Fintan Dunne:

UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman, Chris Gunness broke into tears during an Al Jazeera TV interview Wednesday about Israel's shelling of a school in Gaza. The tank assault on the UN-run school sheltering hundreds of Palestinian refugees, left 15 people dead and approximately 90 wounded. Here is a copy of a clip from Mr. Gunnes' interview for Arabic-speaking Al Jazeera: Also view at:  http://rlu.ru/1n5D or  http://rlu.ru/1n5E Mr. Gunnes also did an English Al Jazeera interview on the shelling - with full composure: The aftermath of the attack. Read more here

A beautiful young Palestinian girl is dead.  But she was not killed by an Israeli bomb.  Hindi Shadi Abu Harbied reportedly died of a heart attack, during Israeli forces bombing of nearby homes in Beit Hanoun, Gaza on July 14, 2014. Think about that. She died of a heart attack.  This innocent child died of sheer terror. A terror which grew so intense that it burst her tiny heart.  By definition, then, she was murdered by terror - unleashed by 'terrorists', I suppose. Whole Gaza neighborhoods have been decimated by these tactics.  Not just 'surgical' strikes on identified individual homes. But methodical bombing, stepping down streets, house by house. Methodical human carnage and terror, unleashed on civilians.  War crimes backed by our western leaders - who deem genocidal terror by the state of Israel, as merely a 'disproportionate' response. Forgive us,  Hindi Shadi Abu Harbied. Sources: HumanizePalestine.com Abir Elzowidi  

THE UNITED NATION’S committee on human rights has told Ireland it is concerned at the lack of " prompt, independent, thorough and effective investigations into all allegations of abuse, mistreatment or neglect " in Magdalene Laundries and mother and baby homes. In its concluding observations to a review,  published today , the committee said it " regrets the failure to identify all perpetrators of the violations that occurred [and] the low number of prosecutions... " The Committee said: "[Ireland should] conduct prompt, independent and thorough investigation into all allegations of abuse in Magdalene Laundries, children’s institutions and mother and baby homes ; [and] prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offence ..."  The human rights watchdog also rejected the general basis of Ireland's previous inquiries into symphysiotomy and the Magdalene homes - including the system of ex-gratia, no-fau

Professor Sir Nigel Rodley United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 20 July, 2014 Professor Rodley, We are a group, scores in number of Irish mothers who gave birth in circumstances of exclusion and coercion within religious homes, state homes and other ad hoc facilities.  We share and support each other in a Facebook group . We have met with Irish government ministers north and south as part of their public consultations regarding so-called "mother and baby homes". We write to alert you and committee members that we rebut [see below]  many specific claims made by the Irish government when responding to your committee 's recent questions put to it. We write to alert you that the planned unwed mothers and babies inquiry is taking the same shape as have previous "inquiries" - with the same defects you and the committee members have already identified in previous inquiries. We urge you to note these reservations in your concluding remarks in

By Fintan Dunne 19 July 2014 @ 11GMT Why does a guy with over 10,000 Tweets and over 11,000 Followers just vanish off Twitter within hours of tweeting hot information about the MH17 air disaster. Inquiring minds, want to know. The Story So Far: So, I'm friends with Asia Times journalist, Pepe Escobar on FB. And yesterday I posted about one of Pepe's key sources for hot skinny on the MH17 Malaysia Air crash: an  air traffic controller from Spain  called " Carlos " - who is/was working at Kiev's Borispol airport and who tweets as  https://twitter.com/spainbuca . Well, today, he tweets no more . At 2am on 19th July, 2014, I discovered that his twitter account with around 11,500 followers - no longer exists. Carlos said MH17 was taken down by Ukranian military . Here's an archived backup of the google cache of his twitter account.  Here's a key article abour the "Carlos" revelations and a list of further vital hyperlinks to find out mo

Boycott Ireland's Fake "Dead Babies" Inquiry  July 17th, 2014 The Irish government just did a u-turn on the road to an effective judicial inquiry into practices which led to the uncovering of one likely mass grave of infants. International media pressure had impelled the June 4th, 2014 announcement by the government that they would consult widely, form firm terms of reference and then launch a robust statutory inquiry. For a while, the administration's resolve seemed genuine, but announcements in the last 48 hours evidence a shambolic travesty. Just days ahead of the planned announcement of the inquiry terms of reference, government 'leaks' to media began hinting that final terms of reference would be deferred to autumn. That means the consultative process was a sham. What gave that process credibility was the assurance that even as consultation progressed, the relevant civil servants were burning midnight oil to process this wide consultation a

by Fintan Dunne , PRO Irish First Mothers group 15-July-2014 It may look like the TV studio for Monday's 'Tonight' show on Ireland's TV3 - with guest presenter, Tom McGurk. But it's really the locker room at a Dublin South-East 'rugger' club - where randomly-selected women are 'cows' and those who definitely don't want the 'leg over' are 'fekkin' lezzers'. It was 'sports journalist' night on Monday. McGurk was joined by fellow sports hack,  Eoghan Corry - with journo and documentary-maker, Yvonne Judge there to become the meat in their misogynist sandwich. McGurk should have know better than to ask a woman for her opinion. But, luckily he did know how to interrupt, belittle and ignore her reply. As did his foil, 'Sancho Panza' Corry. The duo batted the issue of the torture of women back and forth with gusto.  Earlier Monday, according to the Journal.ie, the 'Survivors of Symphysiotomy'

LISTEN mp3 : Lorraine Dusky - Kathy McMahon Lorraine Dusky, USA and Kathy McMahon, Ireland speak  with Fintan Dunne  about the heartbreaks and joys of adoption and reconnection. SEE ALSO First Mothers Forum - Lorraine Irish First Mothers Group - Kathy