local jails because state and local facilities do not routinely provide DHS or DOJ with comprehensive information about their inmates and detainees. This limitation is noteworthy because state and local facilities account for approximately 90% of the total U.S. incarcerated population. DHS and DOJ are working to develop a reliable methodology for estimating the status of state and local incarcerated populations in future reports. Illegal alien incarceration costs American taxpayers nearly $2 billion each year.

Black babies in the United States die at just over two times the rate of white babies in the first year of their life

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every 1,000 live births, 4.8 white infants die in the first year of life. For black babies, that number is 11.7. The Hispanic infant mortality rate is 5.2. The majority of those black infants that die are born premature because black mothers have a higher risk of going into early labor.

A new study reveals that in Mexico darker skin is strongly associated with decreased wealth and less schooling

Race is the single most important determinant of a Mexican citizen’s economic and educational attainment. In Mexico, people with white skin complete more years of schooling than those with browner skin – 10 years versus 6.5. That’s a stunning 45% gap in educational achievement between the darkest- and lightest-skinned Mexicans. The average Mexican household income in the study was about US$193 a month. Citizens with lighter skin reported bringing in more than that – on average, $220 a month. Darker-skinned citizens, on the other hand, earned just $137 – 41.5% less than their white compatriots. Overall, populations identified as having the lightest skin fall into the highest wealth brackets in Mexico, while those with the darkest skin are concentrated at the bottom. Only 2.5% of white Mexicans surveyed don’t have running water, while upwards of 11% of dark-skinned citizens lack this basic necessity. Likewise, just 7.5% of white Mexicans reported lacking an in-home bathroom, versus 20% of dark-skinned Mexicans.

A young woman born to Indian parents with red hair, white skin and freckles has spent her life being shunned and bullied because people think she's diseased

Pooja Ganatra, 24, who was born in Mumbai, has flaming ginger hair, deep emerald eyes and white skin - like that of a stereotypical Gaelic woman. But the proud Indian was actually born to typically Indian parents who thought her freckles were a birth defect - and have no idea where her unusual looks come from. Ganatra's appearance, believed to stem from her ancestors, has made her feel like a foreigner in her own country - with Indians staring and asking for pictures. It could be her appearance was triggered by an evolutionary throwback, called atavism, to genes that had been passed down from her ancestors after laying dormant for years. Because of her complexion, strangers are often shocked to discover that she speaks Hindi and try to charge her tourist prices because they think she is a backpacker. Her unusual appearance also saw her rushed to hospital as a child over fears she had a skin disease. Her insecurities were intensified as a teenager by the overwhelming pressure to conform to Indian standards of beauty.

The stereotype of a tortured genius may have a basis in reality after a new study found that people with higher IQs are more at risk of developing mental illness

A team of researchers surveyed 3,715 members of Mensa with an IQ higher than 130. An “average IQ score” or “normal IQ score” can be defined as a score between 85 and 115. The team asked the Mensa members to report whether they had been diagnoses with mental illnesses, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were also asked to report mood and anxiety disorders, or whether they suspected they suffered from any mental illnesses that had yet to be diagnosed, as well as physiological diseases, like food allergies and asthma. After comparing this with the statistical national average for each illness they found that those in the Mensa community had considerably higher rates of varying disorders. While 10% of the general population were diagnosed with anxiety disorder, that rose to 20% among the Mensa community. The research was based on a model which suggests that intelligent people with "hyper brains" are more reactive to environmental stimulus and that “may predispose them to certain psychological disorders as well as physiological conditions involving elevated sensory and altered immune and inflammatory responses". The study seemed to confirm this, as it suggested that because of their increased awareness levels, those with higher IQs react more to their environment. This creates a hyper brain/hyper body scenario, where they display a hyperactive central nervous system. “Unique intensities and over-excitabilities... can be at once both remarkable and disabling on many levels,” the study’s authors wrote. “A significant portion of these individuals are suffering on a daily basis as a result of their unique emotional and physical over-excitabilities." Even small stimuli like a strange sound or the brush of a clothing tag "trigger a low level, chronic stress response which then activates a hyper body response,” Dr Nicole Tetreault of California’s Pitzer University and the study’s co-author, said. However, the study pointed out that a high IQ was not the cause of mental illness, but it could be correlated with the highly intelligent community. "Intelligence research most often focuses on the flashes of lightning seen in this rare population, however in order to serve this group of individuals fully we must not neglect to acknowledge the rumbles of thunder that follow in the wake of their brilliance," they wrote.

Why do Jews hate Trump and Putin so much?

Steve Sailer tries to explain Jewish paranoia.

In the second poorest municipality in one of Mexico’s poorest states, girls under the age of 15 are being sold by their fathers as virgin brides for 180,000 pesos (US $9,400), or in many cases even less

In the last 17 years, more than 300 young women have been forced into marriages of that type in Metlatónoc, Guerrero, according to a human rights center in the Montaña region where the municipality is located. In most cases, the fathers of prospective grooms pay the fathers of young daughters so that their sons can have a teenage, virgin girl as a wife. If a higher price is quoted, the typical response is “they don’t want her as a whore,” Melitón Hernández, a police chief in the town of Yuvi’nani, said. A local lawyer and advisor to the municipal trustee said that the tradition is engrained in society, above all among the indigenous Mixtec Tu’un Savi people. “It’s an old practice that we can’t eradicate even though the law says that the practice is a crime, specifically human trafficking,” Serafín Nava Ortiz said. Another lawyer, who works for the Tlachinollan human rights center in Tlapa, has worked on more than 100 forced marriage cases over the past 17 years in which she has tried to convince parents of girls to alter their opinions about the practice. Girls who refuse to get married at such a young age turn to the center to act as a mediator with their parents, Neil Arias explained. Often, she believes she is successful in changing the parents’ minds but admitted that once they left the center’s doors, she didn’t know what the final outcome would be. “How many marriages end up being carried out or are left unregistered? It’s unknown. It’s a hidden figure, the cases are still constant,” she said. In its 2017 annual report, the Tlachinollan center stressed that the practice has lost all of its traditional significance to become nothing more than a “commercial exchange” that infringes on a girl’s body and dignity and “could result in the crime of human trafficking” being committed. Treated like objects and the private property of their husbands, the girls and are forced into sexual relationships without giving prior consent, the center said. Cases of rape, family conflict and breakdown and monetary disputes have all been reported in relation to the practice. At least one man has also been imprisoned on human trafficking charges despite arguing that he acted in good faith in accordance with his community’s traditions and customs. In an interview, even the police chief admitted buying wives for his sons, saying that three years ago he paid 110,000 pesos (US $5,735) for a 14-year-old bride. Asked where he got the money from, Hernández responded, “I was on the other side [United States]. I brought about 300,000 pesos from there . . .” he explained. Years earlier, he paid 130,000 pesos for a wife for his eldest son. Others sell goats, pigs or land to raise the funds, Hernández explained, adding openly that many men also cultivate opium poppies. He also joked about buying his own wife, saying flippantly that he paid “50 pesos about 55 years ago.”

Britain: The vast majority of men convicted of grooming young white girls – 84% – are of Asian origin

The study by the renowned counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam says that of these, seven in ten are believed to be of Pakistani-Muslim heritage. Asian gangs have deliberately abused white girls because they hold entrenched racist attitudes towards them as being easy targets for sex, according to the report, which is based on the testimonies of convicted Asian men during court hearings. In 2012, nine British Pakistani men were convicted of abusing under-age white girls. Although the testimonies of three victims led to the convictions of the gang members, police believe the group abused and trafficked as many as 47 white girls. A separate grooming gang from Rochdale involving ten more men was convicted at a trial in 2015.

A team of researchers has helped to construct the first genetic map of the people of Ireland

Researchers led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the Genealogical Society of Ireland have published The Irish DNA Atlas: Revealing Fine-Scale Population Structure and History within Ireland. The research provides the first fine-scale genetic map of Ireland, revealing the first evidence of 10 distinct genetic clusters on the island, which roughly align themselves with the country’s historic provinces and major historic movements of people. The Irish DNA Atlas was compiled from DNA samples of almost 200 individuals with four generations of ancestry linked to specific areas across the island of Ireland. These samples were then compared with thousands of samples from across Britain and Europe, revealing seven distinct clusters of Gaelic Irish ancestry, and three of shared British-Irish ancestry. The RCSI’s Edmund Gilbert, first author on the paper, said of the findings: “Our work informs on Irish history; we have demonstrated that the structure emerging from genetic similarity within Ireland mirrors historical kingdoms of Ireland, and that Ireland acts as a sink of Celtic ancestry. Additionally, we find evidence of a west-Norwegian-like ancestry that we believe is a signature of the Norse Vikings. We also observe the impact of historical events, such as the Ulster Plantations, on the DNA of the people of Ireland.”

Stories of midnight attacks by blood-sucking vampires are causing problems in Malawi, southeastern Africa

Blacks in Africa are killing each other over superstitious nonsense.

The achievement gaps between racial groups in New York City appear as soon as students begin taking state tests and get worse over time, according to a new analysis of state test-score data

Black and Hispanic students score below their white and Asian peers beginning in third grade, then fall further behind as they move into middle school, according to a report released by the city’s Independent Budget Office. The analysis follows roughly 71,000 individual students who entered third grade in 2008, tracking their state standardized test scores through seventh grade (in math) and eighth grade (in reading). The study, which includes students in traditional and charter schools, controls for factors such as students’ disability status, poverty level, and the schools they attended — suggesting that racial gaps cut across different schools and student groups. Roughly a third of black and Hispanic students in that 2008-09 cohort landed in the bottom quartile on the reading tests — meaning they earned lower scores than 75% or more of test-takers. By contrast, just 13% of white and Asian students fell in that lowest tier. The gaps were similar in math, with Asians doing a little better than whites and Hispanics narrowly outperforming blacks. Over time, black students in that cohort fell further behind. By eighth grade, 33% scored in the lowest quartile in reading — a 4 percentage point increase from third grade. In math, 35% were low-performing, a 3-point increase. Meanwhile, the share of white and Asian students in the bottom rungs of reading and math grew smaller. By the end of middle school, the percentage of Hispanic students in the bottom quartile in reading had shrunk by 3 points — narrowing from 33% to 30%. In math, it stayed the same: 30%. That slight improvement in reading helped narrow their gap a tiny bit with their white peers, but not with Asians. If black and Hispanic students were over-represented in the bottom rungs of achievement — Asians dominated the top. In third grade, nearly half of Asian students scored above the 75th percentile — a larger share than any other racial group. In reading, they landed slightly behind white students. By eighth grade, Asian students had widened their lead in math, with 59% making it into the top quartile — a 10-point leap from third grade. And in reading, 49% reached the top rung. In both subjects, they made up a larger percentage of top scorers than all other racial groups, including whites. In both reading and math, black boys represented a far greater share of low-performing students than boys in any other racial category. By the end of middle school, 41% of black boys scored in the bottom quartile in reading, and 38% were low-performing in math. White boys, by contrast, had just 14% in the bottom rung in reading, and 10% in math.

A Mexican man who was deported from the United States 20 times has been convicted of 10 counts including sexual assault in Oregon

Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison in a Portland courtroom after pleading guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault, sodomy and several other counts. Martinez smiled throughout the trial, and as he left, he gave one grim parting shot to his two victims' relatives: "See all you guys in Hell."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told advisers that non-Orthodox Jews will disappear from the United States within two generations because of assimilation and low birthrates

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer has also reportedly been making such predictions.

According to a 2011 Obama Administration report, blacks were 7.6 times more likely to be homicide offenders than were whites

Black writer is terrified that artificial intelligence will be just as "racist" as white human intelligence.

Scientists have drawn on nearly 1,000 brain scans to confirm what many had surely concluded long ago: that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains

Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men's brains, where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions. Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men's brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women's for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking. "If you look at functional studies, the left of the brain is more for logical thinking, the right of the brain is for more intuitive thinking. So if there's a task that involves doing both of those things, it would seem that women are hardwired to do those better," Verma said. "Women are better at intuitive thinking. Women are better at remembering things. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved – they will listen more." She added: "I was surprised that it matched a lot of the stereotypes that we think we have in our heads. If I wanted to go to a chef or a hairstylist, they are mainly men." The findings come from one of the largest studies to look at how brains are wired in healthy males and females. The maps give scientists a more complete picture of what counts as normal for each sex at various ages. Armed with the maps, they hope to learn more about whether abnormalities in brain connectivity affect brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. Verma's team used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging to map neural connections in the brains of 428 males and 521 females aged eight to 22. The neural connections are much like a road system over which the brain's traffic travels. The scans showed greater connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain in women, while the connections in men were mostly confined to individual hemispheres. The only region where men had more connections between the left and right sides of the brain was in the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in motor control. "If you want to learn how to ski, it's the cerebellum that has to be strong," Verma said. Male and female brains showed few differences in connectivity up to the age of 13, but became more differentiated in 14- to 17-year-olds. "It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are," Ruben Gur, a co-author on the study, said in a statement. "Detailed connectome maps of the brain will not only help us better understand the differences between how men and women think, but it will also give us more insight into the roots of neurological disorders, which are often sex-related."

How do they control Muslims in India?

Fear of mob violence seems to keep Muslims under control in India.

Angela Merkel is now paying the price for her pro-Muslim stupidity

The immigration issue has finally come back to undercut Merkel directly, first costing her votes in Germany’s recent election, which saw unprecedented gains for the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, and then making a potential grand coalition impossible in part because the centrist, pro-business Free Democrats now see an opportunity in getting to Merkel’s right on migration policy.

Brazil promotes itself as a harmonious blend of races, but the reality as the country celebrates Black Awareness Day is that the darker your skin, the less chance you have of getting ahead

According to the state statistics office, only about 5% of management jobs are held by non-whites, who account for 54% of the population, according to the latest census. Among the richest 10% of Brazilians, 70% are white. Among the poorest 10%, 74% are black. Blacks are also hard to find in prominent media jobs or in fashion.

Israel’s cabinet has voted to close a migrant detention center, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an agreement to deport 40,000 Africans who had entered the country illegally

“The infiltrators will have the option to be imprisoned or leave the country,” the public security ministry said in a statement. Israeli official figures from June 30, 2017 show a total of 38,043 African migrants in the country. Speaking ahead of the vote, Netanyahu noted that after building a fence on the Egyptian border and deporting some 20,000 African migrants through various deals, Israel has reached the third stage of its efforts — “accelerated removal”. “This removal is taking place thanks to an international agreement I reached that enables us to remove the 40,000 infiltrators remaining, remove them without their consent,” he told ministers. Jews love diversity everywhere except Israel.

A rabbi at one of the largest synagogues in Britain has come forward with details of sexual harassment that she and female rabbinic colleagues have received from their own congregants, urging the community to pay closer attention to the issue

Rabbi Hannah Kingston of North Western Reform Synagogue in London said in her sermon that amid the current public conversations about sexual harassment and assault, “One very close colleague of mine relived the moment that she found out that she was known by her congregants as ‘the rabbi with the nice legs.’ She said that after that she took to wearing trousers.” Kingston has had similar experiences on a “weekly basis,” she said: “I can lead an entire service and have someone come up to me at the end and say: ‘oh you look pretty today.’ That wouldn’t happen to a male colleague and it completely degrades what I’ve spent two hours talking about. It happens weekly.” Kingston said that she was originally “scared” about speaking out. “When we come forward and speak about sexual harassment we are letting our humanity show in a way that we might normally try to protect,” she explained. But ultimately, she concluded, “To ignore this issue as a female rabbi would have been a disservice to my community.” Kingston’s sermon was tied to the Torah portion recounting the death of Sarah. “What we see through the narrative of Sarah is a woman who is silenced,” she said. “Her own story is suppressed, she is not listened to….Not once do we consider how Sarah might feel about [being taken into Pharaoh’s palace] or what it could do to a woman to be passed so easily on to another man.”

A black couple has pleaded guilty to beating a restaurant owner and her teenage daughter after they complained of being sold cold fried chicken

Nathaniel Smith, 45, and Latasha Smith, 28, have entered guilty pleas to charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to children. Surveillance captured Latasha beating Jeanette Norris, the owner of the Qwik Chick, because the couple claimed that their food was cold and they didn't have enough fries. When Norris's 15-year-old daughter got out of a vehicle to help her mother, Nathaniel is seen punching her in the face, sending her flying backwards. Norris suffered a broken nose and her daughter was treated for a concussion.

African-Americans are over 3 times more likely to commit a hate crime than a white

In 2016, blacks were 26.1% of known hate crime offenders even though they were only 13.3% of the U.S. population.

Another Jewish sex predator: Supergirl and Arrow showrunner Andrew Kreisberg has been suspended amid accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching from 19 former and current employees

Warner Bros. Television Group have confirmed the suspension and said in a statement that it "takes all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously."

In 2016, the overall rate of reported chlamydia cases among blacks in the United States was 1,125.9 cases per 100,000 population

The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women was 5.1 times the rate among white women (1,387.2 and 271.1 cases per 100,000 females, respectively). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black men was 6.6 times the rate among white men (839.0 and 126.4 cases per 100,000 males, respectively). Rates of reported cases of chlamydia were highest for blacks aged 15–19 and 20–24 years in 2016. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women aged 15–19 years (6,485.2 cases per 100,000 females) was 4.5 times the rate among white women in the same age group (1,433.3 cases per 100,000 females). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women aged 20–24 years was 3.7 times the rate among white women in the same age group (6,747.6 and 1,836.2 cases per 100,000 females, respectively). Similar racial disparities in reported chlamydia rates exist among men. Among men aged 15–19 years, the rate of reported chlamydia cases among blacks was 8.8 times the rate among whites (2,337.7 and 266.9 cases per 100,000 males, respectively). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black men aged 20–24 years was 4.9 times the rate among white men of the same age group (3,316.9 and 682.5 cases per 100,000 males, respectively).

Do hateful words lead to unspeakable crimes?

The Weimar Republic tried to restrict the free speech rights of the Nazis. The Nazi party had 200 prosecutions brought against it for anti-Semitic speech. At one point the state of Bavaria issued an order banning Hitler from giving public speeches.

Jewish sex predator update: An Emmy-winning writer for AMC's Mad Men once thought her award would solidify a successful career path, but she was let go from the show a year later — and she's now accusing show creator Matthew Weiner of sexual harassment

Kater Gordon, who started as Weiner's personal assistant in 2007 before becoming a writers' assistant, said that she was working late one night with Weiner co-writing the show's season finale, an episode that won them both an Emmy in 2009. She said during their session, Weiner remarked that she owed it to him to let him see her naked, a comment she just let fade before continuing to work on the script with him. But the months that followed left her feeling "threatened and devalued," though she didn't report the incident because she said that she wanted the writing credit for that episode to help get her another job. "I saw no value to speaking out," she said. "So I did what I thought women were supposed to do." She said that she "lost respect" for Weiner, and a longtime writer on the show said "I could see her confidence was shaken" after the incident. Just weeks after her Emmy win, Weiner let Gordon go, rattling off a list of ways she'd "fallen short" on the job, she said. In a statement from his rep, Weiner said that he spent "eight to 10 hours a day" holed up working with Gordon, but he notes he doesn't remember making that remark and insists he had "a predominantly female driven writers room [and] has long believed in and implemented an egalitarian working environment." Gordon fell out of Hollywood after that and went on instead to found Modern Alliance, a nonprofit for sexual harassment victims. She said that she was "inspired" to speak out after hearing Harvey Weinstein stories.

One of the world's leading Islamic scholars is on a leave of absence from the University of Oxford amid allegations that he raped two women

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, has denied the allegations made by the two women in France and filed a slander complaint. One woman, author Henda Ayari, says Ramadan "literally pounced on me like a wild animal" when he attacked her in a Paris hotel room in 2012. Ayari says that the Harvey Weinstein accusations inspired her to come forward. The second accuser, a disabled woman who says that Ramadan beat her and raped her repeatedly in 2009, has chosen to remain anonymous. "By mutual agreement, and with immediate effect, Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, has taken a leave of absence," the British university said in a statement, adding that the accusations had caused "heightened and understandable distress." Ramadan, 55, said that he "saluted" the statement, which he said "defended the principle of the presumption of innocence without minimizing the seriousness of the allegations against me." The four women in Switzerland have told local media that Ramadan sexually harassed them when they were teenage students in the '80s and '90s.

There is a large over-representation of immigrants, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa, among the suspects of sex crimes in Sweden

Over-representation of immigrants has been even higher when it comes to group rapes, especially with three or more assailants. According to an official study from 1996, immigrant males were 4.5 times as likely as Swedes to commit rape. Immigrants from Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia were particularly over-represented, being more than 20 times as likely to commit the same crime. In total, 53% of rape suspects were either first or second generation immigrants. A similar study, conducted in 2005, showed an even higher over-representation of immigrants among sex crime suspects, by then up to 5.1 times as likely as Swedes to commit rape. In the 2005 study, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention explained the growing over-representation with reference to demographics and immigration: “[T]he number of people in Sweden belonging to the group of refugees, which have in earlier studies been shown to have an especially high propensity to commit crime, has increased.” It is a plausible hypothesis that the same mechanism is at work now. During the recent migration crisis, Sweden took in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe. However, the exact link between sex crimes and immigration is not known, since the Swedish government will not update its statistics, and the data, which are still being collected, have not been made available to the public. In a recent interview, the Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, said that the facts are available in the 2005 study, and that no update is necessary. But since 2005, Sweden has absorbed a large influx of refugees from the over-represented regions in North Africa and the Middle East. If over-representation has not changed dramatically since this last survey, it is reasonable to infer that immigration has contributed to the increase in reported sex crime.

Black man put racist graffiti on his own car but won’t be charged, police say

Despite filing a false report, police say that Dauntarius Williams, 21, won't face any charges. The incident fueled racial tensions at Kansas State University and in the community, and the FBI had opened a civil rights investigation. As usual, another "hate crime" turns out to be a hoax and the perpetrator gets away with it.

Harvey Weinstein hired ex-Mossad agents to collect dirt on his victims

In what turned out to be a futile attempt to avoid his downfall, Harvey Weinstein hired an army of spies to target women accusing him of sexual assault or harassment and the journalists trying to report on their claims. Around a year ago, Weinstein employed private security agencies — including Black Cube, which is run by former agents of Israel's Mossad spy agency — to try to suppress the allegations. Agents met with actresses and journalists under false pretenses, including one who met with Rose McGowan several times, claiming to be a women's rights advocate. Weinstein supervised efforts to target dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focused on their personal or sexual histories. Weinstein also spoke to current and former employees to try and identify people who might speak out against him, and enlisted the help of journalists and allies including Dylan Howard at National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. to try to discredit accusers. Some of the women targeted say the use of private security agencies made it even tougher to speak out against the powerful producer. "Ex-Mossad operatives? The biggest international security firms in the world on your case?? And these women STILL spoke up!!," tweeted Anthony Bourdain, partner of Weinstein accuser Asia Argento, adding that Howard is "beneath whale s---."

Katie Hopkins has revealed that she is a DUP supporter - but believes it is only a matter of time before Ireland is reunited

In a typically frank interview she revealed she was "increasingly torn" about Northern Ireland's future in the UK. Hopkins said she had an affinity for the province as it would have been the first place she would have been posted to had she not been kicked out of Sandhurst Military Academy for not disclosing that she was an epileptic. The outspoken columnist was speaking ahead of the release of her autobiography, Rude. Dubbed the most hated woman in Britain, Hopkins is no stranger to controversy. Her views on everything from working mothers to Muslims have led to death threats, a libel case and her firing. She said: "The DUP increasingly have a role here in British life. I find the DUP and our transfer of cash to them was a curious thing. But a lot of what they stand for seems to be fairly sensible politics in my book. I am a supporter." Yet Hopkins revealed that she has serious doubts about Northern Ireland's future as part of the UK. She added: "I don't think that Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK. I can't imagine a time where we continue the divisions of countries according to lives that don't seem to make sense anymore. As much as I am a huge patriot and a defender of the United Kingdom, you watch Catalan (sic) and Spain, you see how passionate the Catalans are, and you hear Scotland, and you can't help, given the way I feel about Brexit, think that you are either a supporter of independence or you are a hypocrite. I am increasingly torn."

Even Larry David can see that a lot of sex predators are Jewish

I wonder if other Jews will be equally honest?

If diversity is so wonderful why must it be imposed forcefully?

Surely if it was as beneficial as advertised, there would be no need for disparate impact lawsuits, training to overcome implicit bias and other punishing measures.

Actor Dustin Hoffman and director Brett Ratner are the latest Jewish Hollywood figures to be accused of sexual misconduct

Jewish guys seem to have a real problem controlling themselves around women.