MikeLigalig.com

a respected columnist's take on this---

Pensées

By which reckoning?

By Fr. Ranhilio Aquino | Aug. 17, 2015

Naysayers shrugged it off as an empty boast. Bongbong Marcos promised a new version of an organic law for Bangsamoro. The Deles-Ferrer tandem unctuously pronounced it non-doable, and Iqbal snorted at it as unacceptable.   But Marcos delivered on his promise, and now, there is, before the Senate, endorsed for plenary debate by a clear majority of his peers, a draft of the charter for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

"You see what's going on. It has to be moving. Sometimes you're crying on the inside, but you're strong on the outside. These are the real superheroes. It's not me; it's not you. They're fighting for their lives every single day," he said.



"Remember, at the end of the day, ask yourself, 'Self, did I make a difference?' And the answer had better be yes."

CNN's Chuck Johnston and Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/

"It is absolutely clear to those of us in the field that attitude and play therapy and distraction help children overcome illnesses, so this is a big deal for all the kids who are here today."



Robinson began volunteering full-time in 2007 after selling an industrial cleaning business he started in high school. The business -- which cleaned office buildings, churches and synagogues -- was fulfilling, but being Batman and cheering up sick children was his calling, he said.

The police pulled over Robinson's car because instead of a Maryland license plate, he had the Batman logo. Robinson liked his outfit and car to look just right when he visited hospitals to cheer up terminally ill children.



When police saw that the official license plate was inside the car, Robinson was on his way to both the hospital and Internet stardom. For months, whenever he showed up a at a hospital or charity event, cameras followed.

The benefits were clear to those who worked with Robinson.

"Some of these kids recognize that this is not Batman, but in their head it is, and this is a great thing for them," Dr. Joseph M. Wiley said in 2012 during one of Robinson's visits to Baltimore's Sinai Hospital.

"It's rewarding in a completely different way, just making that child smile. If I only touch one kid out of all this, then I know I've done really something really successful."



And yet, Robinson became a viral video sensation after police pulled him over while he was on his way to a hospital visit. The dashboard camera in the Montgomery County police cruiser caught the entire scene, including the officer calling for back up.

"You can send me Robin if you wish," the officer snickered to the dispatcher before asking the driver, "What's your name other than Batman?"

"Robinson was not much for attention and wanted to remain low-key as news reports of his interaction with MCP hit national and international news. When we replay the traffic-stop video, we smile and laugh, fondly remembering the day that MCP met a real superhero."



On top of the cost of his Batmobile and Caped Crusader suit, Robinson said, he spent tens of thousands of dollars each year on coloring books, sunglasses and other gifts for children he visited in hospitals across Washington and Maryland.

But he never wanted the story to be about him or his gadgets: "It was about coming here for the kids," he said in 2012.

The Camry driver was not injured, the police statement said.

Robinson became a household name in 2012, after police dashcam footage captured him getting out of his Batmobile in full costume during a traffic stop on route 29 in Silver Spring, Maryland. The video went viral after the Montgomery County Police Department shared it on social media, earning Robinson the moniker "route 29 Batman."


2012. the meeting that went viral: the day batman had a traffic stop was the day the cops personally had a good look at him

In a statement Monday, the department said it was "saddened" by the news of Robinson's death.

"The footage depicted a positive and humorous interaction between officers and Robinson. It was evident that the officers and Robinson had a mutual respect for each other and the job that each was trying to accomplish that day," the statement said.

'Batman' who visited children in hospitals killed when car hits Batmobile

By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
August 18, 2015

Story highlights

Lenny Robinson said he enjoyed making kids smile dressed as Batman

He became a sensation after police pulled him over in costume on Route 29 in Maryland



(CNN)Lenny B. Robinson, the Good Samaritan who visited children in hospitals dressed as Batman and entered the public spotlight after police pulled him over in costume, died Sunday after a car hit his custom Batmobile on a Maryland interstate.

Medical personnel pronounced Robinson, 51, dead at the scene, Hagerstown State Police said in a statement.

His custom Lamborghini broke down while he was driving east on I-70 in the fast lane. He got out to check the engine while still in the lane, and a Toyota Camry struck his car, which in turn hit him, the statement said.

i fear him.

This is about Sen. Antonio Trillanes, a jailed senator who allegedly has claimed thousands of dollars in travel expenses while languishing in prison on rebellion charges, making him one of the most expensive lawmakers in the country.

Despite being detained, Trillanes still managed to join the ranks of the top five biggest spenders at the Senate along with Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Senators Gregorio Honasan, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Francis Pangilinan.

Trillanes, who campaigned and won his seat in 2007 while detained at a police jail in Manila, billed taxpayers more than 17 million pesos (365,000 dollars) for the year, including nearly 250,000 pesos for travel expenses, a Commission on Audit report said.

-from Sen. Trillanes spends big in ‘travel’ even in jail, https://quierosaber.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/sen-trillanes-spends-big-in-%E2%80%98travel%E2%80%99-even-in-jail/

Was "senator" Antonio Trillanes IV, ever a soldier?

That this "senator" as a member of (but not necessarily a soldier in) the Armed Forces of the Philippines showed consistency as a serial offender as far as breaking ranks and thumbing his nose at the chain of command will have already answered this question back in 2007. The way he treated Angelo Reyes -- a senior soldier -- in an otherwise pointless Congressional exercise further crystallises what our answer to that question might be.

To real soldiers, the answer is most likely a no brainer...

    Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1995, faces punishment from his fellow PMA graduates for humiliating a senior officerâ€"late former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Angelo “Angie” Reyesâ€"during a recent Senate inquiry.

    “Even some of his [Trillanes] classmates did not like what he did to Angie Reyes,” they will go with punishing the senator, another former military chief of staffâ€"Gen. Dionisio Santiagoâ€"told editors and reporters of The Manila Times during an exclusive roundtable on Monday.

    It was not clear, though, what the punishment would be.

    According to Santiago, many of the cavaliers or PMA alumni would shy away from Trillanes as a sign of protest to the alleged arrogance he displayed against Reyes, a member of PMA Class of 1966, when the former Armed Forces chief appeared on January 27 before the Senate blue ribbon committee.

Suffice to say, Trillanes's high-profile rampage supposedly against corruption in the Philippine military is starting to become a lonely one. For now he enjoys the support of the Senate President himself who had gone out on a limb to defend the boy-"senator". But this is politics. At some point, propping up a political liability simply becomes senseless.

February 16, 2011
http://newssimple.blogspot.com/

the angry young man is now an angry man

“Of course, it is entirely within the character of Trillanes to weave fantastic scenarios, as what he did when he cried wolf â€" once too many â€" on supposed coup plots which only he and no other seemed to be aware of. His statements of late appear to inspire only sniggers instead of genuine concern, as Filipinos wait for him to sound the alarm bells on a Martian invasion,” Topacio said.

-from Stop crying wolf, file a case, Topacio dares Trillanes on paid TRO
April 8th, 2015, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/684285/stop-crying-wolf-file-a-case-topacio-dares-trillanes-on-paid-tro#ixzz3j1H2Iu00

he wants to run for vice-president in 2016

TRILLANES quote:



“Nakita natin ‘yung karangyaan nitong lugar na ito at gusto ko ngang maipakita na ito, dalawang pagkatao nito ni Vice President Binay na nagpapakita siya na mahirap siya, kulay-mahirap, na asal-mahirap, pero ‘yun pala mayroon siyang sikretong mundo na, ito nga, na karangyaan. So diyan niyo makikita ‘yung pagbabalatkayo ng taong ito.

[We have seen the luxury of this place, and it shows the two personalities of Vice-President Binay. He projects himself as poor, because he has the complexion and the manners of the poor. But it turns out he has a secret world of opulence. You can see Binay’s masquerade here.]

-from Trillanes impales himself by Yen Makabenta
Manila Bulletin, October 29, 2014

strange, but false.

This theory was proposed by Thomas Friedman and became massively popular all around the world. It was used to show that countries loving democracy (those most likely to have a McDonald’s franchise) have lived peacefully together due to the merits of that political system (this is also called the Democratic Peace Theory and the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Resolution).

Friedman proposed it in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree. So, is it true? No. Georgia and Russia were recently at war with each other and both have McDonald’s. Furthermore, Israel and Lebanon also defy the theory for their conflict in 2006, and right after the book was published, NATO bombed Serbia â€" again disproving the idea. (http://listverse.com/)


a mcdonald's in russia

pangutan-on nato si the donald trump if there is blood coming the eyes and wherever...

Most planets also rotate on their axes in an anti-clockwise direction, but Venus rotates clockwise (called "retrograde" rotation) once every 243 Earth daysâ€"the slowest rotation of any planet. Because its rotation is so slow, it is highly spherical. (wikipedia)


Note, though, that there are two oddballs in our solar system that do not rotate in the same way as the rest of the planets.  Uranus rotates about an axis that is nearly parallel with its orbital plane (i.e. on its side), while Venus rotates about its axis in a clockwise direction.  These oddities are thought to be caused by events, such as collisions, which occurred during the formation of the solar system. (https://blogs.nrao.edu/)

scary duck is not donald duck



screeeaaam and scram!

a clinophobia-causing bed:


fear this!

question: can an army win by croaking?
answer: if the pond is the south china sea, yes, yes, yes.

specimen:

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.

klingon translation:

joH'a' yInaD Hoch qorDu'pu'
yIquvmoH Hoch ghotpu'
numuSHa'qu'mo'
'ej reH taHtaH vItDaj.
joH'a' yInaD !'


The Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe.

Described in the 1985 book The Klingon Dictionary by Marc Okrand and deliberately designed to sound "alien", it has a number of typologically uncommon features. The language's basic sound, along with a few words, was first devised by actor James Doohan ("Scotty") for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That film marked the first time the language had been heard on screen. In all previous appearances, Klingons spoke in English. Klingon was subsequently developed by Okrand into a full-fledged language. (wikipedia)

17 August 2015. A bomb has exploded close to a shrine in the centre of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 120. (BBC)

[...] tigers are perhaps the most emotional of the big cats. They react to stimulation of any type to a greater degree than do other species. Many things can affect a tiger that wouldn't necessarily affect another species, such as changes in barometric pressure, particular noises, wind, and many more too numerous to list.

Because tigers are so emotional, they are capable of unbelievable affection.

more at http://www.louisdorfman.com/species/tigers.html]http://www.louisdorfman.com/species/tigers.html

Taumata-whaka-tangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-turi-pukaka-pikimaunga-horonuku-pokai-whenua-kitana-tahu, means ‘The hilltop where Tamatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau to his beloved.’ (http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/)


at Porangahau, Central Hawke's Bay in New Zealand

And we thought we're cleaner...

next time, choose a girlfriend who has no claws.

the second after synchronized drinking...

    The CIA officers admired Massoud greatly. They saw him as a Che Guevara figure, a great actor on history's stage. Massoud was a poet, a military genius, a religious man, and a leader of enormous courage who defied death and accepted its inevitability, they thought. ... In his house there were thousands of books: Persian poetry, histories of the Afghan war in multiple languages, biographies of other military and guerilla leaders. In their meetings Massoud wove sophisticated, measured references to Afghan history and global politics into his arguments. He was quiet, forceful, reserved, and full of dignity, but also light in spirit. The CIA team had gone into the Panshjir as unabashed admirers of Massoud. Now their convictions deepened. â€"Steve Coll, in Ghost Wars

    "Massoud is adamant that in Afghanistan women have suffered oppression for generations. He says that 'the cultural environment of the country suffocates women. But the Taliban exacerbate this with oppression.' His most ambitious project is to shatter this cultural prejudice and so give more space, freedom and equality to womenâ€"they would have the same rights as men." â€"Pepe Escobar, in 'Massoud: From Warrior to Statesman'

Despite initial denials by the United Front, news of Massoud's death was reported almost immediately, appearing on the BBC, and in European and North American newspapers on September 10, 2001. On September 16, the United Front officially announced that Massoud had died of injuries in the suicide attack. Massoud was buried in his home village of Bazarak in the Panjshir Valley. The funeral, although in a remote rural area, was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. (wikipedia)

The attackers claimed to be Belgians originally from Morocco. Their passports turned out to be stolen and their nationality was later determined to be Tunisian. Waiting for almost three weeks (during which they also interviewed Burhanuddin Rabbani and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf) for an interview opportunity, on September 8, 2001, an aide to Massoud recalls the would-be suicide attackers "were so worried" and threatened to leave if the interview did not happen in the next 24 hours (until September 10, 2001). They were finally granted an interview. During the interview, they set off a bomb composed of explosives hidden in the camera and in a battery-pack belt.

Commander Massoud died in a helicopter that was taking him to an Indian military field hospital at Farkor in nearby Tajikistan. The explosion also killed Mohammed Asim Suhail, a United Front official, while Mohammad Fahim Dashty and Massoud Khalili were injured. One of the suicide attackers, Bouraoui, was killed by the explosion, while Dahmane Abd al-Sattar was captured and shot while trying to escape.

Massoud, then aged 48, was the target of a suicide attack at Khwaja Bahauddin, in Takhar Province in northeastern Afghanistan on September 9, 2001. The attackers' names were alternately given as Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, husband of Malika El Aroud, and Bouraoui el-Ouaer; or 34-year-old Karim Touzani and 26-year-old Kacem Bakkali.

Reza carries on the educational work that Massoud began, planting the seeds, he hopes, of a free and peaceful Afghanistan. The non-profit Reza created, Aïna, trains Afghan journalists, produces a radio broadcast by and for Afghan women, and publishes the first magazine for Afghan children. “Journalism and education,” Reza says, “are the two vectors that will change the world.”

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/

“I asked Massoud what he wanted to do when Afghanistan was free,” said Reza. “Would he lead the country? He could’ve done anything, but he didn’t want political power. He pointed to a small schoolhouse in the distance: ‘I’m going to be a teacher in that school,’ he told me.”

Massoud’s forces and Reza would return once more to Kabul, but without Massoud: A few days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, suspected al Qaeda operatives posing as a film crew assassinated the charismatic rebel leader.

“Years later,” said Reza, “Massoud was fighting again, but everything had changed. He was fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban. He had no backing from anyone.

“Even then, in the worst moments, surrounded by enemies, he insisted that education continue. He took me to a facility where he was training his soldiers to become peace officers, police, in a liberated Kabul.



“Massoud was offered refuge with his family, escape. He removed the hat he wore everywhere and stood on it. ‘As long as there’s this much space for me in Afghanistan,’ he said, ‘I’ll stay.’ And instead of retreating, he had his family flown by helicopter to himâ€"he was that confident of victory.

Why so, I wondered? What made Massoud so exceptional?

“Vision: One of the things that struck me was his vision. He had such a positive, sweeping vision of a bright futureâ€"for Afghanistan, for Iran, for the entire world.



“In 1985, Massoud talked about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Back then no one was thinking about that. I thought I heard him wrong. ‘After the Soviet Union?’ Well, he said, all empires fall. ‘When will that happen?’ I asked him. ‘Immediately after they’re defeated in Afghanistan.'”

After the Soviets were indeed driven from Afghanistan, Reza rode into Kabul in a tank at Massoud’s side, and joined him as he addressed the resistance leaders he had trained. One waved his gun. “Put that away,” Massoud told him. “The next war we fight will be a war on ignorance. Instead of guns, pick up a pen. That’s what we’ll carry. Pens, not guns.”

The Nomad and the Bearer of Light

Amy Bucci
National Geographic
May 13, 2009


I hate war. That’s why I’m drawn to it. I’m waging a war against war. â€" Reza

Self-described nomad, photographer, and National Geographic fellow Reza Deghati was in D.C. to give a National Geographic Live! talk at headquarters. In his new book, War and Peace: A Photographer’s Journey, Reza details his decades-long odyssey since exile from Iran.



In the book, Reza refers to the late Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud as “the Bearer of Light.” Over coffee, I asked Reza about his deep friendship with Massoud and about his own effortsâ€"inspired in part by the man known as the “Lion of Panjshir”â€"to empower and educate Afghan women and children.

“In each nation, each region, you find layers of people who make history,” Reza told me. “Some work at the level of familiesâ€"a father, a mother, a family leader. Some change the history of a city, a country. Then there are the people that are beyond all these. They come once every century or two. They bring the whole story together and turn the page. When I first met Massoud in 1985, within a few days, I recognized: I’m with one of them.”

"We consider this our duty â€" to defend humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence, and fanaticism." - Ahmad Shah Massoud

"As long as this man is alive, no victory is possible."
- Osama Bin Laden on Ahmad Shah Massoud

After the Soviet occupation of 1979, his role as an insurgent leader earned him the nickname of "Lion of Panjshir" among his followers. In 1992, after he disturbed the UN plan to install an interim government to replace that of President Mohammad Najibullah, he was appointed as the minister of defense through the Peshawar Accord... (wikipedia)

Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, returned to armed opposition until he eventually fled to Kulob, Tajikistan, destroying the Salang Tunnel on his way north. He became the military and political leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (also known in the West as the Northern Alliance). He was assassinated, probably at the instigation of al-Qaeda, in a suicide bombing on September 9, 2001, just two days before the September 11 attacks in the United States which led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation invading Afghanistan, allying with Massoud's forces. (wikipedia)

There has been a Muslim insurgency, but this has been largely confined to the south of the country and attacks rarely take place elsewhere.

But Bangkok has seen a decade of sometimes violent rivalry between political factions.

The military took over ruling the country in May last year, removing an elected government following months of unrest.

http://www.bbc.com/

National police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri told Agence France-Presse news agency: "I can confirm it was a bomb, we can't tell which kind yet, we are checking."

The explosion was on the Ratchaprasong intersection, which has been the centre of political demonstrations in recent years.

Our correspondent says bomb attacks in Bangkok are extremely rare.

'Burnt motorbikes'

Our correspondent says this is a very well-known shrine in the centre of Bangkok, next to a five-star hotel.

He says people around the shrine were hit by the full force of the blast.
There are burnt motorbikes on the main road, with paramedics and police trying to take the injured away, he says.

The shrine is to the Hindu god Brahma, but is also visited by thousands of Buddhists each day. There are also three major shopping centres nearby.

The explosion occurred at about 19:00 local time (12:00 GMT), with police saying it may have been caused by a motorcycle bomb.

No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.

Some reports said foreign tourists may have been among the casualties.
The Bangkok Post quotes police as saying at least one more bomb has been made safe by officers in the Ratchaprasong area.

Bangkok bomb: Deadly blast rocks Thailand capital

17 August 2015


The BBC's Jonathan Head: “There are scenes of the most appalling carnage here right in the centre of Bangkok"

A bomb has exploded close to a shrine in the centre of the Thai capital, Bangkok, police say.

Local reports suggest at least 12 people have died and at least 20 more have been injured.

The BBC's Jonathan Head, who is at the scene, says there is a huge amount of chaos, with body parts scattered everywhere.

The attack took place close to the Erawan Shrine in the capital's central Chidlom district.

Ahmad Shah Massoud (September 2, 1953 â€" September 9, 2001) was an Afghan political and military leader who was a powerful military commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989 and in the following years of civil war. He was assassinated on September 9, 2001. (wikipedia)

Afghanistan's martyred national hero, freedom fighter, statesman, poet---

Ahmad Shah Massoud


02 September 1953 â€" 09 September 2001
Afghanistan

"Our policy was always to have a good and friendly relations with everyone.
But we never have accepted being oppressed and we will never accept it."

human na. dinhi sa tubagbohol.

However, many web users condemned the company's marketing strategy for being vulgar and inappropriate.

"When will these people stop playing monkey tricks?" asked one Weibo user.

Sweetie's Spartan stunt is not the first time businesses have tried to attract attention through the use of scantily-clad models.

In 2013, American clothing chain Hollister tried the trick, using shirtless, buff male models outside its brand-new Beijing flagship.

CNN's Beijing intern Evonne Liu and Anna Hsieh contributed to this report

http://edition.cnn.com/

Marketing fail

A Sweetie employee, Jia Haolong, who delivered an order to CNN's Beijing bureau, said that it was meant to be a three-day promotion, but was unexpectedly called off by the police on its first day.

The attention that the bare-chested warriors garnered, however, showed the success of the stunt.

"A lot of people have asked me why their salad was not delivered by muscular Western models today," Jia said.

He said that he felt it was the traffic jam that the Spartans caused that prompted the police to intervene.

The company said that idea of using Spartans was to portray a Western image of a healthy body, hoping it would help with their marketing strategy.

In the statement, the company apologized for disturbing public order and blocking traffic.

"We have learned how inexperienced we are as a start-up company when it comes to organizing offline activities," the statement reads.

"We'll strictly comply with the police orders, keeping our brand perception while maintaining public order and good social influence."

Police intervention

In some photos posted online, police are shown forcibly detaining some of the models, who put up considerably less resistance than King Leonidas' fabled 300 warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau said the promotion "disturbed social order," and that the police had taken action to end the show. The spokesperson added that officers had subdued several people. The bureau is currently investigating, according to an official statement released on Weibo.

Sweetie Salad also posted an official statement on its social media accounts.

The shirtless, caped and leather-hotpanted models made a scene when they thundered into downtown Beijing holding boxes of salad, attracting crowds eager to photograph them.

Images of the models quickly went viral on Weibo and WeChat, China's two most popular social media platforms.

The crowds grew so large that the muscular Greeks even attracted the attention of the police, who set about subduing the warriors.

China's '300': When Spartans met the Beijing police

By Shen Lu and Euan McKirdy, CNN
July 24, 2015


Dozens of half-naked models dressed as Spartans attracted crowds while promoting salad in Beijing streets on July 22, 2015.

Beijing (CNN)This isn't Sparta -- it's China.

Dozens of half-naked models, dressed as Spartan warriors -- familiar to Chinese moviegoers from the 2006 action-fantasy film "300" -- were subdued by Beijing police while taking part in a marketing stunt, promoting a salad delivery service Wednesday.

The group of foreign models were hired to promote Sweetie Salad's leafy offerings as part of its one year anniversary, according to a statement released by the company.

The dark side of Winston Churchill

I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” - Winston Churchill

***
Winston Churchill, the hallowed British War prime minister who saved Europe from a monster like Hitler was disturbingly callous about the roaring famine that was swallowing Bengal’s population. He casually diverted the supplies of medical aid and food that was being dispatched to the starving victims to the already well supplied soldiers of Europe. When entreated upon he said, “Famine or no famine, Indians will breed like rabbits.” The Delhi Government sent a telegram painting to him a picture of the horrible devastation and the number of people who had died. His only response was, “Then why hasn’t Gandhi died yet?”


-from "The Bengal Famine: How the British engineered the worst genocide in human history for profit", http://worldobserveronline.com/2014/08/20/bengal-famine-british-engineered-worst-genocide-human-history-profit/#disqus_thread
                                                                                                                                                                                           

Earlier, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said a twin-turboprop plane had lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over the forested area of eastern Indonesia but efforts to trace it were difficult because of failing light.

Trigana Air Operations Director Beni Sumaryanto said that within 30 minutes of hearing that the aircraft was missing, the airline sent another plane to scour the same flight path but it had found nothing because of bad weather, local media reported.

According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft, a short-haul ATR 42-300 airliner belonging to Trigana Air Service and built in France and Italy, was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.

The plane was flying between Jayapura's Sentani Airport and Oksibil, due south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/16/us-indonesia-plane-idUSKCN0QL09A20150816

Sun Aug 16, 2015

Plane with 54 on board crashes in remote Indonesian region

JAKARTA | BY KANUPRIYA KAPOOR AND FERGUS JENSEN

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia's remote and mountainous region of Papua on Sunday, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation.

"The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency," Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo told reporters. "Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain."

There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.

7 - Child trafficking

A child being trafficked for sexual exploitation may be dressed in a sexualized manner, or seem to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

A child may appear to be malnourished and/or shows signs of physical or sexual abuse, such as bruises, scars, or cigarette burns.


This list was compiled with help from the following organizations:

Airline Ambassadors International: Offers a human trafficking awareness program to educate airport staff about the problem.

Polaris: Works to combat and prevent modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

Free the Slaves: Campaigns against modern slavery around the world.

International Justice Mission: Works to protect the poor from violence in the developing world.

http://edition.cnn.com/

5 - They can't move freely in an airport or on a plane, or they are being controlled, closely watched or followed.

People being trafficked into slavery are sometimes guarded in transit. A trafficker will try to ensure that the victim does not escape, or reach out to authorities for help.

6 - They are afraid to discuss themselves around others, deferring any attempts at conversation to someone who appears to be controlling them.

Fear and intimidation are two of the tools that traffickers use to control people in slavery. Traffickers often prevent victims from interacting with the public because the victim might say something that raises suspicions about their safety and freedom.

3 -- They can't provide details of their departure location, destination, or flight information.

Traffickers employ a number of tools to avoid raising suspicion about their crime and to keep victims enslaved. Some traffickers won't tell their victims where they are located, being taken, or even what job they will have.

Because victims don't have the means to get home or pay for things like food, they must rely on traffickers in order to get by, forcing them to stay in their situation.

4 -- Their communication seems scripted, or there are inconsistencies with their story

Sometimes traffickers will coach their victims to say certain things in public to avoid suspicion. A traveler whose story seems inconsistent or too scripted might be trying to hide the real reason for their travel and merely reciting what a trafficker has told them to say.

Warning signs

1 -- A traveler is not dressed appropriately for their route of travel.

You might notice right away that a traveler has few or no personal items. Victims may be less well dressed than their companions. They may be wearing clothes that are the wrong size, or are not appropriate for the weather on their route of travel.

2 -- They have a tattoo with a bar code, the word "Daddy."

Many people have tattoos, so a tattoo in itself is obviously not an indicator, but traffickers or pimps feel they own their victims and a barcode tattoo, or a tattoo with "Daddy" or even a man's name could be a red flag that the person is a victim.

What you should do

It's important to remember that even if you spot a number of these signs, it doesn't necessarily mean someone is being trafficked. But if you do suspect someone is being trafficked, do not confront suspected traffickers or attempt to rescue suspected victims -- instead, call emergency services or alert the airport authorities.

Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, and traffickers often use air travel to move their victims. Sometimes, victims are flown into another country on the promise of a legitimate job, other times traffickers move their victims within a country, to keep them powerless or to avoid detection.

But you can help. By being aware of the telltale signs that someone is being trafficked, you may be able to keep them from a life of modern slavery.

We asked four organizations involved in anti-trafficking initiatives to share some of the signs that could indicate that a passenger is being trafficked through an airport.

7 ways to spot that someone is being trafficked

August 5, 2015 | CNN

Editor's Note: The CNN Freedom Project wants to amplify the voices of the victims of modern-day slavery, highlight success stories and help unravel the tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life.

(CNN)It's vacation season for much of the world, with travelers flocking to airports to jet off for some hard-earned R&R.

But it's not just holidaymakers who fly on planes. Airports are also hubs for human trafficking -- where adults or children are transported into forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation.

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing World War II to an end. Overseeing the surrender is U.S. Gen. Douglas McArthur (right, back to camera).

from 'That's it!': How a world war ends, by Val Lauder
August 13, 2015, http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/13/opinions/lauder-world-war-two-ends/index.html

A jubilant American sailor kisses a nurse in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945, as he celebrates the news that Japan has surrendered. (Because of the time difference between the two nations, the surrender occurred August 15 in Japan).

A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb dropped on August 9, 1945. An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 were killed in the Nagasaki blast. Six days later, a little after noon local time on August 15, Emperor Hirohito's announcement that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast on radio. Japan had surrendered.

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image 35 of 38 images; the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/13/opinions/lauder-world-war-two-ends/index.html
A patient suffering severe radiation burns lies in the Hiroshima Red Cross hospital in August 1945. Many of those who survived the initial blast on August 6 died of severe radiation-related injuries and illnesses.

Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., center, stands with the ground crew of the B-29 bomber "Enola Gay", which Tibbets piloted on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that day killed an estimated 130,000 people.

A photograph on display at the Bradbury Science Museum shows the first instant of the first atomic bomb test, on July 16, 1945, at 5:29 a.m. at Trinity Site in New Mexico. The Potsdam Declaration, announced 10 days later, called for Japan's unconditional surrender, threatening "prompt and utter destruction"." It did not, however, specifically mention the bomb.

Soldiers rush an injured U.S. Marine from a battlefield during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. The battle, the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific, raged for nearly three months and heightened U.S. concerns for the enormous casualties that could be anticipated in the planned invasion of Japan's main islands.

 

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses the celebrating crowds from the balcony of the Ministry of Health in Whitehall, London, on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was officially over.

Russian soldiers wave their flag, made from tablecloths, over the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945. That day, as the Soviets were within blocks of his bunker at the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.

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image 28 of 38 images; the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/13/opinions/lauder-world-war-two-ends/index.html
The bodies of Benito Mussolini, left, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, second from left, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they were shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland on April 28, 1945.

Harry S. Truman takes the oath of office on April 12, 1945, as he becomes the 33rd president of the United States. Standing beside him are his wife, Bess, and daughter Margaret.

 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession goes down Connecticut Avenue on its way to the White House. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, just weeks before Germany's surrender.

Prisoners line block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald started July 15, 1937, and the camp was liberated by U.S. Gen. George Patton's troops on April 11, 1945. Between 239,000 and 250,000 people were imprisoned in the camp. About 56,000 died, including 11,000 Jews.

From left, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Russian Premier Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference on February 1945.

German prisoners captured at Friedrichsfeld march through a town in Germany after the crossing of the Rhine River by the U.S. 9th Army on March 26, 1945.

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island was essential to launching land-based bombers against Japan. It was the bloodiest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps, which suffered more than 27,000 casualties. Of some 18,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, 216 survived.

Soldiers of an infantry division move into the mist over a snow-covered field near Krinkelter, Belgium, on December 20, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, a surprise German counter-offensive against Allied forces as they closed in on German soil from the west. It resulted in more combined U.S. losses (nearly 90,000 killed, wounded or captured) than any battle of the war.

A crowd gathers to cheer Gen. Charles de Gaulle at the Place de la Concorde on August 26, 1944, a day after the liberation of Paris.

U.S. troops assault Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. On D-Day, Allied forces landed on five beaches -- Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword -- taking the first step in establishing the Western Front in Europe. The landing included more than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and 150,000 soldiers. More than 35,000 Allied troops were killed during the Normandy Campaign, which lasted till the end of August 1944.

French refugees live in a quarry near Fleury sur Orne. During the bombing in that area, 20,000 refugees lived in the quarries.

German prisoners captured at the beachhead of Anzio, Italy, leave a landing craft on their way to a prison camp in 1944. The amphibious landing and ensuing battle helped Allied forces break a months-long stalemate south of Rome and ultimately defeat the Germans in Italy.

Soviet soldiers advance against the German army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle for the city on the Volga River (present-day Volgograd) was a major defeat for Germany and a turning point in the war. The battle lasted more than five months, ending in February 1943, at the cost of at least 160,000 German soldiers killed or captured. However, even conservative estimates of Russian casualties are much higher.

British troops land near Algiers, Algeria, during Operation Torch in November 1942. Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of Vichy-held French North Africa, and marked the first major action by the Western allies against the German army.

Balloon operators from Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAF, report for inspection in a hangar used to store balloons, at a facility in the UK. During World War II, women played a significant role in the war effort. They took jobs in "defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households," according to the World War II museum in New Orleans.

Black smoke rises from demolished buildings after Japanese air forces attacked the U.S. Navy base on Midway Atoll during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The four-day battle became a major victory for the U.S. Navy, which sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers, and it marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific.

Anti-aircraft fire glows over Algiers during a night raid on November 23, 1942. In 1942, the Allies stopped the Axis advance in North Africa and the Soviet Union.

British prisoners of war leave Hong Kong for a Japanese prison camp in December 1941.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941. Italy and Germany immediately declared war on the United States, and on December 11, Roosevelt signed the U.S. declarations of war against those nations.

A view of U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee are in the foreground. The attack destroyed more than half the fleet of aircraft and damaged or destroyed eight battleships. Japan also attacked Clark and Iba airfields in the Philippines, destroying more than half the U.S. Army's aircraft there.

German tanks and infantry attack Soviet positions on the Eastern Front. On June 22, 1941, Germany broke its Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, launching the bloodiest theater of the war. Though the estimates vary greatly, Russia suffered the most war casualties of any nation in World War II -- as many as 13.8 million military deaths. Estimates of civilian deaths from military action, crimes against humanity, starvation and disease are as high as 9 million.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, left, with Hitler, center, and other leading Nazis, visits Germany during the war. Italy and Germany formed an alliance before the outbreak of war, but Italy remained a non-belligerent until June 10, 1940, when it declared war on Britain and France. Fighting spread to Greece and North Africa.

Smoke rises behind Tower Bridge during the first mass daylight bombing of London on September 7, 1940.