A package of tough fascist, far-reaching "counter-terrorism laws" tabled in Israel on Wednesday would make waving the Palestinian flag at demonstrations illegal and convictions for throwing firecrackers punishable by deportation to the Gaza Strip. ● In a move designed to halt the glorification of terrorism, the proposed law would also criminalize the printing of posters frequently distributed amongst the Palestinian community in the aftermath of attacks that celebrate the killers as "martyrs" [to celebrate killers as martyrs/heroes is an exclusive right of the Jews]. On Wednesday the eight-point plan was submitted to Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered it in response to a recent spate of shooting, hit-and-run, and stabbing terror attacks centered on Jerusalem that have killed at least 11 Israelis. Clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces have become a frequent occurrence in the holy city following a summer of unrest, including a bloody 7-week war in Gaza that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians [mostly civilians] and 66 [duly celebrated] Israeli soldiers.

PressTV: Israel to nab Palestinians over Facebook posts

The last few minutes of this child's life, cut short by aggressive,
cruel & unbelievably stupid police officers...

New video released from a police shooting in Cleveland, Ohio, shows a patrol car arriving on the scene and officers barely hesitating before fatally shooting in the stomach a young boy playing with an air gun. ● The incident was prompted by a 911 call to the Cleveland Police Department claiming a boy was carrying a firearm and pointing it at people in the street. Police in the video are seen driving across the grass to a pavilion and hesitating briefly. As the boy approaches and seems to be pulling something from his waistband, he is shot dead. The 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, died from a gunshot wound on Sunday. Police said they told Rice three times to raise his hands before shooting him twice. Yet despite believing Rice was in possession of a firearm, police later determined it was an airsoft gun – which shoots small plastic pellets – that did not have an orange safety indicator at the end of the barrel. The video, meanwhile, was released at the request of the boy’s family. Police also released audio of a 911 call, which reported a boy waving a gun. However, the caller did not know if it was real, and a dispatcher directed officers to the scene.

Cleveland.com: Cleveland police officer shot Tamir Rice immediately after leaving moving patrol car
RT.com: Utah police now responsible for more homicides than street gangs
Sputnik News: LA Police Arrest Over 100 Protesters on Third Night of Ferguson Riots

Israeli forces have abducted at least a dozen Palestinian people in overnight operations on a number of houses across the occupied West Bank. ● According to reports on Wednesday, the Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians, including a young woman, in the East al-Quds neighborhood of al-Tur. In a similar incident, the Israeli forces raided the village of Wadi Fukin, west of Bethlehem, and kidnapped thee young Palestinians. Three more Palestinians were also abducted by Israeli forces in al-Fawwar refugee camp, to the north of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), situated 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of al-Quds. Israeli forces also "arrested" two Palestinians in Ramallah, in the central West Bank. Tel Aviv has cited no reason for the move.

The Saker ■ "Russian Commander Warns US Could Control Whole Gulf of Mexico" - How is that for a ridiculous headline? You like it? Well, it is just a little variation of a BBC headline today: "Nato commander warns Russia could control whole Black Sea" Here is an except from this article:

"Russia's top military commander, Gen Valerii Gerasimov, has warned that US "militarisation" of the annexed Florida Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Gulf of Mexico."

Well, the real excerpt was just slightly different:

"Nato's top military commander, Gen Philip Breedlove, has warned that Russian "militarisation" of the annexed Crimea Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Black Sea."

So is there a difference? Of course not. Except one: American exceptionalism, of course. Come to think of it, there is another difference: the US and NATO just tried to take control of Crimea via the Maidan color revolution whereas Russia did not try to take control of Florida. That, of course, also begs the following question: if the US and NATO suspect that Russia might use the Crimea Peninsula to control the whole of the Black Sea, then would it be most unreasonable to ask what exactly the US and NATO were hoping to achieve had they succeeded in taking over Crimea? This is, of course, absolutely ridiculous and yet another example of the mind-blowing hypocrisy western corporate media.

Banks Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Standard Bank and a unit of chemical producer BASF conspired to manipulate platinum and palladium prices, according to a US lawsuit filed this week. ● The class-action suit, filed Tuesday in New York, said the four defendants shared nonpublic information about client purchases and sale orders to manipulate prices for their benefit and to the detriment of plaintiffs. This illegal sharing of information "gave them the ability to execute trades... in advance of those (price) movements," the complaint said. "This unlawful behaviour allowed Defendants to reap substantial profits, while non-insiders, which include Plaintiffs and members of the Class, were injured." The plaintiff, Modern Settings, a US maker of jewelry and other metal products, alleges it lost value on "tens of thousands of transactions" due to the conspiracy, the complaint said. Investors in the commodities "lost millions of dollars as a result of this conduct," said Labaton Sucharow, the firm representing the plaintiffs, in a statement.

Ukraine is teetering on the edge of collapse, but the West is "sleepwalking" in its response to the impending crisis, say observers. ● The West has made a catalogue of errors since Ukraine's fateful decision to turn its back on Russia, to which Moscow responded by launching a proxy war that has made Kyiv's already dire economic situation worse. The EU's Association Agreement with Kyiv, which commits Ukraine to moving closer to Europe, has not come with enough financial support to re-boot the economy. "There is a currently a major hole in the Western financing package for Ukraine of somewhere in the order of $10bn for the next six months," says Tim Ash, head of emerging markets research at Standard Bank. The Institute of International Finance (IFF), a global financial industry group, was also in Kyiv last week and came to pretty much the same conclusion. Despite a recent ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv will suffer a "double-digit recession this year", the IFF said in a report.

Reuters: Stung by Russia Sanctions, Europe Fears Losing Business to China