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1,092,788 | wakingtimes--2019-02-16--California Brain Tumor Association Issues Warning On Dangers of 5G | 2019-02-16T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | California Brain Tumor Association Issues Warning On Dangers of 5G | At the center of the debate about 5G technology is the issue of whether or not 5G is safe. Already underway, though, the rapid rollout will deploy 20,000+ satellites, millions of small towers, and use the same range of EMF waves as a military crowd-control system. Proponents of the technology don’t seem to acknowledge the growing body of research and growing number of voices warning us of the coming catastrophe of a world blanketed in 5G radiation. Most often, however, those who are negatively impacted by wireless technologies and electromagnetic pollution, are individuals whose voices aren’t heard outside of courtrooms and city halls. In Canada, for example, journalist Rodney Palmer spoke to local government about a “wi-fi disaster,” which actually hurt a number of school children, resulting in the removal of the school’s wireless network. Interestingly, firefighters have for years opposed the placement of cell towers near fire stations, arguing that the effects of the towers disrupt living conditions for firemen and can cause neurological problems. A study was done for an incident occurred with a group of Los Angeles firefighters in 2016, and is recounted in public testimony from veteran firefighter and Union president, David Gillotte. Gillotte speaks on the need to protect firefighters and stations from cell towers. Of interest in this conversation should also be the insight and opinions of closest to the victims of EMF pollution. In 2016, the California Brain Tumor Association (CBTA) condemned the passage of a bill that allowed for proliferation of small cell towers in California communities by requiring cities to lease land to telecom companies for 5G equipment and infrastructure. Acknowledging the known concerns of firefighters, CBTA executive director Ellie Marks had remarks for then governor Jerry Brown: Marks and the CBTA cited several key studies as the scientific and ethical foundation for opposing the bill and for opposing 5G in general. CBTA, headed by executive director Ellen [sic] Marks, issued a press release that cited several studies pointing to the dangers of pulsed, electro-magnetic radiation. DNA damage in those living close to a cell tower was documented in a new study by Electromagnetic Biol Med. 2017 Aug 4:1-11: “Impact of radiofrequency radiation on DNA damage and antioxidants in peripheral blood lymphocytes of humans residing in the vicinity of mobile phone base stations.” “All of the recorded radiofrequency radiation (RFR) power density values in this study were well below the Federal Communication Commission’s maximum permissible exposure limits in the U.S. for the general population,” said Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D., University of Calif. Berkeley School of Public Health. The study, said CBTA, follows on the heels of the major $25 million study recently released by the U.S. National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health that found increased incidences of brain cancer, malignant tumors of the heart and DNA damage in laboratory animals from exposure levels the FCC considers “safe.” The American Cancer Society’s statement on the significance of this new study was cited: “The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation (RFR) to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk. The findings are unexpected; we wouldn’t reasonably expect non-ionizing radiation to cause these tumors.” Limited Time Offer: Act now before they sell out. Berkey water filters offered at up to 31% discount. According to their website, the CBTA was formed by Ellie Marks as an advocacy group after her husband was diagnosed with brain cancer which was believed to be the result of cell phone usage. More on the CBTA Founded in 2008, the California Brain Tumor Association is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding public health. We believe that it is inexcusable to allow technological advances invented to enrich our lives rob us of our lives instead. We have been researching the question of how the wireless radiation from cell phones, towers and wifi routers (all things wireless) has harmful effects on health. The wireless industry says the “jury is out” and that the studies to date are inconclusive or mixed, with about half saying yes and half saying no. We do not agree. Independent expert groups have looked at the same studies and determined that the industry-funded studies tend to find no harm and the independent studies tend to find there is harm. The science is far more settled than the industry claims. Our reading of the situation is that science has established enough proof of harm that regulations should be updated now and appropriate warnings issued. The “jury” actually is back and it has given its guilty verdict. In brief, we are convinced that the science, on a global basis, is far more definitive than the claims by industry and government agencies imply. I recognize that this position places us far out on a limb relative to most people, but our conviction level is very high. CABTA focuses on prevention as the cure and exposes environmental hazards. Currently, we continue to focus on prevention of primary brain tumors due to cell phone use and our government’s deployment of 4G and 5G technology with no apparent concern for peer reviewed published science documenting the health risks from wireless technology. Here is director Ellie Marks speaking in opposition to SB 649: In the following video, members of the wireless industry admit that there are no studies showing 5G is safe: Alex Pietrowski is an artist and writer concerned with preserving good health and the basic freedom to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com. Alex is an avid student of Yoga and life. This article (California Brain Tumor Association Issues Warning On Dangers of 5G) originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Alex Pietrowski and WakingTimes.com. | WakingTimes | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/02/16/california-brain-tumor-association-issues-warning-on-dangers-of-5g/ | 2019-02-16 22:19:38+00:00 | 1,550,373,578 | 1,567,548,315 | science and technology | scientific institution |
540,786 | sputnik--2019-08-11--Chinese Scholars Establish Own Academic Evaluation System Following IEEEs Huawei Ban | 2019-08-11T00:00:00 | sputnik | Chinese Scholars Establish Own Academic Evaluation System Following IEEE’s Huawei Ban | In order to bolster the confidence of Chinese researchers to participate in the peer-review process for international journals, China Academy of Social Sciences Evaluation Studies (CASSES) organized a Beijing-based training workshop for Chinese researchers on Friday together with International academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group. "I don't think 'IEEE cases' will stop. It may happen again, probably with another institution in the near future… In the context of global competition, it is inevitable that China's academia will get a raw deal, even vicious encirclement and suppression, if it wants to have a say and occupy a particular position on the global stage," Jing Linbo, dean of CASSES, told the Global Times. According to the latest data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, the number of research papers by Chinese included in the Science Citation Index (SCI), Engineering Index (EI) and Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) reached 418,000, 266,000 and 59,000 respectively. The Essential Science Indicators database shows that Chinese research papers ranked at No.2 on the list of the highest cited publications for 2018. This achievement is closely tied to strong financial support from the government. In 2018, China spent 1.97 trillion yuan ($278.8 billion) on R&D - 138 times than the amount in 1991, putting it right behind the US. In many ways, Chinese researchers are working hard to have their voices heard, including as peer reviewers. "We were delighted to be able to partner with CASSES to offer training in how to be a peer reviewer for international academic journals. It has been shown by a number of studies that, although Chinese researchers are contributing to global research at a high level as authors, they currently represent a relatively low proportion of peer reviewers. Through this training, we are aiming to ensure more Chinese researchers are equipped to be peer reviewers for Taylor & Francis and Routledge journals, which is vital for global representation at every stage of the peer review process,"said Diana Marshall, head of reviewer programs at the Taylor & Francis Group. One 25-year-old graduate student studying at a second-tier Chinese university talked to the Global Times about the challenges Chinese researchers face when it comes to the peer review system. Working on research 12 hours a day, six days a week, the student, who wished to remain anonymous, has been waiting for a reply to an article on mineral engineering he sent to a top SCI journal. If his article is published, he will become a stronger candidate for his dream doctoral program at an Australian university. He acknowledged that the language barrier is a great hindrance. Many Chinese students and researchers like him have to spend time and energy on reading English articles and improving their academic writing in English. He told the Global Times that when it comes to mineral engineering research, China takes the lead globally. He noted that, for this reason, some Chinese researchers in the field would rather publish articles in domestic journals instead of foreign ones. However, in China, promotions for researchers are closely related to the number of articles published on top international academic journals; it is also a key proof of one's scientific achievements. This pressure has brought about corruption and academic misconduct. At the end of July, the misconduct of a female researcher in Shanghai was revealed on social media. The young researcher was able to get her name fraudulently added to five SCI published articles because she had a relationship with the author. Jing said these issues stem from the problematic evaluation of academic journals. "China's academia now has a misconception: As long as the impact factor of a journal is high, it must be a top journal," Jing said. Impact factors are used to measure the importance of a journal by calculating the yearly average number of times selected articles are cited within the last few years. Under these circumstances, Chinese researchers will choose to publish their new breakthroughs abroad first, instead of domestic journals, especially in natural science. "We should now reflect on our evaluation system. Fortunately, we've seen systematic progress. I know in the field of natural science, doctoral students are required to publish two to three SCI articles and another Chinese article," Jing noted. CASSES has made another step forward to improve this situation by establishing its own evaluation model for humanities and social science journals. The model is called AMI, which stands for attraction, management power and impact power. Attraction, refers to a journal's awards, quality and peer review results. Management power covers any academic misconduct and adherence to institutional norms by the journal. Impact power refers to a journal's academic, social and international influence. In Jing's opinion, this creates a multi-dimensional quantitative and qualitative evaluation system that can help evaluate academic journals and think tanks. The Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands and the Norway-based Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education have shown great interest in the system, according to Jing, who is ready to promote China's evaluation system in Europe. One of the purposes of the workshop is to familiarize Chinese researchers with the global peer review process and accelerating their entrance to global academia. In the West, articles fall under the scrutiny of two to three often-anonymous experts in the same field to make sure the final work meets publishing requirements. At Taylor & Francis, an associate editor finds two reviewers on the web using science and reviewer finder tools. Jing told the Global Times that peer reviewers in the West usually work for free and only for a few times a year. By comparison, Chinese peer reviewers may be asked to review papers multiple times in a year, and hence are paid. He said that a high number of peer reviewers can benefit a country in two ways: giving it more power to vote on international standards and putting it in a leading position of academic power. "The more papers you publish and the more members in an institute, the higher your academic position. Talents decide a country's competitiveness," Jing said. Regarding carrying out peer review for international journals, Marshall encourages Chinese researchers increase their profile with editors as much as possible. "My suggestion is to get known by the journals," she advised. Sienho Yee, editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of International Law, told the Global Times that the key to improving Chinese researchers' profile is to carry out high-quality research. "An entire paragraph of my work was once quoted by a judge at the International Court of Justice, because my research and analysis could support the judge, not because I am Chinese," Yee said. Jing echoed Yee, noting that a major challenge is that many Chinese academics lack the ability to explain or summarize China's achievements in different fields. "Most people wear a pair of tinted spectacles to look at Chinese issues," Jing said. "If we Chinese don't take the initiative to introduce our country, how can foreigners? No wonder their understanding is so one-sided." Jing said that open and fair international exchanges in academic fields should continue even though the US is wary of Chinese researchers. "It is obvious [US President Donald] Trump's policy [to suspect Chinese researchers] is not sustainable. The US is a country of immigrants. If the US does not open its doors, it will fade at a faster speed," Jing told the Global Times. He encouraged Chinese researchers to make their voices heard among international academia and visit the US for academic exchanges, as "the US is the highland of global scientific research." The mineral engineering graduate student is also looking forward to more Chinese voices being heard and Chinese researchers helping connect China and the world. This article originally appeared on the Global Times website. | null | https://sputniknews.com/asia/201908111076522134-chinese-scholars-establish-own-academic-evaluation-system-following-ieees-huawei-ban/ | 2019-08-11 03:34:24+00:00 | 1,565,508,864 | 1,567,534,423 | science and technology | scientific institution |
567,751 | tass--2019-07-21--Russia may introduce PhD to complement its academic degree system minister | 2019-07-21T00:00:00 | tass | Russia may introduce PhD to complement its academic degree system — minister | SKOLKOVO, July 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education may introduce the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) to complement its existing academic degree system, Science and Higher Education Minister Mikhail Kotyukov said on Saturday. "Discussions are under way. However, if introduced, it [the PhD degree] will not replace it, it will be supplementary," he said. "In other words, our traditional system will remain and, maybe, there will be an opportunity to get a PhD degree, too," the minister added. Russia’s first-level academic degree is called 'Kandidat nauk' (that could be translated verbatim as a "Candidate of Sciences"). A higher doctoral degree, which may be earned after the Candidate of Sciences, is 'Doktor nauk', literally meaning Doctor of Sciences. | null | https://tass.com/science/1069632 | 2019-07-21 02:48:33+00:00 | 1,563,691,713 | 1,567,536,223 | science and technology | scientific institution |
569,871 | tass--2019-08-28--Sanya sets up its own Association of Academicians | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | tass | Sanya sets up its own Association of Academicians | HAIKOU, August 28. /TASS/. The Hainan authorities announced the creation of the Association of Academicians of Sanya, which will contribute to the promotion of various international scientific projects, especially in the fields of biology, space exploration and marine technologies, information portal www.hinews.cn reported. The first 36 members of the new organization were elected at the World Sanya Laureate Forum. It is expected that the association will not only activate global research projects, but also ensure effective cooperation between academia, government and business circles. It is assumed that mailnly due to this, Sanya in the near future will turn into an innovative center. All key technologies will be patented, and intellectual property rights will be mentored by the island administration. Most of the workings are planned to be put into practice, both in the field of production and with the aim of more efficient allocation of resources. One of the goals set by the central government in Beijing is to draw as many professionals to Hainan as possible, to provide them with conditions for living and working. In April 2018, President Xi Jinping said that the Chinese authorities intend to actively involve Hainan in globalization and to draw foreign investors to the island province. By 2050, according to the authorities, the island should become a unique international cluster with an advanced economy, developed tourism, top-notch scientific, technical and financial potential, and modern medicine. The branches of the best universities and offices of the most powerful corporations in the world will be located on the Island of Hainan. | null | https://tass.com/science/1075426 | 2019-08-28 13:48:05+00:00 | 1,567,014,485 | 1,567,543,615 | science and technology | scientific institution |
580,332 | theblaze--2019-01-09--Professor who exposed biased academic left with fake studies is in trouble with his college over i | 2019-01-09T00:00:00 | theblaze | Professor who exposed 'biased academic left with fake studies' is in trouble with his college over it | Professor who exposed 'biased academic left with fake studies' is in trouble with his college over it Portland State University 'like many college campuses, is becoming an ideological community, and I've demonstrated that I don't fit the mold,' the prof said | Dave Urbanski | https://www.theblaze.com/news/professor-who-exposed-biased-academic-left-with-fake-studies-is-in-trouble-with-his-college-over-it | 2019-01-09 22:40:09+00:00 | 1,547,091,609 | 1,567,553,345 | science and technology | scientific institution |
570,623 | tass--2019-09-10--France bestows Order of Academic Palms on three Russian scientists | 2019-09-10T00:00:00 | tass | France bestows Order of Academic Palms on three Russian scientists | ST. PETERSBURG, September 10. /TASS/. Counselor for Science and Technology at the Embassy of France in Russia Abdo Malac bestowed the Ordre des Palmes academiques (Order of Academic Palms) on three Russian scientists during the 21st Mendeleev Session, TASS reported. The recipients of the award are Doctor of Chemistry, Director of the Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Trifonov; Doctor of Biology, Head of the Department of Animal Cell Biochemistry of the Belozersky Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology of the Moscow State University Vladimir Muronets; and Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, head of the International Scientific Laboratory of the Physics of Epitaxial Nanostructures of the ITMO University Vladimir Dubrovsky. The Ordre des Palmes academiques was established in 1808 by Emperor Napoleon I for academicians and professors of the University of Paris and some lyceums. Presently, teachers and members of the academic community, individuals who made considerable contributions to national education, as well as foreign subjects and Frenchmen who live outside France and who actively support the spread of the French culture in other countries receive this award now. The 21st Mendeleev Session on general and applied chemistry is being held on September 9-13 in St. Petersburg. It is one of the key events of the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements declared by the UN General Assembly. The convention is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the creation of the periodic table of chemical elements by Dmitri Mendeleev. The International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is taking place in Russia, Germany, Spain, the US and Japan under the auspices of UNESCO and includes scientific conference, thematic exhibitions, contests for young scientists and other events. | null | https://tass.com/society/1077540 | 2019-09-10 15:50:53+00:00 | 1,568,145,053 | 1,569,330,540 | science and technology | scientific institution |
587,689 | thecollegefix--2019-12-30--UNC Charlotte seminar to help academic advisors avoid ‘maintenance of oppressive systems’ | 2019-12-30T00:00:00 | thecollegefix | UNC Charlotte seminar to help academic advisors avoid ‘maintenance of oppressive systems’ | A coming “webinar” at the University of North Carolina Charlotte will assist academic advisors on becoming the “best possible allies” to students … which includes not contributing to the “maintenance of oppressive systems.” The National Academic Advising Association’s “Academic Advising for Social Justice: Theory, Reflection, and Practice” takes place in mid-April of next year, and will add to previous events such as their 2015 webinar “Academic Advising and Social Justice: Privilege, Diversity, and Student Success.” presenters will challenge participants to engage in critical reflection about themselves and the profession to better understand how we can hear our students lived experiences and work towards being the best possible allies for them. Are there ways in which we unwittingly contribute to the maintenance of oppressive systems that do not serve all students equitably? How can we process our discomfort as a participant in oppressive systems? The presenters will examine the role of emotionality for both advisors and students in this important dialogue, discuss contemporary advising approaches, and explore the concept of counternarratives as a means to work towards social justice in advising. Call me old fashioned, but if I’m in the market for some academic advising, the possible preservation of “oppressive systems” and progressive notions of social justice are the least of my concerns. Perhaps this is a reason why students at larger universities tend to rate their advisors as “unsatisfactory,” among others. Social justice and “intersectionalty” are big things with the webinar presenters; they’re both part of the research (and interests) of St. Thomas University’s Jayne Sommers and the University of Minnesota’s Quinn Nelson. Meanwhile, fellow presenter Ariel Collatz of UC Davis “values collective action, self reflection, open communication, empowerment and the creation and sharing of knowledge.” MORE: Prof: Game of dodgeball’s ‘hidden curriculum’: it ‘reinforces oppression’ Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter | Dave Huber - Assistant Editor | https://www.thecollegefix.com/unc-charlotte-seminar-to-help-academic-advisors-avoid-maintenance-of-oppressive-systems/ | Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:52:52 +0000 | 1,577,685,172 | 1,577,709,712 | science and technology | scientific institution |
587,673 | thecollegefix--2019-12-26--Diversity-minded academics: The sciences have a problem with ‘whiteness’ | 2019-12-26T00:00:00 | thecollegefix | Diversity-minded academics: The sciences have a problem with ‘whiteness’ | Here we go again: The mainstream media treats us to another fatuous piece about how an “incorrect” percentage of women and minorities working in the sciences is a “problem.” Of course, most people, for some silly reason, couldn’t care less about the color or gender of those working in the hard sciences. But leave it to the New York Times to highlight several individuals who do care — who, coincidentally, have a background or employment in an academic “diversity” field. For example, Assistant Director of Academic Affairs and Diversity Kuheli Dutt of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory claims the “lack of diversity and inclusion is the single largest cultural problem facing the geosciences today.” Unsurprisingly, Dutt’s research focuses on “gender issues, implicit bias, and diversity in the sciences.” Dutt wrote a piece recently for the journal Nature titled “Race and racism in the geosciences” which hits many academic race fads, especially the belief that colorblindness is “racist,” and that racism itself is all about who holds “power.” The diversity director says one thing white geoscientists should do to help increase a “sense of belonging” among marginalized groups is “separate their privilege as a White person from their identity as a good person.” “Conflating the two,” she adds, “leads to feelings of anger, denial and defensiveness, because racism tends to be viewed as a character defect rather than the system of advantage and social conditioning that it really is.” This “sense of belonging” was lacking for Columbia PhD student Arianna Varuolo-Clarke who, upon receiving an internship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, “quickly realized […] her path as a woman of color would not be easy.” Despite “walk[ing] through the halls” of Columbia and seeing “a lot of old white men,” Varuolo-Clarke says she nevertheless persevered. When her department was the target of an isolated racist email back in May, Varuolo-Clarke claims the message “brought to the surface what still needs to be done in the field.” The geosciences — which include the study of planet Earth, its oceans, its atmosphere and its interactions with human society — are among the least diverse across all fields of science. Nearly 90 percent of doctoral-degree recipients are white. In the country’s top 100 geoscience departments, people of color hold under 4 percent of tenured or tenure-track positions. A 2016 survey from the National Science Foundation showed that representation of people of color in geosciences has barely budged in the past four decades, although significant gains have been made in terms of gender balance. … “You think of a bearded guy on top of a mountain wearing flannel and hiking boots,” said Jonathan Nichols, an associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty. “We just had our big fall conference and there were 20,000-plus geologists, and you look around and it’s all old bearded guys.” That stereotype, Dr. Nichols said, can make the field feel unwelcoming to people of color, who don’t see themselves represented at conferences and among faculty members. Dr. White concurred that the geosciences had an “image problem” that prevents young people of color from applying for research opportunities. That lack of representation in turn affects the quality and focus of earth science research, especially on climate change. “It’s not rich white people who will be impacted first and most by climate change,” Dr. Nichols said. “It’s the people in marginalized communities. And if you forget that this work isn’t just an academic pursuit, then why are you even doing it? You have to keep in mind the real impact.” Columbia PhD student Lorelei Curtin added that earth science classes could be “enriched” by more Native American voices since “Indigenous people have a unique connection to the land.” Curtin helped create a book club, aptly titled “Race Talk,” in which fellow geoscientists yak about “race and white privilege.” MORE: Women, minorities show less interest in research faculty careers MORE: Math prof who argues against ‘truths and knowledge’ hosts convocation Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter | Dave Huber - Assistant Editor | https://www.thecollegefix.com/diversity-minded-academics-the-sciences-have-a-problem-with-whiteness/ | Thu, 26 Dec 2019 17:09:41 +0000 | 1,577,398,181 | 1,577,407,191 | science and technology | scientific institution |
601,535 | thedailycaller--2019-04-05--Cambridge Academic Reflects On Interactions With Spygate Figure | 2019-04-05T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Cambridge Academic Reflects On Interactions With ‘Spygate’ Figure | Svetlana Lokhova did not get along with Stefan Halper, which is what she says made a dinner invitation to the Cambridge University professor’s home in January 2016 all the more peculiar. “Halper was a lurking presence with a horrible aura — I avoided him,” said Lokhova, a Cambridge post-graduate student who studies Soviet-era espionage. Lokhova dodged the invitation to Halper’s home, which she said was sent to her by Christopher Andrew, a Cambridge professor and official historian for MI5, the British domestic intelligence service. But the past three years have revealed new details about Halper and other activities that went on at Cambridge that have caused Lokhova to question why she was asked to that dinner at Halper’s. For one, a series of stories that appeared in the press in early 2017 heavily implied Lokhova was a Russian agent who tried to suborn Michael Flynn at a dinner hosted at Cambridge on Feb. 28, 2014. Flynn served at the time as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. (RELATED: A London Meeting Before The Election Aroused Trump Adviser’s Suspicions) A year after those stories appeared, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Halper cozied to three Trump campaign advisers, Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos. In May 2018, Halper was revealed as a longtime CIA and FBI informant, a revelation that led President Donald Trump to accuse the FBI of planting a spy in his campaign. The Republican coined the term “Spygate” to describe the alleged scandal. After Halper’s links to American intelligence were revealed, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported he and another Cambridge luminary, former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove, raised concerns about Lokhova’s contacts with Flynn that were subsequently passed to American and British intelligence. Lokhova blames Halper for distorting her brief interaction with Flynn into “an international espionage scandal” in which she wound up as collateral damage. “What Halper staged is a textbook ‘black-op’ to dirty up the reputation of a political opponent. He needed an innocuous social event to place Flynn in a room with a woman who was ethnically Russian. I was unlucky he picked me,” Lokhova told TheDCNF. Lokhova, a dual Russian and British citizen, has spoken out before about Halper and the allegations about her in the media. She accused Halper of making “false” and “absurd” claims about her in 2018 interviews with TheDCNF. She has also taken to Twitter to criticize reporters who published allegations about her and Flynn. The Guardian’s Luke Harding is one target of Lokhova’s ire. She has criticized the British reporter for a March 31, 2017, story that contained thinly veiled allegations she tried to compromise Flynn. According to the report, which was based on anonymous sources, American and British intelligence developed concerns about Lokhova’s interactions with Flynn at the February 2014 dinner, which was hosted by the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar. Halper, Dearlove and Andrew are co-conveners of the seminar, which hosts events for current and former spies. The Wall Street Journal also published an innuendo-laden story March 18, 2017, about Flynn and Lokhova. The hook for the story was that Flynn had failed to report his contact with Lokhova to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Lokhova, who has lived in the U.K. since 1998, vehemently denies the insinuations in the articles that she is a Russian agent or that she tried to seduce Flynn. She has provided emails and photographs to TheDCNF to help back up her case. She also notes that all of the allegations about her have been made anonymously. Dan O’Brien, a Defense Intelligence Agency official who accompanied Flynn to the Cambridge event, told TheWSJ he saw nothing untoward involving Lokhova. Lokhova’s partner, David North, has told TheDCNF he picked Lokhova up after the event. Since learning more about Halper, Lokhova has reflected back on the few interactions she had with him over the years at Cambridge. A veteran of three Republican administrations, Halper joined Cambridge in 2001. From his perch at the stories university, Halper wrote books about American politics and the geopolitical threat that China poses to the West. He also received over $1 million in contracts from the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment to write studies on Russia, China and Afghanistan. Lokhova says she first remembers seeing Halper in November 2013, when she gave a talk about her research on Soviet-era spy archives. The pair had few direct interactions over the next several years, even though they attended the same academic seminars. Lokhova recalls one interaction in 2014 or 2015 when Halper sat down at a table with her and North. “The guy looks at us like we’re completely horrible people, and then gets up and sits across the room.” Lokhova also said she learned from a Cambridge faculty member that Halper was spreading rumors that she was linked to Russian intelligence. On March 25, 2018, TheDCNF reported on Halper’s contacts with the Trump campaign. Halper, whose late father-in-law was legendary CIA official Ray Cline, made contact with Page at a political forum hosted at Cambridge on July 11, 2016, nearly three weeks before the FBI opened its investigation of the Trump campaign. Page attended the event after receiving an invitation in June 2016 from a Ph.D. student who studied under Halper. Halper reached out to Papdopoulos in September 2016, and offered the young Trump aide $3,000 and a trip to London to write a policy paper on energy issues. (RELATED: Cambridge Prof With MI6, CIA Ties Met With Carter Page During Campaign, Beyond) Two months after TheDCNF report, the Times and Post identified Halper as a longtime FBI and CIA informant sent to gather intelligence on the Trump campaign. The newspapers also reported Halper was one of those at Cambridge who had expressed concerns about Lokhova’s interaction with Flynn. The Times reported May 18, 2018, that Halper “was alarmed by the general’s apparent closeness with a Russian woman who was also in attendance.” “The concern was strong enough that it prompted another person to pass on a warning to the American authorities that Mr. Flynn could be compromised by Russian intelligence, according to two people familiar with the matter.” The Post reported June 5, 2018, that Halper and Dearlove were “disconcerted” by Flynn and Lokhova’s interactions in 2014. Those concerns were provided to American and British intelligence, though it is unclear if Halper and Dearlove were direct sources for the government agencies. Dearlove met prior to the 2016 U.S. election with Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who authored the infamous anti-Trump dossier alleging a “well-developed conspiracy” between the Trump campaign and Kremlin. Christopher Andrew’s Jan. 12, 2016, dinner invitation sticks out in Lokhova’s mind not just because of its randomness — “it came out of the blue,” she says — but also because of all of the other events that unfolded at that time. Lokhova says Christopher Andrew emailed her asking her to keep Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, 2016, open on her calendar to attend a dinner for Halper’s wife. Lokhova, who wrote her dissertation under Andrew’s direction, says she was caught off guard by the invitation, both because she had barely spoken to Halper and because she did not know Halper’s wife. Lokhova has no proof that she was being lured to meet with Halper in order to gather dirt on Flynn, but she is now suspicious because of the timing of the invite. In December 2015, a month before the invitation, Flynn attended a gala hosted by RT, the Russia-owned news agency. The Moscow visit is often cited as evidence of Flynn’s too-close links to Moscow. Flynn joined the Trump campaign as an informal adviser in February 2016. The allegations about Flynn and Lokhova came out of nowhere. In an essay at the London Times on Feb. 19, 2017, Christopher Andrew wrote of the “impulsive” former national security adviser he had met for the first time three years earlier. Andrew’s essay was a response to Flynn’s firing as national security adviser. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, was forced to resign Feb. 14, 2017, after allegedly lying to the White House about his contacts in December 2016 with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn would later plead guilty to lying to the FBI about those contacts. Lokhova says she was taken aback by Andrew’s article. For one, Andrew had not told her that he would be writing the article even though they were in frequent contact. At the time, Lokhova and Andrew were working together on a book based on Lokhova’s research of Soviet intelligence archives. Andrew’s piece also contained clear sexual undertones, including the suggestion that a Russian student (Lokhova) had “charmed” Flynn. Reporters came out of the woodworks following Andrew’s story, says Lokhova. Emails seen by TheDCNF show she was contacted by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who said he had been in contact with Andrew and wanted to speak to her during his planned visit to Cambridge. Ignatius would write a column May 22, 2018, defending Halper after he was outed as a government informant. A source familiar with Halper’s contacts with the Trump campaign has told TheDCNF he suggested the Trump campaign establish a relationship with Ignatius, who did not publish a story on Lokhova. The Times also contacted Lokhova to inquire about Flynn, but the newspaper did not run a story about her or Flynn. TheWSJ and Guardian, however, did publish articles. Both reports, published in March 2017, suggested Flynn had failed to report his encounter with Lokhova to the Defense Intelligence Agency. But the real meat of the story was that U.S. intelligence officials had “serious concerns” about Flynn’s interaction with Lokhova. The reports do not say whether those concerns were raised in 2014 or years later, but the timeline is important. If Halper was concerned about Lokhova as early as 2014, why was she invited to his home two years later for dinner? Lokhova speculates that Halper intended to do what he did with Page and Papadopoulos. But if Halper waited until 2016 or later to raise concerns, was he truly worried about her contacts with Flynn? As for the core allegations of the 2014 Cambridge event, Lokhova calls them “preposterous.” She points to an email Andrew sent her April 19, 2017, to say he had told a Guardian reporter she was not a Russian asset. “This material is quite sufficient to dispose of conspiracy theories about SL somehow serving some Russian interest,” Andrew wrote Lokhova in the email, which she provided to TheDCNF. Lokhova notes the dinner Flynn attended was a small event and that all of the attendees had been vetted by DIA. Photos Lokhova provided to TheDCNF show she did not sit next to Flynn at the dinner, as the Journal’s sources claimed. Lokhova says she interacted with Flynn, but that others, including Dearlove and Andrew were close by. And though Lokhova was the only Russian at the dinner, most others Flynn met with were non-American. No stories were published suggesting that he had failed to report his contacts with a group made up largely of Brits. Lokhova has also provided TheDCNF an email which showed she was invited by Cambridge officials to meet with Flynn’s predecessor, Gen. Vincent Stewart, on May 1, 2015. If Lokhova was a threat to Flynn, why would she not have been a threat to his successor, she wonders. Andrew, Dearlove and Halper have avoided comment. Cambridge reportedly instructed faculty to avoid discussing the topic because of its sensitive nature. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | Chuck Ross | https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/04/cambridge-halper-flynn-spygate/ | 2019-04-05 01:02:22+00:00 | 1,554,440,542 | 1,567,543,952 | science and technology | scientific institution |
661,488 | thedenverpost--2019-04-02--Ask Amy Dreams are dashed by academic abuse | 2019-04-02T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | Ask Amy: Dreams are dashed by academic abuse | Dear Amy: My dream is to be a medical researcher. I have devoted my life to this goal, entering a Ph.D. program straight out of college. Unfortunately, my supervising professor abused me, and I felt I had no choice but to leave the program for my health and safety. I tried a different career, but my heart is tied to my dream. Though my abuser tried hard to turn me away from the work I love, I am resilient and determined to make a difference. I have been working entry-level positions in the field, but I need a Ph.D. for the roles I want most. Five years after leaving, I am applying to grad school again. I have to address my previous Ph.D. program in the application. My history is suspicious and potentially disqualifying for admission if not addressed upfront. Departments do not want to risk offering admission to candidates with perceived personal issues. If I don’t explain why I left the program, I look like I’m hiding something. If I say outright that I left because of the abuse, or even allude to leaving for safety reasons, it is off-putting and may negatively impact me. In grad applications, both apparent omissions and oversharing beyond interpersonal boundaries can kill a candidate’s chances. In an ideal world, I could say this was a personal matter. I’d rather ignore it, but my history is a red flag that detracts from my academic, professional and personal merits. I have to explain it, but tactfully. How do I explain my past without scaring off schools or leaving them guessing? — Damned if I Do — or Don’t Dear Damned: You don’t mention what your professor did or what the consequences might have been for him. I understand the tension in trying to re-enter academia — the very system that let you down before — where disclosing details might circle back to harm you. I think an appropriate way to account for your years away is to disclose that you chose to leave your academic program (not that you were chased out): “My program was a bad fit, and I withdrew before completing my degree. I realized during my time away that I am determined and so passionate about this area of research. All of my choices point toward re-entering the field and completing my Ph.D.” This accounts for your time away, and also cracks the door open for further explanation, if it is required. I agree with you that being circumspect is wisest. Always pivot toward your strengths. You’ve gained a lot during your time away from the classroom — and now you need to convey that you are ready to return. Dear Amy: When my husband and I stay at a hotel, I always leave a daily tip for the person who cleans our room; this includes on the day of our departure from the establishment. My husband does not think that I should tip on the last day, because “the room is being cleaned for someone else.” I disagree, as the cleaning person is still tidying up after us even if we are leaving. To me, this only seems fair. Is my husband correct on this? Dear Fair Tipper: Your husband’s logic seems like a simple justification for shorting a service worker. A cleaner isn’t only cleaning up “for” someone else, but “after” you. Think of it this way: You don’t tip the cleaning staff when you first check in, because they haven’t had the joy of cleaning up after you, yet. You should leave a tip for the cleaning staff daily after each night of your stay, including your last day before you check out. Tipping each day ensures that the person who actually cleaned your room that day receives your thanks. Any time cleaners have to clean up “after” you, their work should be recognized with gratitude. Hotel cleaners are very hard-working — usually women — and often first-generation immigrants. Hotel room cleaning is extremely physically demanding, and in many cases how your room is maintained is the first line of a guest’s review of the property. Dear Amy: I felt you were way too lenient in your answer to “Co-Pilot,” whose husband insisted on driving and insisted on texting while driving. You suggested that she refuse to ride with him on longer trips. I suggest that she refuse to ride with him at all. Dear Upset: Scores of readers responded: Nobody (including me) wants to share the road with this jerk. | Amy Dickinson | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/02/ask-amy-dreams-are-dashed-by-academic-abuse/ | 2019-04-02 10:30:46+00:00 | 1,554,215,446 | 1,567,544,273 | science and technology | scientific institution |
360,263 | newsweek--2019-01-16--After LHC CERN Reveals Plans For Even Bigger Atom-smashing Particle Collider | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | newsweek | After LHC, CERN Reveals Plans For Even Bigger Atom-smashing Particle Collider | Particle accelerators are an extremely useful tool for scientists wishing to probe the fundamental open questions in physics. The largest and most powerful accelerator in the world—the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which lies deep below the France-Switzerland border—has made several groundbreaking discoveries, including the confirmation of an elusive subatomic particle known as the Higgs Boson. Now, officials at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)—which operates the LHC—has unveiled plans to build an even bigger successor accelerator, right next to it, to further probe the mysteries of matter and the universe. Read more: Scientists are about to start hunting for the universe's hidden realm Conceptual designs put together with the help of 150 universities, research institutions and industrial partners show that the proposed accelerator—currently referred to as the “Future Circular Collider” (FCC)—will reside in an underground tunnel with a circumference of 62 miles. This is significantly bigger than the 17-mile structure that houses the LHC. “The FCC conceptual design report is a remarkable accomplishment,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti in a statement. “It shows the tremendous potential of the FCC to improve our knowledge of fundamental physics and to advance many technologies with a broad impact on society.” “While presenting new, daunting challenges, the FCC would greatly benefit from CERN’s expertise, accelerator complex and infrastructures, which have been developed over more than half a century,” he said. According to officials, the FCC could begin operations by 2040 with an accelerator that collides electrons and positrons—the antimatter counterpart to the electron. The machine—which is estimated to cost around $10.25 billion—would have the capability to detect new, rare processes and measure known particles with currently unobtainable precision. This could allow scientists to detect whether there are any holes in the Standard Model (SM) that would indicate a new kind of physics exists. The SM is our best description of the observable universe, outlining the four fundamental forces that govern nature and all the known elementary particles—those that are not composed of any others. CERN also outlined plans to building another machine which will be incorporated into the same tunnel and is expected to come online in the late 2050s. This accelerator will use superconducting magnets to collide protons at an “order of magnitude more powerful than the LHC.” The unprecedented energies that this collider will be capable of producing in its collisions will allow scientists to conduct investigations into a wide variety of phenomena, including how Higgs particles interact with one another. “Proton colliders have been the tool-of-choice for generations to venture new physics at the smallest scale,” said CERN Director for Research and Computing, Eckhard Elsen in the statement. “A large proton collider would present a leap forward in this exploration and decisively extend the physics program beyond results provided by the LHC and a possible electron-positron collider.” Over the next few years, the 22-member states of CERN will examine the proposals and come to a decision on whether they should be put into action, The Associated Press reported. According to CERN, the benefits of a new collider are wide-ranging even if it is difficult to predict exactly what they will be. The organization says that the complex machinery required for the experiments will inspire new technologies and innovation, which will have an impact on the economy and society as a whole—just as the discovery of the electron in 1897 eventually led to the electronics industry which is now valued at an estimated $3 trillion, AP reported. | null | https://www.newsweek.com/future-circular-collider-cern-large-hadron-collider-cern-particle-physics-1293524?utm_source=Public&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution | 2019-01-16 12:54:19+00:00 | 1,547,661,259 | 1,567,552,149 | science and technology | scientific institution |
495,027 | sottnet--2019-01-16--Pointless CERN lays out plans for even bigger 21-billion super-collider | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | sottnet | Pointless? CERN lays out plans for even bigger €21-billion super-collider | CERN has unveiled its bold dream to build a new acceleratorThe European particle physics laboratory, outside Geneva, Switzerland, outlined the plan in a technical report on 15 January.The document offers several preliminary designs for a Future Circular Collider (FCC) - which would be the most powerful particle-smasher ever built - with different types of colliders ranging in cost from around €9 billion (US$10.2 billion) to €21 billion. It is the lab's opening bid in a priority-setting process over the next two years, called the European Strategy Update for Particle Physics, and it will affect the field's future well into the second half of the century."It's a huge leap, like planning a trip not to Mars, but to Uranus," says Gian Francesco Giudice, who heads CERN's theory department and represents CERN in the Physics Preparatory Group of the strategy exercise.This points to a need to push energies as high as possible, Giudice says. "Today, exploring the highest possible energies with bold projects is our best hope to crack some of the mysteries of nature at the most fundamental level."The potential for a machine such the FCC is "very exciting", says Halina Abramowicz, a physicist at Tel Aviv University who heads that European strategy process. She adds that the FCC's potential will be discussed in depth and compared to other proposed projects.The CERN Council, which includes scientists and government delegates from member countries, will then make the final decision on whether to fund the project.Not everyone is convinced the super collider is a good investment.says Sabine Hossenfelder, a theoretical physics at Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany. "That's the nightmare that everyone has on their mind but doesn't want to speak about."Hossenfelder says that the large sums involved, would be safer bets in terms of their return on science.But Michael Benedikt, a CERN physicist who led the FCC report, says that such a facility would be worth building regardless of the expected scientific outcome. "These kind of largest scale efforts and projects are huge starters for networking, connecting institutes across borders, countries. All these things together make up a very good argument for pushing such unique science projects."Though Hossenfelder says that a similar argument could be made of other big-science projects.The FCC study started in 2014 and involved more than 1,300 contributors, according to CERN, with a financial contribution from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research-funding programme. Most of the scenarios it outlines involve a 100-km tunnel to be dug next to the existing Large Hadron Collider's tunnel. The cost for this and the related infrastructure on the surface would be around €5 billion, says CERN.A €4-billion machine built in such a tunnelSuch collisions would enable researchers to study known particles such as the Higgs boson with greater precision than is possible at a proton-proton collider such as the LHC. This new research programme would start only around 2040, after the LHC - including a planned upgraded version - has run its course.Physicists have long planned to build an International Linear Collider (ILC) after the LHC, which would also smash electrons and positrons. Japanese scientists pitched to host in 2012. ButThis is because the ILC would only reach energies sufficient to study the Higgs but not to discover any new particles that may exist at higher energies, as CERN's planned colliderThe Japanese government is set to decide whether it wants to host the ILC by 7 March.Another option outlined in the report is a €15-billion, 100-km proton-proton collider (also known as a hadron collider) built in the same tunnel that could reach energies of up to 100,000 GeV, much higher than the LHC's maximum capability of 16,000 GeV. But a more likely scenario would be to build the electron-positron machine first, and move on to the proton-proton collider later on, in the late 2050s. Either way, the higher-energy machine would look for entirely new particles, which could be more massive than the known ones and therefore require more energy to produce.But because of technological improvements, notably in the magnets that bend the protons' path around the ring, it would smash the particles at energies more than twice higher.Much research and development is still to be done, which is one reason why it might make sense to build the lower-energy machine first. "If we had a 100-km tunnel ready tomorrow, we could start building an electron-positron collider right away because the technology essentially exists already," says Giudice. "But more research and development is needed for the magnets required by a 100 teraelectronvolt collider."Wang Yifang, the director of China's Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, says that he does not doubt that the lab could pull off such a project. "CERN has a long history of success. It has the technological capabilities, the management skills and good relationships with governments," he says.Wang is leading a similar project in China, and he says that reassuringly, both efforts have come to essentially the same conclusion in terms of science goals and technical feasibility. In particular, it is a natural choice to do electron-positron collisions first and then move on to hadrons later, he says.Much of the added cost for a hadron collider would come from the need for powerful superconducting magnets and the huge helium cryogenic systems to keep them cold. The hadron-colliding FCC would aim at 16-tesla magnets based on the superconducting alloy Nb3Tn, which would be twice as powerful as the LHC while in principle requiring only slightly warmer temperatures.Even if particle physicists agree that the world needs a 100-km collider, it is unclear whether it needs two. Whichever side gets such a project going first will probably pre-empt efforts on the other side. Either collider would host experiments open to the broader international community, Wang says, so scientifically it will not make a difference which one ends up being built. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/405046-Pointless-CERN-lays-out-plans-for-even-bigger-21-billion-super-collider | 2019-01-16 11:23:19+00:00 | 1,547,655,799 | 1,567,552,302 | science and technology | scientific institution |
551,013 | sputnik--2019-11-26--Why an Artificial Black Hole Won’t Swallow the World: Truth and Myths About CERN | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | sputnik | Why an Artificial Black Hole Won’t Swallow the World: Truth and Myths About CERN | To New Physics – Almost at the Speed of Light With the advent of Einstein's theory of relativity in physics, an era that saw a variety of fundamental models began, which to this day cannot be combined into a single system. Today, it’s high-energy physics that provide the most accurate data about the structure of matter. CERN's collider studies the processes of production of fundamental particles using collisions of protons and nuclei, which are accelerated to speeds extremely close to the speed of light. This allows one to verify theoretical predictions and discover new physical states of particles. The standard model, which had been created by the 1960s, is a system of particle physics theories that explain most, but not all, fundamental phenomena: for example, it doesn’t explain gravity. To clarify this model, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was created. The LHC is a ring-shaped tunnel operating at a depth of a hundred-metres with a circumference of 27 km, inside which more than 1,200 superconducting magnets accelerate particles to collide at a speed of 0.99999999 the speed of light. Apart from the LHC, CERN has six more accelerators and a number of detectors that record the results of particle collisions. The volume of information produced by the detectors is estimated to comprise tens of petabytes (tens of millions of gigabytes) per month, and sometimes it takes scientists more than one year to analyse this material. The data produced by the centre’s laboratories are processed using a multilevel network, the nodes of which are located in universities and research centres in 40 countries, including Russia. The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 was the finale of the grandiose work to confirm the standard model. Today, a number of parallel experimental programmes have been launched on the basis of CERN, dedicated to both checking the accuracy of the standard model’s predictions and searching for manifestations of the “new physics”. The further study of the Higgs boson will provide an opportunity to study phenomena beyond the scope of the standard model. Scientists are most interested in such phenomena as dark matter and dark energy, as well as the asymmetry of matter and anti-matter. The Crucible of New Technologies The need to process a huge amount of data has made the CERN one of the hotbeds of computer technology. In addition to the World Wide Web, which was created there in 1989 for convenience, the centre has also greatly influenced the distributed computing technology. Scientists are especially proud of the work to reduce the physical dimensions of accelerators. Miniature accelerators are already actively used to scan the internal structure of objects: for example, in medicine or in the examination of art. The associated visualisation technologies are also being developed at CERN. The Medipix Collaboration is adapting the technology used to monitor particle collisions for diagnostic applications. The fourth generation of chips is already being developed, which allows both receiving 3D scans of the human body and monitoring of various kinds, including in space conditions. In addition, unique experimental conditions make it possible to study the effect of cosmic radiation on climate formation and to develop methods for protecting electronics from it for the aerospace sphere. CERN has unique expertise both in a number of production competencies and in process management, which makes it an avant-garde hub of 4.0 industry, influencing knowledge-intensive business all over the world. On the Brink of the Future In total, CERN has several dozen collaborations or experimenters, who are pushing the horizons of science in different directions. The largest of them, ATLAS and CMS, are aimed at searching for new elementary particles, dark matter, and other new phenomena. LHCb studies antimatter and ALICE specialises in studying the state of matter during the first microseconds after the Big Bang. Rumours and alarming theories often appear with regard to the work of the LHC, and, fortunately, they have all been refuted: neither microscopic black holes, which really can occur in the collider for a split second, nor the mysterious magnetic monopole can destroy the Earth. But there is always the possibility of making a discovery that will turn everything upside down – in a good way. To improve the efficiency of observations at the LHC, a modernization project is being implemented, which will turn it into a “high luminosity” collider (HL-LHC). It’s believed that the upgrade will busy scientists with data until about 2035. As scientists plan, the LHC will be replaced by either the Future Circular Collider, with the circumference of about 100 km, or the Linear Collider, an accelerator of a completely different type. These projects are aimed at a detailed study of the Higgs boson. Today, about 2,600 scientists and engineers work at CERN. More than 12,000 physicists from 85 countries take part in the centre’s experiments, including more than a thousand Russians. Over the years the centre has expanded from 11 to 23 member states. The material is based of the lecture “The Large Hadron Collider: The History and Future of CERN Research,” held at the MIA “Rossiya Segodnya,” and was prepared with the assistance of scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. | null | https://sputniknews.com/science/201911261077404099-why-an-artificial-black-hole-wont-swallow-the-world-truth-and-myths-about-cern/ | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 12:42:31 +0300 | 1,574,790,151 | 1,574,772,431 | science and technology | scientific institution |
564,370 | tass--2019-04-16--Russia CERN sign new cooperation agreement | 2019-04-16T00:00:00 | tass | Russia, CERN sign new cooperation agreement | © AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. An agreement on scientific and technological cooperation in high energy physics and other areas of mutual interest between the Russian government and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) was signed by the chief delegates to meeting of the Russia-CERN committee in Geneva on Tuesday, Russia’s Education and Science Ministry has told TASS. "On April 15-16, 2019 the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) hosted another meeting of the Russia-CERN committee. The chief delegates put their signatures to an agreement on scientific- technological cooperation in the field of high energy physics and other areas of mutual interest between the government of Russia and CERN," the report says. Russia’s Science and Higher Education Minister Grigory Trubnikov led the Russian delegation at the talks. The host party was represented by CERN leadership under the organization’s Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. The agreement is called to furnish a modern groundwork for wider cooperation between Russia and CERN. A new agreement had to be signed because the previous ones was outdated in some respects. In other media | null | http://tass.com/science/1053908 | 2019-04-16 11:11:19+00:00 | 1,555,427,479 | 1,567,542,805 | science and technology | scientific institution |
569,935 | tass--2019-08-29--Russia interested in developing contacts with CERN says PM | 2019-08-29T00:00:00 | tass | Russia interested in developing contacts with CERN, says PM | MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Russia is interested in developing contacts with the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting on Thursday before submitting a cooperation agreement with CERN for ratification by the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house). "I have recently been there. I saw how work is organized, spoke with researchers. Of course, it is impressing," he told the government members. He noted that Russia had been successfully cooperating with CERN for decades. "We are interested in continuing and developing these contacts," he stressed, adding that the agreement lays down a legal framework for that. Established in 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is a European scientific organization focusing on fundamental research in the sphere of particle physics. Headquartered in Geneva, the organization now has 23 member states. Russia enjoys the observer status. In April 2019, the Russian government signed a cooperation agreement with CERN to upgrade the existing collaboration format between Russia and CERN. The agreement provides for Russia’s wider participation in the organization’s activities and CERN’s participation in projects in Russia. | null | https://tass.com/science/1075563 | 2019-08-29 12:02:03+00:00 | 1,567,094,523 | 1,567,543,574 | science and technology | scientific institution |
790,319 | theirishtimes--2019-11-14--Dark mysteries probed in Cern’s largest-ever machine | 2019-11-14T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Dark mysteries probed in Cern’s largest-ever machine | Astrophysicists puzzle over rotations of spiral galaxies and how light sometimes bends as it crosses the universe. It is as if there is something there, unseen, but causing a gravitational pull. The prime suspect is dark matter. “It is nothing to do with the dark side of the force, from the Star Wars movies,” jokes physicist Prof Lucio Rossi. “It is dark because we are simply not able to see it.” The answer to this galaxy-bending mystery may lie in particles smaller than an atom, which Rossi investigates using the largest machine ever built, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Here, beneath the Swiss-French border, two beams of subatomic protons are revved up to travel at 99.99999 per cent the speed of light around a 27km circuit, before smashing into one another. Famously, such collisions led to the discovery of the Higgs boson, announced in 2012, a particle first theorised to exist in the 1960s. “This was the big hunt, like a grand safari. We built three accelerators. It took 50 years,” says Prof Rossi. “We finally got it because we had enough energy.” Today, a visit to the collider circuit, taking a lift 100m below ground, can be made because it’s offline until 2020. It looks like a steel tube, with rigs on the outside that are superconducting magnets cooled to minus 271 degrees. An upgrade is under way to ramp up the number of protons in each beam, while using magnets that are 50 per cent more powerful to compact the beam. Rossi says, being Italian, it is like tweaking your Ferrari to go 600km/h. “This should increase the collision by a factor of 10,” says Rossi, who leads the upgrade. He compares this to shining light into a dark room. “Today there may be particles there, but we cannot see them. If we produce 10 times more, we will.” He draws comfort from an instrument called LIGO, which detected gravitational waves in 2015 after an upgrade. Cern scientists will be on the look out for supersymmetry particles. “We don’t know if they exist,” says Prof Rossi. They could be part of dark matter. “These particles would solve many questions that we have, but so far we have not seen them. Maybe they are just around the corner.” A minority of scientists doubt dark matter exists. As Einstein said, if we knew what we were doing, we would not call it science, Rossi notes. Souped-up proton beams is only half the story. Deep below ground lies a 14,000 tonne engineering leviathan wrapped in steel. This is the CMS (compact muon solenoid) detector, 21m high, 15m long. Also in a deep cavern is Atlas, a 7,000 tonne detector 46m long and 25 in diameter. The two detectors do a similar job, but are run by separate teams. Both are being upgraded. “It is like a very fancy 3-D camera wrapped around this beam of particles as they collide,” says Prof Val O’Shea, a physicist at the University of Glasgow. “It takes pictures at 40 million frames per second and has got 100 million pixels.” The Cork native has worked on Atlas since 1992, initially as part of an Italian research institute. Since Ireland is not a member of Cern, Irish researchers cannot become Cern staff and Irish institutes cannot take part in its experiments. “It precluded me getting a job at Cern,” adds O’Shea, matter of factly. The detectors deploy powerful magnets to bend the trajectory of charged particles generated by the collisions to measure their mass, speed and energy. “It’s a very strong magnetic field. If you had a pacemaker in there you would die,” he notes. The Atlas and CMS teams are in competition. “It is very important to have two teams working independently in order to produce results that are credible,” O’Shea says. At the site of the CMS detector, as upgrades continued this summer, French physicist Dr Stephanie Beuaceron recalls that both teams detected the Higgs around the same time. “It was a rumour first. Plenty of physicists are married here,” she quips, and we share printers. “You started to feel the excitement [around the coffee areas].” Officially, only the director general knew the results of both teams. Ireland would gain hugely from membership of Cern, says O’Shea, in terms of industry suppling equipment, including for big data and supercomputing, but also in training bright new students. “I am always surprised by the fact that Ireland is not part of Cern,” says Rossi. “Countries much poorer than Ireland have joined.” The upgraded collider will switch on around 2024, and will operate until 2040. Cern hopes eventually to build a 100km next-generation collider, seven times more powerful. Cern is not just shedding light on the nature of our universe – it has spin-offs for medicine. One is Hadron therapy, a new treatment for cancer, in which tumours are bombarded by protons. Essentially, this means installing a mini Hadron collider in Irish hospitals, notes Prof Ronan McNulty, particle physicist at University College Dublin. Prof O’Shea has spent years working on a new imaging system sensitive to the energy (colour) of X-rays, which could be used for medical scanning but with far less radiation and more detail for diagnostics. The particle physics community in Ireland is fairly small, and O’Shea notes it would need to grow (and be funded) to take full advantage of membership. Science Foundation Ireland is not set up to fund blue sky science, he adds. “Funding agencies like this are changing their brief to short-term, high-impact projects. That’s all very well, but you need the fundamental research first just to have those high-impact projects.” | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/dark-mysteries-probed-in-cern-s-largest-ever-machine-1.4079100 | Thu, 14 Nov 2019 10:34:46 +0000 | 1,573,745,686 | 1,573,734,425 | science and technology | scientific institution |
790,326 | theirishtimes--2019-11-14--Ireland should join Cern, says Oireachtas committee | 2019-11-14T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Ireland should join Cern, says Oireachtas committee | Ireland should join Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, if ambition to be a global leader in innovation is to be realised, the Oireachtas Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation has strongly recommended. Based outside Geneva in Switzerland, Cern is one of the world’s leading scientific laboratories. Its primary focus is on particle physics but it also plays a vital role in developing the technology of tomorrow. Breakthroughs there helped develop technologies in MRI scanners and radiation therapy in hospitals, touch-screens and the world wide web. It also built the Large Hadron Collider tunnel, the world’s largest machine, which has enabled groundbreaking research. In a report issued on Wednesday, the committee recommended Ireland initially seek associate membership of Cern as soon as possible with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation providing the funding. Committee chairwoman Mary Butler said Ireland was one of only three European countries without any formal agreement with Cern. Membership was critical to becoming “a global innovation leader driving a strong sustainable economy and a better society”, she added. It would bring scientific benefits at research level, and enable Ireland move to the forefront of innovation in a number of sectors, including manufacture of microelectronics, sensors and big data, she said. Fianna Fáil science and technology spokesman James Lawless, who is a member of the committee, said the case for membership was clear-cut and joining it was now the endorsed position of the houses of the Oireachtas: “. . . it’s up to the Government to act on this,” he said. While some had in the past expressed reservations about joining on cost grounds, there was an economic imperative to join, he said. The cost of full membership of Cern, which is determined by a country’s GDP, would currently be in the region of €12.5 million per year with a once-off payment of €15.6 million. If Ireland were to join as an associate member, the minimum in the region of €1.25 million per year. Prof Ronan McNulty of UCD, who was involved in Cern research that led to observation of the Higgs boson (known as “the God particle”) in 2012, said the organisation was “the greatest scientific collaboration in the world”. Membership would bring benefits to education, training, research, international competitiveness and to create an environment for Irish companies to do business in. He did not think the cost was a large figure, “based on what we can get back”. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/ireland-should-join-cern-says-oireachtas-committee-1.4082781 | Thu, 14 Nov 2019 11:03:38 +0000 | 1,573,747,418 | 1,573,734,424 | science and technology | scientific institution |
693,556 | theguardianuk--2019-03-18--Academic at centre of Cambridge Analytica scandal sues Facebook | 2019-03-18T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Academic at centre of Cambridge Analytica scandal sues Facebook | The academic at the centre of the Cambridge Analytica scandal is suing Facebook for defamation over the social network’s claims that he lied about why he was harvesting personal data from profiles on the site. Aleksandr Kogan, a former psychology researcher at the University of Cambridge, was the developer of a personality quiz app that paired individual psychological profiles with personal data scraped from the Facebook pages of quiz-takers and their online friends. That data was used as the root of Cambridge Analytica’s “psychometric” approach to targeting users with political adverts tailored to their personalities. Facebook has always claimed that it was misled by Kogan about how the data was used, and suspended his access to the platform in the wake of the Observer breaking the news about Cambridge Analytica’s data-harvesting operation. The social network said that its rules banned such a reuse of data – but Kogan has always argued that the terms and conditions of his own app explicitly said the results would be used for more than just academic purposes. Now, Kogan has sued, arguing that Facebook’s repeated attempts to pin the blame for the scandal on him are defamatory. “Alex did not lie, Alex was not a fraud, Alex did not deceive them, this was not a scam,” Steve Cohen, Kogan’s lawyer, told the New York Times, which first reported the lawsuit. “Facebook knew exactly what this app was doing, or should have known. Facebook desperately needed a scapegoat, and Alex was their scapegoat.” In a statement, a spokesperson for Facebook said Kogan’s case was a “a frivolous lawsuit from someone who recklessly violated our policies and put people’s data at risk”. Almost since the scandal broke, Kogan has argued that he was a scapegoat in a war between larger players. “I’m being basically used as a scapegoat by both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica,” he said in March 2018, the week after the news broke. “Honestly we thought we were acting perfectly appropriately. We thought we were doing something that was really normal.” The following month, Kogan appeared in front of British MPs, and said: “I think [Facebook] realise that their platform has been mined left and right by thousands of others and I was just the unlucky person that ended up somehow linked to the Trump campaign, and we are where we are. “I think they realise all this, but PR is PR and they’re trying to manage the crisis, and it’s convenient to point the finger at a single entity and try to paint the picture this is a rogue agent.” Steve Cohen, Kogan’s lawyer, told the Guardian: “Facebook knew, or should have known that what they said about Dr Kogan was not true. He didn’t lie to them and his work was not a ‘scam’. “In fact, Facebook had collaborated on several academic papers about his work, and Dr Kogan told Facebook that the new version of the app would be used for commercial purposes. Just as he informed potential users. But facing growing criticism about its policies, Facebook went into PR overdrive and found a convenient scapegoat in Dr Kogan. They defamed him and we look forward to a jury deciding the proper remedy.” | Alex Hern | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/18/aleksandr-kogan-cambridge-analytica-scandal-sues-facebook | 2019-03-18 16:32:20+00:00 | 1,552,941,140 | 1,567,545,823 | science and technology | scientific institution |
700,159 | theguardianuk--2019-05-14--Soas academic running for AfD wrongly listed as professor on ballot | 2019-05-14T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Soas academic running for AfD wrongly listed as professor on ballot | A German “reader in law” at Soas University of London who is contesting a seat in the European parliamentary elections for the rightwing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has been given the title of professor on the ballot paper, leading to accusations that his academic credentials have been exaggerated. Dr Gunnar Beck is listed on Soas’s staff page as a reader in law who teaches courses on EU law and legal theory and undergraduate courses on legal methodology at the university. On the ballot paper for the European elections on 26 May, however, he was listed as “Prof Dr Gunnar Beck”. A spokesperson for the German anti-immigration party told the Guardian it believed the title of “reader” at a British university to be equivalent to the rank of a professor in Germany. Citing Oxford University’s definition of a “reader” as a “post at an intermediate level between that of full professor and associate professor”, the spokesperson said that translating the title into the German “professor”, “seemed and seems correct, because it was always clear that Dr Gunnar Beck works in Great Britain”. However, the ministry for science in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the ballot paper states Beck is based, has categorically rejected the claim that the two titles are equivalent. “Irrespective of the weight of the English ‘reader’, carrying the title in the form ‘prof’ or even ‘professor’ is in this case out of the question,” the ministry said in response to a query from Deutschlandfunk radio. Beck denies having exaggerated his academic credentials himself. In an email to the Guardian, he said: “I can’t imagine I ever used the prefix ‘Prof’ or ‘Prof Dr’ in writing, let alone in introducing myself, just as I practically never sign as ‘Dr’ or introduce myself as such. Others in Germany and possibly elsewhere must have taken it upon themselves to add those to my name, thinking this either appropriate in my case or customary in Britain too.” Beck said he categorically denied filling in the form with anything other than his first name and surname. According to a claim on his Wikipedia page, deleted on Saturday, Beck was “appointed professor of law at the University of Sussex in 2016”. But when approached by the Guardian a spokesperson for the university said it had not appointed the German academic as a professor. “We can confirm that Gunnar Beck does not work, and has never worked, at the University of Sussex. In addition, he has never been appointed professor at the University of Sussex,” they said. It is not known who included the information on the page or who deleted it. Beck also introduced himself as a “professor” during his speech at a AfD party summit in Magdeburg last November. Unauthorised use of an academic degree or an official title is a criminal offence in Germany according to paragraph 132a of the penal code. The debate over Beck’s academic credentials was originally picked up by a post on the German legal blog verfassungsblog, in which the author Maximilian Steinbeis had pointed out that a factually incorrect ballot paper could potentially have an impact on the composition of the next European parliament and could therefore invite voters to legally contest the validity of the vote. “In the strict sense of the law, the consequence would be that the European elections would be invalid throughout Germany and would have to be repeated,” Steinbeis wrote. “The EP [European parliament] and the entire EU would be paralysed for weeks or months.” Recalling the ballot papers is not an option since they have already been printed, sent out and in some cases may have already been returned by voters. As well as teaching law at British universities, Beck was a prolific commentator for British and German media on the debate over bailouts during the eurozone debt crisis, and more recently on the negotiations between Britain and the EU following the Brexit vote. Before joining the AfD in spring 2014, Beck wrote two op-eds for the Guardian, arguing that the rescue fund for struggling eurozone countries violated EU law and would damage the German economy. In an earlier statement Beck said: “I was and am opposed to the euro rescue policies of the German government which I believe to be unaffordable for the German population in the long run and to be socially divisive throughout the eurozone.” | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/14/afd-candidate-gunnar-beck-accused-exaggerating-academic-credentials | 2019-05-14 12:38:33+00:00 | 1,557,851,913 | 1,567,540,728 | science and technology | scientific institution |
700,590 | theguardianuk--2019-05-21--Its cut-throat half of UK academics stressed and 40 thinking of leaving | 2019-05-21T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | ‘It’s cut-throat’: half of UK academics stressed and 40% thinking of leaving | When Ed Harris, a management lecturer at a modern university, stopped sleeping and began having marriage problems, he realised he was no longer coping with the pressures of his job. “Most of the time you handle it, but the anger and unhappiness build up,” says Harris (not his real name). “I was constantly stressed. There was a lot of micromanagement and setting of deadlines and I was always working late and checking emails at all hours.” Harris says he went into an emotional “tailspin” after being turned down for a promotion he’d been encouraged to apply for – he was told his list of research publications wasn’t strong enough. He says that with a heavy teaching workload and many other administrative pressures, there simply hadn’t been time to do much of the research he loves. “I felt whatever I put work into I would be blamed for what I wasn’t doing,” he says. “The system feels chaotic and you don’t understand how you’re being judged.” Today, two new research reports on wellbeing in universities, from the charity Education Support Partnership, suggest Harris’s emotional struggle is commonplace. One qualitative study found that academics are often isolated and anxious, in a system they feel is driven by financial targets and what one called a “treadmill of justification”. A second survey, by the polling company YouGov for the charity, found that 55% of higher education professionals describe themselves as stressed, and nearly four in 10 had considered leaving the sector in the past two years as a result of health pressures. One academic said: “I remember a time of camaraderie and collegiality. Now, the external pressures isolate and spotlight individuals.” Another said: “One of the key skills in current times is working against isolation. If you can’t, then it can be a very lonely job.” Dennis Guiney, educational psychologist and co-author of the research, explains: “Lack of collegiality was a big concern for the academics we spoke to. Rather than focusing solely on money, they felt university managers should be building this. Academics need to feel valued. Praise is important.” His research found that academics felt under much more pressure to deliver within the competitive new market in higher education, and this meant a sense of loss of control over their job. The report quotes one academic saying: “You have to do all you can to keep student numbers high. Otherwise, next year one of your colleagues might lose their job.” Guiney was surprised to find that academics weren’t complaining about salaries or working conditions. “Instead they were talking about wellbeing being affected by a loss of autonomy. They minded that they weren’t treated as professionals who could input into developing their roles. Many felt that their time was accounted for on a spreadsheet: if you do this much teaching you can do this much research.” Matthew Flinders, professor of politics at Sheffield University, says: “Academics are working longer and longer, and harder and harder, and they can’t reach that top bar because it keeps moving.” Flinders, who suffers from depression, warns that academics are expected to excel at everything, which is neither realistic nor good for their mental health. “You must show excellence in teaching, in research, in research impact. We can’t all be excellent all the time. These pressures are causing some people to struggle or sink.” Flinders worries, in particular, that universities aren’t preparing young people properly for working in higher education. He argues that early career researchers need to be taught resilience, because the level of failure and rejection can be brutal. “Nine out of 10 of your journal papers will be rejected and the same will happen to your grant applications,” he says. “I say to students: you will get rejections and some will feel really horrible, but you must always know what your plan B is – and your plan C, D and E.” Flinders recalls sidling up to a big-name academic at an event and whispering in his ear: “Does everything you write get published?” “He told me he still got rejected,” Flinders says. “Hearing that was heaven. I could have cried. We academics aren’t good at sharing those experiences.” Sally Le Page had planned to be an academic when she finished her PhD in biology at Oxford. She now makes science videos on YouTube, because she says the HE system isn’t good for young academics’ mental health. Le Page started getting depression and anxiety while doing her PhD. “All of my friends in Oxford were PhD students and I struggle to think of a single one who hasn’t had depression or anxiety,” she says. “It is a bad cocktail of factors that lead to mental health problems. “You are working independently a lot of the time, and it can be a lot of long hours in the lab on your own. Everything is so short term in terms of contracts, and you are under constant pressure to publish.” Flinders thinks many academics feel unable to reach out for help. “Academia likes to be seen as soft and friendly but it is also incredibly cut-throat,” he says. “People want to get published, to win grants and get promoted. So admitting to weakness can feel like a real problem, especially if you aren’t on a permanent contract.” Guiney’s research echoes this, with many academics saying they felt uncomfortable that, to get help, they had to get a referral from their manager to occupational health, with a report going back to the manager. Some feared that in the current climate this could go on their record and be used for negative purposes. One academic said: “You are unsure who will get to know about it and if it will affect your job if people find out.” Harris agrees: “I definitely didn’t think I could speak to anyone internally. You feel it won’t be viewed well if you aren’t coping. The university does offer help but I didn’t trust it to be confidential.” In desperation he contacted a 24-hour helpline for academics and teachers run by the Education Support Partnership. He was initially sceptical – especially when they put him in touch with a therapist in Ontario, Canada – but quickly found that talking helped. “I was able to put things into perspective. The world wasn’t going to end because I didn’t get that promotion.” He adds: “Now I can clearly see when people around me at work aren’t coping, and I have directed them towards getting help. I am less wrapped up in my own problems, so I remember to check others are OK.” If you are working in education you can call the Education Support Partnership’s free and confidential helpline 24/7 on 08000 562 561 | Anna Fazackerley | https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/21/cut-throat-half-academics-stressed-thinking-leaving | 2019-05-21 06:15:32+00:00 | 1,558,433,732 | 1,567,540,324 | science and technology | scientific institution |
710,299 | theguardianuk--2019-09-17--MIT scientist resigns over emails discussing academic linked to Epstein | 2019-09-17T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | MIT scientist resigns over emails discussing academic linked to Epstein | The computer scientist Richard Stallman has resigned from MIT and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which he founded and led, after leaked emails appeared to show him downplaying another academic’s alleged participation in the purported sex trafficking of minors by Jeffrey Epstein. On his personal website, Stallman wrote: “I am resigning effective immediately from my position in [the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, or CSail] at MIT. I am doing this due to pressure on MIT and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations.” The FSF announced Stallman’s resignation as president and from its board of directors. MIT was already at the center of the Epstein storm, in the wake of revelations that its Media Lab accepted $7.5m in funding from the disgraced financier or a group of donors connected to him. Media lab director Joi Ito resigned. Stallman’s emails came to light after an MIT graduate, Selam Jie Gano, published a Medium post calling for his removal. According to the Medium post, Stallman wrote in response to a student’s message about an event protesting the acceptance of Epstein’s money. The emails, which were published by Vice were sent to a CSail mailing list. Referring to Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who alleged in court papers she was sent to have sex with the late MIT cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky, Stallman wrote: “We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing. “Assuming she was being coerced by Epstein, he would have had every reason to tell her to conceal that from most of his associates.” When a student on the email thread noted that Giuffre was allegedly forced into sex at 17, Stallman responded: “It is morally absurd to define ‘rape’ in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17.” Stallman added: “All I know [Giuffre] said about Minsky is that Epstein directed her to have sex with Minsky. That does not say whether Minsky knew that she was coerced. “We know that Giuffre was being coerced into sex – by Epstein. She was being harmed. But the details do affect whether, and to what extent, Minsky was responsible for that.” Stallman, 66, has contributed to the Guardian. On Monday he posted a statement to his website before his resignations were made public. Reports about his views on Epstein were “misleading”, he said. “The coverage totally mischaracterised my statement. Headlines say that I defended Epstein. Nothing could be further from the truth. “I’ve called him a ‘serial rapist’, and said he deserved to be imprisoned. But many people now believe I defended him – and other inaccurate claims – and feel a real hurt because of what they believe I said. “I’m sorry for that hurt. I wish I could have prevented the misunderstanding.” On Monday MIT Media Lab academic Neri Oxman apologised for “having received funds from Epstein, and deeply apologize to my students for their inadvertent involvement in this mess”. In a statement to magazine Dezeen, Oxman said she had been told to keep the $125,000 2015 donation confidential, “so as not to enhance [Epstein’s] reputation by association with MIT”. Harvard received $9m from Epstein prior to his 2008 guilty plea to state-level prostitution charges in Florida. Epstein, a registered sex offender, killed himself in jail last month while awaiting federal sex trafficking charge. Prosecutors alleged that some of his victims were as young as 14. | Victoria Bekiempis in New York | https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/sep/17/mit-scientist-emails-epstein | 2019-09-17 15:52:46+00:00 | 1,568,749,966 | 1,569,330,099 | science and technology | scientific institution |
712,286 | theguardianuk--2019-10-14--Economics Nobel prize won by academics for tackling poverty | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Economics Nobel prize won by academics for tackling poverty | Academics who have pioneered on-the-ground experiments to discover the most effective ways to tackle poverty in the developing world have been awarded the Nobel prize for economics. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology secured the 9m Swedish krona (£720,000) prize with Harvard professor Michael Kremer on Monday. The Swedish academy of sciences said they were awarded the Sveriges Riksbank prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel for research findings that have “dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice”. Duflo, 46, who is only the second woman to win the economics prize and the youngest, said she was surprised by the award, especially as it was usually bestowed on older academics. Asked if it was important that a woman was recognised by the academy, she said: “Showing that it is possible for a woman to succeed and be recognised for success I hope is going to inspire many, many other women to continue working and many other men to give them the respect they deserve.” The academy said the winners had shown there was a need to adopt new approaches in the fight against poverty that were based on field trials rather than prejudice or the failed methods of the past. Giving one example, the academy said: “As a result of one of their studies, more than 5 million Indian children have benefitted from programmes of remedial tutoring in schools.” With 700 million people still living in extreme poverty and many children leaving school without a basic education, the academy said it was important that studies identified the causes of poverty to draw conclusions about the causal effects and implement policies that were cost effective. “Their experimental research methods now entirely dominate development economics,” the academy said. Duflo worked with Kolkata-born Banerjee, her husband, following up experiments by Kremer, which the academy said the couple “broadened and deepened”. Duflo said their work was devoted to making sure “the fight against poverty is based on scientific evidence”. “Poor people are supposed to be either completely stupid, desperate, lazy or entrepreneurial. But we don’t try to understand the deep root, the interconnected root of the problem,” she said. “So what we try to do in our work is unpack the problems one by one to better understand the reasons for particular problems. What works, what doesn’t work and why.” Data compiler Clarivate Analytics, which ranks academics by the number of citations they have gathered throughout their careers, said the most cited this year were Ariel Rubinstein, who teaches game theory at Tel Aviv University and New York University; William Brian Arthur for his research on technological advances; and Katarina Juselius and Søren Johansen, economics professors at the University of Copenhagen, for contributions to econometrics. Last year, William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer at New York University were honoured for their research into two of the most “basic and pressing” economic issues of the age. Nordhaus for warning policymakers about climate change in the 1970s and Romer for promoting government support for research and development, and investment. | Phillip Inman | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/14/economics-nobel-prize-abhijit-banerjee-esther-duflo-michael-kremer | Mon, 14 Oct 2019 11:48:31 GMT | 1,571,068,111 | 1,571,057,334 | science and technology | scientific institution |
758,699 | theindependent--2019-05-02--Cambridge university college sacks academic over links to far-right extremists | 2019-05-02T00:00:00 | theindependent | Cambridge university college sacks academic over links to far-right extremists | A University of Cambridge college has sacked a research fellow after some of his activities and connections linked him to far-right extremists. St Edmund’s College has terminated Noah Carl’s post held after hundreds of academics and students called for his appointment to the Toby Jackman Newton Trust research fellowship to be investigated. More than 1,000 people signed an open letter accusing Dr Carl of producing “racist pseudoscience”. Dr Carl became a controversial figure after he spoke at a conference, the London Conference on Intelligence, where eugenics was allegedly debated and published a paper arguing stereotypes about the criminality of certain immigrant groups in the UK are “reasonably accurate”. An investigation panel appointed by the college found Dr Carl had “collaborated with a number of individuals who were known to hold extremist views”. Matthew Bullock, the master of St Edmund’s, said: “There was a serious risk that Dr Carl’s appointment could lead, directly or indirectly, to the college being used as a platform to promote views that could incite racial or religious hatred, and bring the college into disrepute.” Mr Bullock apologised “unreservedly” to students for the offence caused by the appointment, adding that Dr Carl’s work was “problematic”. “We appointed Dr Carl based on his academic achievements at the University of Oxford, and on the commendations which supported his application. “It is regrettable that such an appointment has been compromised by Dr Carl’s other activities, of which we were completely unaware when electing him to the fellowship,” he added. But some academics have rushed to Dr Carl’s defence and accused the college of failing to defend freedom of speech. Matthew Goodwin, a politics professor at the University of Kent, tweeted: “Academic freedom is fine so long as you do not work on anything ‘problematic’.” The move comes after controversial academic Jordan Peterson had his offer of a visiting fellowship rescinded by the University of Cambridge after he was pictured with a man wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, “I’m a Proud Islamaphobe” [sic]. The London Conference on Intelligence has been staged on at least three occasions at University College London (UCL) between 2014 and 2017, with the university later denouncing the gathering and claiming it had taken place on campus without its approval or knowledge. Speakers at the fringe event discussed controversial topics surrounding human intelligence and the conference was subject to claims it gave a platform for the espousal of eugenics. Among those known to have attended was Richard Lynn, a psychologist whose belief in racial differences in intelligence has seen him accused of promoting “scientific racism” and Gerhard Meisenberg, editor of the journal Mankind Quarterly, which has been described by some as a “white supremacist” publication. Dr Carl spoke at the event on at least one occasion, although the exact content of his presentation is unknown. The researcher has previously dismissed claims he is a “pseudoscientist”, insisting the London Conference on Intelligence had been “widely mischaracterised”. | Eleanor Busby | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/cambridge-university-college-st-edmunds-noah-carl-far-right-extremists-a8896211.html | 2019-05-02 11:08:00+00:00 | 1,556,809,680 | 1,567,541,377 | science and technology | scientific institution |
760,218 | theindependent--2019-05-20--Vice-chancellor who spent more than 1000 of university money on pet dog faces opposition from stud | 2019-05-20T00:00:00 | theindependent | Vice-chancellor who spent more than £1,000 of university money on pet dog faces opposition from students and academics over potential job cuts | Students and academics have delivered successive votes of no confidence in a vice-chancellor who spent £1,600 of university cash on his dog and warned staff of potential job cuts. Professor Max Lu, who earns more than £360,000 as vice-chancellor of the University of Surrey, has faced opposition after telling staff that compulsory redundancies could not be ruled out. Academics delivered a vote of no confidence in him and the university’s executive board – before students ruled that the university’s leadership was not good enough in a separate poll. More than four in five (84 per cent) of the students who took part in a referendum said they did not believe the performance and leadership of the university governing bodies were satisfactory. It came after 96 per cent of members of the University and College Union (UCU), who voted over plans to save money, said they had no confidence in the vice-chancellor and the board. An email from Professor Lu, one of the best paid university bosses in England, in February said Brexit uncertainty, an increasingly competitive market to recruit students, and rising pension costs had led to a budget deficit of more than £15m a year. Students and staff were left angry by the comments after the university paid £1,600 to Professor Lu to bring his maltese dog over from Australia in 2016 as part of a £15,000 relocation expenses claim. Alex Harden, University of Surrey Students’ Union president, told The Independent: “It’s clear that more needs to be done to ensure that stakeholders across the university can effect positive change. “The vote is an opportunity for the leadership of the university to reflect and we will be working together to chart out a positive route forward.” Michael Moran, UCU regional official, said: “Staff are unconvinced by the case put forward by the university to justify these swingeing cuts as this damning vote of no-confidence makes clear. “We want a full transparent examination of the university’s case and we want assurances in place now to remove the spectre of uncertainty hanging over staff.” A University of Surrey spokesperson said the union had not responded to concerns raised about the accuracy of the voting process and added that the turnout of their vote had not been made public. But they added: “We are of course sad that any number of staff voted this way. And, while the student vote turnout was 14 per cent, we’re equally saddened at the result. “Like many universities, we face significant challenges which mean we have had to make difficult decisions to save money. However, we have now achieved the required savings target of £15m and have placed the university on a much more secure footing.” The university has no plans for compulsory redundancies at this time, the spokesperson added. A UCU spokesperson added that the university “should be focussing its efforts on trying to win back the trust and respect of staff, not looking for ways to belittle their very serious concerns”. | Eleanor Busby | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/vice-chancellor-surrey-university-max-lu-dog-job-cuts-students-academics-vote-a8922481.html | 2019-05-20 15:57:00+00:00 | 1,558,382,220 | 1,567,540,405 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,097,008 | westernjournal--2019-01-11--Lab revokes honors for controversial DNA scientist Watson | 2019-01-11T00:00:00 | westernjournal | Lab revokes honors for controversial DNA scientist Watson | The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal. NEW YORK (AP) — James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning DNA scientist who lost his job in 2007 for expressing racist views, was stripped of several honorary titles Friday by the New York lab he once headed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said it was reacting to Watson’s remarks in a television documentary aired earlier this month. In the film, Watson said his views about intelligence and race had not changed since 2007, when he told a magazine that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — where all the testing says not really.” In the 2007 interview, Watson said that while he hopes everyone is equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true.” In this month’s documentary, he said genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. TRENDING: Mayor Successfully Lobbies for Meteorologist’s Firing After On-Air Slip of the Tongue The laboratory, calling the latest remarks “reprehensible” and “unsupported by science,” said they effectively reversed Watson’s 2007 written apology and retraction. It said it had revoked three honorary titles, including chancellor emeritus and honorary trustee. Watson had long been associated with the lab, becoming its director in 1968, its president in 1994 and its chancellor 10 years later. A school at the lab is named after him. Watson’s son Rufus said Friday in a telephone interview that his father, who’s 90, was in a nursing home following an October car crash, and that his awareness of his surroundings is “very minimal.” “My dad’s statements might make him out to be a bigot and discriminatory,” he said, but that’s not true. “They just represent his rather narrow interpretation of genetic destiny.” “My dad had made the lab his life, and yet now the lab considers him a liability,” he said. James Watson shared a 1962 Nobel Prize with collaborator Francis Crick and scientist Maurice Wilkins for discovering in 1953 that DNA was a double helix, shaped like a long, gently twisting ladder. The breakthrough was key to determining how genetic material works. The double helix became a widely recognized symbol of science, and Watson himself became famous far beyond scientific circles. The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. The Associated Press contributed to this report. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. | AP Reports | https://www.westernjournal.com/ap-lab-revokes-honors-for-controversial-dna-scientist-watson/ | 2019-01-11 22:05:59+00:00 | 1,547,262,359 | 1,567,553,001 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,096,550 | westernjournal--2019-01-07--Hundreds of federal scientists miss conferences in shutdown | 2019-01-07T00:00:00 | westernjournal | Hundreds of federal scientists miss conferences in shutdown | The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal. The world’s largest airborne observatory was supposed to be parked in Seattle this week, so thousands of scientists attending the “Super Bowl of Astronomy” could behold this marvel: a Boeing 747 with a massive telescope protruding from the back used to study the fundamental mysteries of the universe. But conference-goers will not be able to see NASA’s space-exploring plane. Its visit to the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society was canceled, one of a growing list of scientific casualties of the partial government shutdown now stretching into its third week. Along with the plane, hundreds of government scientists are also no longer allowed to attend the conference or two other major scientific gatherings scheduled to begin this week. Those meetings will address pressing issues in the fields of technology, space exploration, extreme weather and climate change. But the shutdown’s impact on science stretches well beyond the empty chairs at this week’s conferences, said Keith Seitter, executive director of the American Meteorological Society. It means some of the nation’s smartest scientific minds are sitting at home, not doing science, for weeks, with no clear end in sight. “That’s difficult to recover from,” said Seitter. “We’ll be seeing ripple effects from this for a long time.” TRENDING: The Media, Without Evidence, Claims Conservatives Furious Over Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video Attendees of the events describe them as crucial opportunities for scientists from the government, the private sector and academia to exchange research and ideas. The gatherings are like three-legged stools, said Kevin Petty, the chief science officer for the private climate company, Vaisala. And this week one of the legs is missing. “That’s the value of these conferences, it’s the people I run into in the hallway or the coffee line, start up a conversation and realize there’s a connection between what they’re doing and what I’m doing,” said Amanda O’Connor, a satellite imaging expert who is attending a weather conference. “It’s those serendipitous encounters that are lost and really important.” Some 700 federal employees who planned to attend the American Meteorological Society conference in Phoenix are staying home. Another 500 will miss the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SciTech Forum and Exposition in San Diego. The American Astronomical Society estimates that between 300 and 450 scientists will be absent this week from the world’s largest annual astrological meeting, where the NASA plane was supposed to be. But it’s hard to get a firm count, said Rick Fienberg, the organization’s press officer: Organizers emailed a survey, but furloughed government employees aren’t even allowed to check their email. Even Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s new administrator, and the leaders of the National Weather Service are no longer able to attend the weather conference, and the organizers scrambled to replace their presentations. Until late last week, Fienberg said the astronomical organization had hoped the politicians in Washington could work out a deal to resolve the impasse over President Donald Trump’s demands for $5.6 billion to build a wall on the southern border. But on Thursday, employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service, were told to cancel their conference plans. Scientists and engineers from NASA and the Smithsonian were also told they couldn’t attend. Conference organizers have scrambled to shift speakers, relax the rules to allow non-governmental employees to present the work of their federal colleagues and negotiate with hotels to allow government employee to cancel reservations made long ago. “In the same week that the Chinese government lands a rover (on the far side of the moon) and the U.S. sends a probe to the furthest object ever visited by humanity,” said Kevin Marvel, the astronomy organization’s executive officer, “scores of scientists at all career levels are being prevented from attending our meeting.” One concrete casualty could be the government’s ability to recruit and retain the next generation of scientists, said Seitter, with the American Meteorological Society. Take E.L. Meszaros, a doctoral student at Brown University, who had been scheduled to present her research on human-drone communication techniques at the San Diego technology conference. But her work was funded by NASA, as was her trip to the conference. So she’s stuck at home in Rhode Island. She always imagined she’d work as a public servant. But now she has scientist friends who work for the government who haven’t been paid in weeks and are interviewing at other places. “If you can’t guarantee that you’re going to be able to pay your employees,” she said, “then it does make you second guess whether that’s where you want to work.” The story has been corrected to show that China landed a rover on the far side of the moon. The Associated Press contributed to this report. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. | AP Reports | https://www.westernjournal.com/ap-hundreds-of-federal-scientists-miss-conferences-in-shutdown/ | 2019-01-07 00:36:51+00:00 | 1,546,839,411 | 1,567,553,670 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,093,442 | wakingtimes--2019-11-26--Chemtrails Exposed: The Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Origins of the New Manh | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Chemtrails Exposed: The Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Origins of the New Manhattan Project | Recently uncovered evidence indicates that the New Manhattan Project – otherwise known as ‘geoengineering’ – goes back further than previously thought. As the name ‘New Manhattan Project’ implies, the author was previously under the impression that this ultra-massive, super-secret scientific project (the biggest of all time, in fact) only went back to the mid-1940s; directly after the end of the original Manhattan Project. Your intrepid author has recently found evidence suggesting that the New Manhattan Project should be called the Old Manhattan Project because it now looks like its roots actually go back about 35 years earlier. The findings presented here have everything to do with an organization called The Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the origins of The Research Corporation for Science Advancement (Research Corporation) have everything to do with the life and work of one Frederick Gardner Cottrell (1877-1948). Today the Research Corporation for Science Advancement has a website, a Twitter feed, and a Facebook page. If you don’t know what the New Manhattan Project is, please refer to the author’s book Chemtrails Exposed: A New Manhattan Project available exclusively at Amazon. In the early 1900s Frederick Gardner Cottrell pioneered the field of large-scale, electrostatic removal of coal fly ash from the emissions of coal-fired electrical power plants. This is relevant to the New Manhattan Project for a few reasons. It is relevant because it has been scientifically proven beyond a reasonable doubt by Dr. Marvin Herndon and his peer-reviewers all over the world that the substance with which we are being routinely sprayed today is coal fly ash. You see, coal fly ash is the smoke that rises from burning coal. It’s a toxic waste by-product of the electrical power industry. There’s a big, cheap supply of it all over the world and if they don’t spray it into our atmosphere, it costs the electrical power companies big money to properly dispose of it. The low cost and ready availability of coal fly ash makes it suitable for geoengineering purposes because geoengineers are talking about spraying tens of thousands of megatons of toxic substances such as this from airplanes ANNUALLY. For more about coal fly ash, please refer to the author’s 2017 article “Chemtrails Exposed: Coal Fly Ash and the New Manhattan Project.” Not only that, but electrical power companies have a long history in weather modification, and the New Manhattan Project is a global, second generation weather modification project. Specifically, electrical power companies have for many decades openly sprayed silver iodide from ground-based generators in order to make it snow. The runoff from this artificially nucleated snowpack then fills up their mountain reservoirs and is subsequently used to generate hydroelectric power. How much does the Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation love you? Furthermore, when coal fly ash is electrostatically removed from the exhaust system of a coal-fired power plant, a mini-New Manhattan Project takes place. This is what originally inspired the author’s investigation here. You see, today’s coal fly ash is removed from a power plant’s exhaust system using something called an electrostatic precipitator. These electrostatic precipitators collect fly ash by first electrically charging the airborne ash particles, then attracting them to oppositely charged plates where the ash is then taken away. This is analogous to how, in the course of today’s New Manhattan Project, atmospheric particles are electromagnetically ionized (charged) and then manipulated. This use of electromagnetic energy is the defining aspect of the project and, strangely enough, we see it replicated in this NMP sub-operation of fly ash sequestration. Frederick Cottrell was the American pioneer in the field of electrostatic precipitation. So, let us learn more about this intriguing Frederick Cottrell character, whose life’s work was so inextricably intertwined with air pollution and, most pertinently, coal fly ash air pollution. Like your author, Cottrell was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is his story. Frederick Gardner Cottrell was born in Oakland, CA in 1877. As a boy, Cottrell marveled at the swift proliferation of applied electrical power. At the age of 19 he received a Bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of California and subsequently became a chemistry teacher at Oakland High School. He then traveled abroad to the Mecca of science, Germany. During this time he also traveled extensively throughout Europe as well as throughout the eastern half of America, visiting just about all of the big scientific universities while meeting and studying under many famous European and American scientists. Upon his return to America, from 1902 to 1911 Cottrell taught physical chemistry at UC Berkeley. Cottrell was gregarious, universally well-liked, and an extraordinarily sharp scientist. In America, Cottrell traveled to many universities which have since been implicated in the production of the New Manhattan Project such as: The University of Chicago, Cornell, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Most notably, though, on his return journey Cottrell also visited Schenectady, New York; the home of W.R. Whitney’s General Electric Laboratories which was just beginning its long and storied history in the realm of industrial scientific discoveries. In fact, General Electric and Whitney would go on for many years trying unsuccessfully to sign Cottrell as an employee. As readers of this work already know, General Electric appears to be central to the production of the New Manhattan Project. In 1906 Cottrell first successfully collected and removed unwanted airborne particles with electrical precipitation as part of an industrial process at a DuPont plant engaged in the manufacture of acids and explosives in Pinole, CA. It was not to improve the quality of the breathable air, though. For DuPont, Cottrell found a way to eliminate certain arsenic mists which were a by-product of their industrial processes that were causing production difficulties. Elimination of the arsenic mists during the production of sulphuric acid allowed the DuPont plant to produce their goods much more efficiently. It was during this time that Cottrell drew up his first two successful U.S. patents pertaining to electrical precipitation and a new industry was born. Once Cottrell had successfully demonstrated his new and improved methods of electrical precipitation, one of Cottrell’s friends, a man by the name of Harry East Miller was sure that Cottrell ‘had something’ and promptly incorporated and became the primary funder of something called the Western Precipitation Company. The parent corporation of the Western Precipitation Company was something called the International Precipitation Company. The International Precipitation Company held the patents while the Western Precipitation Company was the operating unit. Miller, Cottrell, E.S. Heller, a well-known San Francisco attorney, and Berkeley professor Edmund O’Neill were the original shareholders with seed money investment coming from all except Cottrell. An additional early loan was secured from the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank. After returning to Pinole to perfect and definitively demonstrate their improved methods, Western Precipitation’s first real job came in 1907 at the Selby Smelting and Lead Company in Selby, California. This job was all about cleaning up the ambient air. The troubles at the Selby Smelting and Lead Company were not uncommon. Ever since the Industrial Revolution and all throughout the 19th century, much of the industrialized world (especially Europe and the industrialized centers of America) struggled with poor air quality due to the emissions coming from local factories. At Selby, the downwind residents of Solano County were reporting foul odors, reduced agricultural production, corroded metals, and other significant environmental problems due to the pollution coming from the Selby plant. It got so bad that the residents of Solano County had banded together back in 1905 to petition for an injunction against the Selby plant’s offending emissions. When officials at the Selby plant heard about Western Precipitation’s successful demonstration of their improved methods at nearby Pinole, they immediately looked to Western Precipitation for a solution to their problems. Western Precipitation’s efforts at Selby were ultimately successful, the air quality in Solano County was restored, and the Selby Smelting and Lead Company continued operations there. It was a win win. In the years following the successes at Pinole and Selby, Western Precipitation solved emissions problems at industrial facilities such as large copper smelters and cement factories. In July of 1910, at the first annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, Cottrell held his first major public discussion of his work in the field of electrical precipitation and his speech was well received both domestically and abroad. A variety of air pollution-producing industries as well as civic organizations gave inquiries. Cottrell’s International Precipitation Company was well on its way to prosperity. In 1911 Cottrell resigned from his position at the University of California at Berkeley and took a job as a physical chemist with the U.S. Bureau of Mines. He took the job because the then director of the Bureau, a man by the name of Joseph A. Holmes, was cultivating an expanded role for the newly created Bureau. One of Holmes’ initiatives was that of organizing efforts related to ameliorating the problem of pollution caused by the burning of coal. Holmes saw air pollution from the burning of coal as an issue for the Bureau of Mines because coal is a mined substance and the organizations burning said coal had intimate business relationships with the miners. Cottrell’s experience in electrical precipitation made him a natural fit. It was not long after his arrival in Washington, D.C. for his job with the Bureau of Mines in June of 1911, when Cottrell started taking steps towards forming the Research Corporation, as it was originally called. With help from Holmes, the Director of the Bureau of Mines, as part of this process, Cottrell began negotiations with the Smithsonian Institution to let them take over ownership of his patents pertaining to electrical precipitation. It was suggested that the Smithsonian Institution could use funding from the royalties generated by the business development of International Precipitation Company’s patents to fund scientific efforts which had the potential to improve Americans’ daily quality of life. You see, unlike Bill Gates, George Soros, or so many others, Cottrell was a real philanthropist. He actually wanted to use his patents to foster development of the greater good. He may have been naïve, but his intentions were good. Cottrell soon returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where he went about organizing a Bureau of Mines office and laboratory in San Francisco. Also at this time, he and his business associates (Miller, Heller, and O’Neill), as a preliminary step to handing their patents over to the Smithsonian, signed over both the Western Precipitation Company and the International Precipitation Company (without patents) to one of Cottrell’s former pupils named Walter A. Schmidt, who became the manager of both the International Precipitation Company and the Western Precipitation Company. By this time, there was huge interest and activity associated with the Cottrell group’s new technologies and the job offers were coming in from all over the world. With the signing over of the companies, Cottrell and his associates received only modest compensation. With the disposition of his businesses, Cottrell plunged into his work at the Bureau. In December of 1911, the Regents of the Smithsonian decided to accept Cottrell and associates’ offer with a caveat. The Regents of the Smithsonian advised that a stock corporation be organized which was to take title of the patents. The Regents advised that the Smithsonian Institution be directly represented in this new corporation by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution – at the time, a man by the name of Charles D. Walcott (1850-1927). From this arrangement and from the royalties generated by the International Precipitation Company patents, the Smithsonian Institution, they suggested, would stand to benefit financially. This suggested corporation would later be formed as the Research Corporation. At the time of the Smithsonian’s decision, Cottrell happened to be back east again in Washington D.C. attending an important meeting. Being that the Smithsonian’s Executive Committee was ready to act, Cottrell extended his stay. After attending the executive session of the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents where they announced their decision pertaining to Cottrell’s patents, Walcott (Secretary of the Smithsonian) and Cottrell adjourned to a restaurant across the street where they ran into Arthur Dehon Little (1863-1935). The presence of Arthur D. Little is important to our discussion because his eponymous corporation (a research organization, no less) was later to do lots of serious work in the vein of the New Manhattan Project. From little acorns mighty oaks grow. Little was a staunch supporter of Cottrell’s efforts to establish this new corporation – he even suggested the name Research Corporation. Little offered lots of other advice and volunteered to steer Cottrell towards the ‘right’ people. It was Little who put Cottrell in touch with T. Coleman DuPont (1863-1930) who enthusiastically took a seat on the nascent Research Corporation’s board of directors. Little took a seat on the first board as well. Du Pont stayed on the Research Corporation board of directors from 1912 to 1930 while Arthur D. Little remained as a Research Corporation board member from 1912 to 1921. The newly christened Research Corporation needed more members of the board to oversee their important work. For upwards of two months following the Smithsonian’s decision, Cottrell and Bureau of Mines chief Holmes communicated with about one hundred men from many different vocations in order to find directors for the new Research Corporation. They eventually decided upon 14 well-known men from academia, government, and industry, including a man named Elihu Thompson (1853-1937) who was the founder of something called the Thompson-Houston Company. The Thompson-Houston Company was one of the precursors of the General Electric Company which has only the most serious implications for the New Manhattan Project. Thomson was also the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1920 to 1923. Another original board member was one Charles A. Stone (1867-1941) who was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is significant because the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is another organization highly implicated in the science history of the New Manhattan Project. Smithsonian Secretary Walcott took a seat on the Research Corporation board as well. By early February of 1912, the Research Corporation’s original board of directors had been chosen and its Articles of Incorporation were ready to be filed. Although years later the Research Corporation bought back all of its stock, members of its original board initially paid for founder’s stock which filled the nascent Research Corporation’s coffers and gave the corporation its seed money needed for starting operations. Over the years, many other luminaries of the New Manhattan Project have served on the Research Corporation’s board of directors including: Karl T. Compton (1887-1954), James R. Killian Jr. (1904-1988), Alfred Lee Loomis (1887-1975), and Vannevar Bush (1890-1974). All four of these men have strong implications for the New Manhattan Project with Loomis and Bush possessing only the strongest. Alfred Lee Loomis was a Research Corporation board member from 1930 to 1933, then again from 1948 to 1959. In 1938 the Research Corporation awarded a grant to Vannevar Bush. Vannevar Bush was a Research Corporation board member from 1939 to 1946. On February 16 of 1912 the Research Corporation was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York, a one-room office was leased at 63 Wall St., and a manager by the name of Linn Bradley was hired. Cottrell returned to his office work for the Bureau of Mines in San Francisco. A prospectus was printed up and, in order to increase revenue, Bradley went about finding new contract opportunities. Back in the San Francisco Bay Area once again, Cottrell applied the principals of electrical precipitation to weather modification. This is significant because, as noted earlier, the topic of our study, the New Manhattan Project is, largely and in its essence, a global weather modification project. Specifically, Cottrell experimented with the electrical dissipation of low-lying fogs. Here Cottrell was following in the footsteps of Sir Oliver Lodge (1878-1955) who had successfully performed similar experiments in London many years earlier. This type of weather modification activity, utilizing a charged wire to cause the coalescence of fog, is duly noted in the historical weather modification literature. Cottrell and his wife moved to Washington D.C. in November of 1916, where they then lived for the next 28 years. The International Precipitation Company and its subsidiary the Western Precipitation Company flourished under Walter Schmidt’s management. Immediately following the end of hostilities in Europe, Schmidt returned to rejuvenate International Precipitation’s business there. In the course of doing so, he joined forces with Sir Oliver Lodge’s Fume Deposit Company to form the British firm Lodge Cottrell Ltd. To this day Lodge Cottrell Ltd produces and services industrial electrostatic precipitators, mostly outside of America. In the first two years of its existence, the Research Corporation got its revenue almost entirely from the fees associated with their engineering consultancy work pertaining to the design, installation, and maintenance of electrostatic precipitators. In the first few years of its existence, the Research Corporation mostly went about building up cash reserves. During this time there were large precipitators being built around the country. By January 1915, about three years after its creation, the Research Corporation had $65K in cash and $100K in secured notes, subsequently, the previously issued founders’ stock was bought back in that same year. In 1920 Cottrell briefly served as the chief of the Bureau of Mines for 8 months. Beginning in 1921 Cottrell also served as the chairman of the National Research Council’s Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology. The National Research Council was funded by the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, among others. This put him in touch with Rockefellers and Carnegies – two family names highly correlated with the New Manhattan Project. With the exception of an early grant to Cottrell as part of a company promotion, the Research Corporation didn’t really start giving out money for the advancement of science until 1923. In 1923 the Research Corporation made their first real grant when they paid $5K toward the atmospheric sounding rocket experiments of the American rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945). This was an investment in the atmospheric sciences as sounding rockets are used to gather atmospheric data. From the beginning, the Research Corporation was funding projects highly relevant to the New Manhattan Project. As we will soon see, many others were funded later. At the Research Corporation, the way it worked was that Howard Poillon ran day-to-day operations while Cottrell was largely responsible for developing new inventions and ideas, accepting new patents, and the granting of funds. Cottrell’s official status was that of a paid consultant. Another early recipient of Research Corporation money was Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901-1958): Manhattan Project scientist and the father of the cyclotron. In 1931 the Research Corporation made the first of many grants to Ernest Lawrence for the development of his cyclotron. In late July of 1931, after Lawrence had successfully produced a million-volt proton with an eleven inch accelerator, Fred Cottrell encouraged his friend from UC Berkeley to ask the Research Corporation for funding. Before the end of the month, Lawrence was in New York, asking the Research Corporation for $10-$15K. Cottrell came along to personally introduce Lawrence and plead his case before the board of directors. The Research Corporation was impressed with Lawrence and they decided to make a $5K grant, even though they had to go to the bank and borrow the funds because they were in the throes of the Great Depression. William Buffum of the Chemical Foundation followed up with a promise of another $2.5K. On different occasions between 1931 and 1940, the Research Corporation gave to Lawrence’s work at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory: $5K, $1.8K, $2K, $2K, $3K, $1K, $5K, $1.7K, $7.5K, $5K, and $50K. That’s a grand total of $84K, or, conservatively, about $1.5M in today’s dollars. The Research Corporation, as the assignee, also applied for one of Lawrence’s patents for him. Their collaborative patent “Method and Apparatus for the Acceleration of Ions” covers methods of the cyclotronic production of radioactive substances discovered by Lawrence. Along with funding Lawrence, the Research Corporation funded other early cyclotron work at: Columbia University, the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago, and Cornell University. The Research Corporation also funded Robert Van de Graaff’s (1901-1967) electrostatic generator, also known as a Van de Graaff-Trump accelerator after the Donald’s uncle, John G. Trump (1907-1985). Van de Graaff’s work was conducted at MIT. Cameron writes, “[The Van de Graaff group of patents on the electrostatic generator] were assigned to Research Corporation under a general agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in turn were ultimately licensed back to the High Voltage Engineering Corporation formed by Van de Graaff and his associates.” Van de Graaff’s associates included John Trump. As readers of this work already know, John Trump was the MIT professor who looked over Nikola Tesla’s posthumously confiscated documents. In 1938 it was reported that the Research Corporation had donated funds to Columbia University in order to support their program of supplying, “artificial radioactive materials for use as tracers in biochemical processes.” Today the New Manhattan Project uses atmospheric radioactive tracers along with satellites to actively map atmospheric activity. At some point during this time, the Research Corporation moved out of its original offices on Wall St. and moved into offices in the steeple of the Chrysler Building in Manhattan. In the early thirties, the Smithsonian had established a laboratory for Cottrell’s use. In this laboratory Cottrell installed a man by the name of Chester Gilbert who was formerly the president of the American Coal Corporation. At the Smithsonian laboratory, after receiving an anonymous donation of $6K, Gilbert initially investigated the production of lime-gypsum plaster based on some Research Corporation patents. Gilbert’s lime-gypsum work led him to work pertaining to the use of coal fly ash. This work put Gilbert and Cottrell among the pioneers in the field of coal fly ash utilization, a field that continues to this day. Gilbert and Cottrell figured that coal fly ash could be processed and then used as a filler in cements and plasters. They also went about processing coal fly ash for use as a household cleaning powder. The author of Cottrell’s biography, Frank Cameron describes the Research Corporation’s Smithsonian laboratory in a very interesting way. Cameron describes the Smithsonian laboratory as analogous to a phenomenon germane to weather modification and the atmospheric sciences: nucleation. Curiously, when referring to the laboratory where Gilbert and Cottrell performed pioneering work in the field of coal fly ash utilization, Cameron writes, “They [Gilbert and Cottrell] did not foresee it as the mote, the speck of dust around which Cottrell’s ideas and those of his protégés, like so many particles of moisture, would begin to coalesce to form the drop of rain.” It may have been during this time that Gilbert, Cottrell, or other pioneers in the field of coal fly ash utilization noticed or figured that the smoke from coal-fired, electrical power plants causes precipitation. It had been noted for many years previously that explosions and smoke from burning fires cause precipitation. Maybe the Research Corporation and their Smithsonian laboratory attempted to determine the validity of these claims by doing a study about whether or not, under the appropriate atmospheric conditions, the smoke from coal-fired electrical power plants can be scientifically proven to cause precipitation. It is known today that if coal is finely pulverized before combustion, then many of the resultant fly ash particles will be the optimum size for atmospheric nucleation (.1 micron). Maybe they even collected some of this coal fly ash from one of their electrostatic precipitators and dumped it out of an airplane to see if it caused atmospheric precipitation. Just sayin’. And if the reader is aware of just how many of the author’s speculations have turned out to be directly over the target, then the reader should be just listenin’. As the years went on, the Research Corporation’s electrostatic precipitator business grew and grew. In 1928 Research Corporation had 43 contracts in hand to build and install electrostatic precipitators. In 1941 Research Corporation had 95 contracts to build and install electrostatic precipitators. In 1942 Research Corporation had 130 contracts. During WWII something called the Research Construction Company, which was formed by the Research Corporation, served as a ‘model shop’ for MIT’s Radiation Laboratory. Under contract to MIT, the Research Construction Company produced over $12M worth of radar apparatus. In their book commemorating their centennial anniversary, the Research Corporation for Science Advancement tells us, “Research Construction Company made small production runs for immediate military needs. Successful prototypes were turned over to government contractors for mass production.” This is significant because the wartime MIT Radiation Laboratory has serious implications for the New Manhattan Project. For more information about the MIT Rad Lab, please refer to the author’s 2017 article “Chemtrails Exposed: Truly a New Manhattan Project.” Cottrell eventually returned to Berkeley and died in his chair during a morning meeting of the National Academy of Sciences on the campus of UC Berkeley in November of 1948. Cameron writes, “About nine-thirty he slumped in his chair, his head back, an audible rattle in his throat. The Research Corporation for Science Advancement writes of significant developments in the post-war era, “In 1954, as a result of [a] change in the tax law, Research Corporation reorganized its precipitator business as Research-Cottrell, a wholly-owned but taxable subsidiary.” The authors continue, “From 1957 to 1967 Research Corporation was supported mainly by the earnings of its commercial precipitation subsidiary, Research-Cottrell, and royalties from inventions in its patent portfolios.” “By the mid-1960s, further federal efforts to limit nonprofit control over commercial activities prompted Research Corporation to lower the percentage of its ownership in the precipitator business, and Research-Cottrell became a publicly held company in 1967. The Research Corporation has historically given many grants to scientific studies conducted in areas relevant to the New Manhattan Project. The Research Corporation has consistently funded work in the areas of: plasma physics, astrophysics, microwave spectroscopy, radioactive tracers, atmospheric physics, electromagnetic fields, particle physics, meteorology, ionospheric research, nucleation, biology, and more. Famous scientists implicated in the New Manhattan Project such as Merle Tuve (1901-1982), Isidor Rabi (1898-1988), and CalTech’s Lee DuBridge (1901-1994) have all been Research Corporation grantees. In 1965 Alfred Y.F. Wong of the University of California at Los Angeles’ Plasma Physics Lab received $6K for work in, “Experimental studies of fundamental plasma physics.” Again in 1972 Wong received $10K from the Research Corporation. The following year Barrett H. Ripin, Reiner L. Stenzel, and the aforementioned Alfred Wong of UCLA got $10,200 to study ion beam-plasma wave interactions. This is the same Alfred Y.F. Wong who went on, in the 1980s, to found and direct the High Power Auroral Stimulation (HIPAS) ionospheric heater in Alaska. The HIPAS ionospheric heater was a precursor to the infamous High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) antenna. Further, my science advisor tells me that weather modification work prominently mentioned by Vice Admiral William F. Raborn, Jr. was conducted at the HIPAS facility. This is the same Alfred Y.F. Wong that got busted for fraudulently producing phony invoices pertaining to U.S. government contract work. He pled guilty, was sentenced to 5 days behind bars, as well as six months home detention, and was ordered to pay nearly $1.7M in restitution. Wong is currently listed on UCLA’s website as a Professor Emeritus of ‘Exp. Plasma & Environmental Physics.’ For more about Vice Admiral Raborn and his implications for the New Manhattan Project, please see the author’s previous article “William Raborn and the New Manhattan Chemtrail Project.” Oddly enough, the cover of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s 2008 annual report features a question mark made of clouds high above the Earth, appearing as though it has been written in the sky by aircraft. In this same report they reveal that the so-called Scialog program, which they originally disclosed in the previous year’s annual report, is all about tackling ‘global climate change.’ Oddly enough as well, so is the New Manhattan Project. In their 2009 report they refer to global climate change as a ‘looming challenge.’ In their 2010, 2011, and 2012 reports, they note that Cherry A. Murray served on their Presidential Advisory Committee. For the fact that Cherry A. Murray is the former Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the author has identified her as a person of interest in the New Manhattan Project. You know that the original Manhattan Project became the Atomic Energy Commission, which, in turn, became the Department of Energy, right? Murray also was the principal associate director for science and technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from 2004-2009. LLNL is the author’s number one choice for a New Manhattan Project command center location. Murray got her B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from MIT. In their 2010 and 2011 reports, their then president and CEO James M. Gentile identified himself as a climate zealot as he characterized climate change as a daunting challenge to be overcome. A managing director of Brown Brothers Harriman, G. Scott Clemons sits on the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s board of directors. This is significant because of Brown Brothers Harriman’s affiliation with the Bush family as well as the fact that Brown Brothers Harriman acquired another producer of electrostatic precipitators known as Dresser Industries in 1928. For more about Brown Brothers Harriman, the Bush family, and Dresser Industries, please refer to the author’s 2018 article “Chemtrails Exposed: Dresser Industries and the New Manhattan Project.” Other interesting individuals from organizations such as: The Chase Manhattan Bank, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the Aeronautic Division of the Ford Motor Company, the Carnegie institute of Technology, MIT’s Radiation Laboratory, CalTech, and something called Energy Global all have sat or currently sit on the Research Corporation’s board of directors. The Research Corporation has always funded what we call ‘basic science.’ These are the small, highly specific studies that produce results which are often in turn used as the building blocks of much larger scientific efforts. Over the years, the Research Corporation has funded thousands of basic science studies. Furthermore, we know that one of the 3 ways that the Research Corporation has funded itself over the years is from corporate stock dividends – the other two being patent royalties and electrostatic precipitator engineering services fees. For many decades now, the Research Corporation has maintained an investment portfolio consisting mostly of the dividend-paying stocks of large, American companies. Doesn’t it make sense, then that the Research Corporation would fund basic science studies which might produce new discoveries helpful to the corporations that fund the Research Corporation? This is probably what has been taking place. Given this, doesn’t it also make sense, then that, over the years, the Research Corporation may have funded basic science studies which produced new discoveries which were then used as building blocks of the New Manhattan Project? The Research Corporation has owned the dividend-paying stocks of companies like General Electric, Boeing, and Standard Oil which all have strong implications for the NMP. As noted earlier, one of the Research Corporation’s founding members, Elihu Thomson was also a founding member of General Electric and General Electric appears to be the most instrumental corporation in the NMP’s history. Furthermore, we have seen many people strongly connected to the NMP also working for the Research Corporation such as Alfred Lee Loomis, Vannevar Bush, and Arthur D. Little. For the production of the New Manhattan Project, use of an operation like the Research Corporation would be very advantageous. The New Manhattan Project, being that it is the biggest scientific project in history, has necessarily required gargantuan boatloads of basic scientific studies. And here is a self-sustaining organization that, for over 100 years and to this day, due to the efforts of Frederick Cottrell, produces an endless amount of this stuff. It’s even better than making the taxpayer pay for it! It is hoped that this article provides more clarity about the biggest scientific effort in Human history and that our continuing investigations of coal fly ash air pollution will illuminate us and contribute to relieving us of our burdens. As these investigations have repeatedly found, when one investigates coal fly ash air pollution, one finds the New Manhattan Project. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? Let’s keep moving in this direction. Thank you, Dr. Herndon. “Chemtrails Exposed: Coal Fly Ash and the New Manhattan Project” an article by Peter A. Kirby, published by Activist Post, July 24, 2017 Cottrell: Samaritan of Science a book by Frank Cameron, published by Doubleday, 1952 “Frederick Gardner Cottrell 1877-1948” a National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir by Vannevar Bush, published by the National Academy of Sciences, 1952 100 Years of Supporting Science Innovation: Research Corporation for Science Advancement: 1912-2012 a book by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, published by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2012 US patent #1,948,384 “Method and Apparatus for the Acceleration of Ions” by Ernest O. Lawrence An American Genius: The Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Father of the Cyclotron a book by Herbert Childs, published by E.P. Dutton & Co., 1968 “Chemtrails Exposed: Truly a New Manhattan Project” an article by Peter A. Kirby, published by Activist Post, March 13, 2017 The Research Corporation (1912-1952): Dedicated to Progress in Education and Science a booklet containing a transcript of a speech by Dr. Joseph Warren Barker, published by the Newcomen Society, 1952 PeterAKirby.com My Minds page My Steemit page My GoodReads page My YouTube channel Peter A. Kirby is a San Rafael, CA author and activist. Check out the newly updated and expanded edition of his ebook Chemtrails Exposed. It’s still only 99¢, but not for long. | WTStaff | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/11/26/chemtrails-exposed-the-research-corporation-for-science-advancement-and-the-origins-of-the-new-manhattan-project/ | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 19:17:56 +0000 | 1,574,813,876 | 1,574,813,783 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,092,777 | wakingtimes--2019-02-12--Women-Led Team of Mexican Scientists Develop Cure for HPV a Leading Cause of Cancer | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Women-Led Team of Mexican Scientists Develop Cure for HPV, a Leading Cause of Cancer | Researchers at Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) are celebrating a major scientific achievement: a new treatment that they claim can completely cure the human papillomavirus (HPV), helping to curb a leading cause of deadly cancer among women. Led by scientist Eva Ramon Gallegos, the team was able to eradicate HPV in 29 patients through a non-invasive technique known as photodynamic therapy, according to El Universal. The treatment involves the use of a drug called a photosensitizer or photosensitizing agent, alongside a wavelength of light that is used to treat affected areas of the body. Professor Gallegos and her team, consisting mostly of women scientists, had studied the therapeutic method for about two decades in hopes to find approaches to prevent or roll back precancerous abnormalities and tumors including melanoma and the early stages of breast cancer. About 420 patients in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz were treated with the therapy, along with 29 women in Mexico City. The team’s accomplishment is being hailed as a major breakthrough, especially because of the complete lack of any known side effects or damage to those who have undergone the therapy. What’s remarkable about this research is that this therapy doesn’t have any collateral damage to the human body, meaning it has no side effects. “Unlike other treatments, it only eliminates damaged cells and does not affect healthy structures. Therefore, it has great potential to decrease the death rate from cervical cancer,”Gallegos explained to Cuba’s Radio Guama. Prior to the treatment, patients underwent a colposcopy, pap smear, hybrid capture test, polymerase chain reaction and a biopsy to diagnose any premalignant lesions or HPV infections. Human papillomavirus is a sexually-transmitted disease (STD) that results from skin-to-skin contact between genitalia. Over 150 different types of HPV exist worldwide, and while most cases of the virus disappear shortly after up to several months following transmission, a small percentage of infections can lead to genital warts or cervical, anal, oral and other cancers. On the global scale, cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer among women, with 550,000 new cases diagnosed every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2018, about 311,000 women died of cervical cancer, with 85 percent of deaths occurring in the developing and undeveloped world. Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among Mexican women, claiming 32,439 lives last year, or the equivalent of 89 per day, according to Leticia Rocha Zavaleta of the Institute of Biomedical Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. A dearth of sexual education and the prevalence of various stigmas and macho attitudes relating to sexual activity in Mexican society has seen unplanned pregnancies and STDs such as HPV proliferate among young women and adolescents, with girls as young as 12 contracting the disease, according to Sin Embargo. Religious groups and conservative associations continue to combat the implementation of sexual education courses by the country’s Ministry of Public Education. One of the 29 women who was cured, Lorena Guzman, 52, explained that she had long felt the stigma of carrying the virus, “as if the only cause was sexual promiscuity” and not the need for trust, hygiene, and self-discipline between both partners. Following 12 months of treatment, Guzman was completely freed from HPV, which she described as a “dream come true.” “Now that tranquility has returned, I can make long-term plans and enjoy every day of my life,” she explained. Professor Gallegos, who feels happy that she has achieved her goal “to cure women,” warnedthat progress in the fight against diseases is complicated by bureaucratic stalling and state budget cuts that choke off resources for the scientific community. “When there are budget cuts, the first affected are science and the arts – as if they are not necessary. I think the main problem is money and bureaucracy, these are a great burden because the process is so slow to ask for supplies and receive them. Actually, I think that (the government) should facilitate funds so that everything required for these studies arrives quickly, so we have more of a stimulus in terms of researchers and scientists.” **This article (Women-Led Team of Mexican Scientists Develop Cure for HPV, a Leading Cause of Cancer) was originally featured at The Mind Unleashed and is re-posted here with permission. | WakingTimes | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/02/12/women-led-team-of-mexican-scientists-develop-cure-for-hpv-a-leading-cause-of-cancer/ | 2019-02-12 16:10:39+00:00 | 1,550,005,839 | 1,567,548,791 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,090,701 | vox--2019-05-31--The decline of trust in science terrifies former MIT president Susan Hockfield | 2019-05-31T00:00:00 | vox | The decline of trust in science “terrifies” former MIT president Susan Hockfield | If an asteroid were spotted hurtling toward Earth, we wouldn’t be arguing over whether asteroids exist. But that’s basically what the politicization of science has done to the public discussion about climate change, says former MIT president Susan Hockfield. “I understand that people might debate the fine points of climate change, but the fact is that the best science indicates that we’re in trouble,” Hockfield said on the latest episode of Recode Decode with Kara Swisher, adding, “It’s simply folly to my mind not to step up and invent the technologies that are going to prevent us from the ravages of climate change that we’re inflicting on the planet, or frankly whether it’s us or anyone or some other natural operation.” Hockfield said that even though politics and science are often intertwined, with government funding driving progress in research, the scientific community must “insist on an apolitical realm.” And that means accepting that some people are experts in their fields and we should trust their opinions more than others’. “We test ideas, we contest ideas, and if we don’t believe that there are things that are more right than others, which is where we place our bets now, we have no way of making it into the future. “We have to insist on an understanding that there are people who understand areas better than we do,” she added. “I don’t pretend to be an engineer. I don’t pretend to be a physicist. If the physicists at MIT tell me that they’ve figured out gravitational waves, I’m going to trust them more than I’m going to trust myself to imagine whether or not there are gravitational waves.” Hockfield’s latest book, which she discusses at length in the new podcast with Swisher, is The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution. You can listen to Recode Decode wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Overcast. Below, we’ve shared a lightly edited full transcript of Kara’s conversation with Susan. Kara Swisher: Hi, I’m Kara Swisher, editor-at-large of Recode. You may know me as someone who has AirPods in her ears so often, I might as well be a cyborg, but in my spare time I talk tech, and you’re listening to Recode Decode from the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today in the red chair is doctor Susan Hockfield, the former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. She’s also a neuroscientist who has studied the way cancer spreads in the brain, and is the author of a new book, called The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution. We’re actually here taping at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, on the very rainy campus today. I was visiting the Media Lab, Joi Ito at the Media Lab, but Susan, welcome to Recode Decode. Susan Hockfield: Thanks, it’s a thrill to be here with you. There’s so much to talk about, I want to get a sense ... I don’t travel to Boston that often, but obviously Harvard, MIT, all the others are doing incredibly groundbreaking work in a lot of areas in technology, and Silicon Valley sort of sucks up all the oxygen, but there’s so much stuff being done here, especially at MIT. Talk a little bit about your background, because running MIT is a big deal for a lot of people, there’s a lot of people who are in Silicon Valley that went to MIT or Stanford or one of the big institutions. Talk a little bit about how you got here and why you decided to write this book. Yeah, MIT is a really amazing place, and our country is blessed with a lot of phenomenal universities, places of fantastic research and great education. MIT is a little different from many of them. I spent 20 years at Yale University before coming to MIT, I often make the comment, perhaps a little too cheeky, that MIT and Yale are reciprocal institutions. Both are known for great strengths, Yale the humanities and social sciences, MIT for the sciences and engineering, and yet even with those great strengths, we have, both institutions, really strong representation in the other disciplines. So I joined Yale on the faculty as a neuroscientist and spent most of my career there, my scientific career there, and then was recruited into academic leadership by the then-president Rick Levin, and that’s a story by itself. MIT recruited me to be its president, I joined MIT in 2004. And what did you think at the time when you were going to do that? Going to be the president of MIT. I mean, there’s a different track of someone who’s a neuroscientist doing their work, right? Which you need to work on, and then running an institution, what was your thoughts when you were doing that? So the real transition for me happened when Rick Levin invited me to be Dean of the Graduate School, and like many faculty members, many scholars, many academics, I had not really considered taking on any kind of academic leadership role, because that seemed to me to be really kind of on the sideline of what really mattered, which was teaching students and doing cutting-edge research. When he first approached me, I demurred, and I went home and thought about it, and I realized that the reason I had had such a spectacularly interesting, successful, and productive career as a scientist and educator was that people had stepped up into these roles and it was about time for me to step up for the next generation. My graduate education changed my life, dramatically changed my life, and opened worlds that I didn’t even know existed to me; and I felt it was time for me to do the same for others, so I told Rick that I would be Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for three years before going back full-time to my research. Needless to say ... I did not return full-time to my research, but then moved on to be provost at Yale, and then from there to come to MIT was an interesting transition. People often remark on my having been the first woman to be president of MIT. Yes, they do. But perhaps the more … interesting first was that I was the first life scientist to be president of MIT. And that was in some ways, a little... Which is known for engineering, and really computer engineering, in particular. Materials, you know electrical, we’ve got a full array of spectacular engineering departments, a great school of engineering; but very, very strong science. That strength in science really dates to the time before World War II, when a physicist became MIT’s president, Karl Taylor Compton was invited to be president of MIT to build strength in the sciences, recognizing that this pairing of science with engineering was critical to developing technologies for the future, and indeed that is the 20th century technology story. Similarly, this strength built, not just in the physical sciences, but also in the life sciences, a number of our faculty have won Nobel Prizes in physiology and medicine for their discoveries in fundamental biology. Anyway, so by the time I was recruited to be MIT’s president, I had already made the transition from being a full-time researcher and educator to being, essentially, a full-time academic leader. Right, talk a little bit about that, how you create, innovate. Because you’ve worked at places, especially MIT, where you create innovation, and you both work for the government, you have people that go into startups, it’s sort of the way people move into these companies. How did you think about it when you came here? Because you came in 2000...? 2004, so it was sort right after the internet bubble burst, and then it was back pre-Facebook, pre- a lot of the most recent things. How did you look at your role of what you were supposed to do for your students? The biotech revolution had begun, but hadn’t reached the kind of intensity that it now has. So MIT has a different founding history from Yale: MIT was founded in 1861 to deliver technologies for America’s industrialization. No question, that was what William Barton Rogers, our founder, wanted to do. He felt there was no education available for the people that were needed to take this nation into the industrial age. So MIT, Rensselaer [Polytechnic Institute], West Point, we were all founded about the same time with the same kind of mission, so I often say that MIT was founded with tech transfer in our DNA. Right, the idea that this would be commercialized, that this would be... So, while at other schools, this business of moving from the academy into industry is a little awkward, at MIT, it is as smooth as just about any place. And it’s respected, faculty who live both lives are respected. One of the things that surprised me when I joined MIT is that a lot of our faculty/entrepreneurs, will leave to start a company for a little bit of time, and come back until they have figured out how to start their next company. Leave to start a company and then come back. I hadn’t seen that at Yale. Faculty who started companies basically left and pursued that and never really returned. So this idea that it’s a two-way street, that you can both pursue fundamental research, drive it into applications, take those applications into the real world of the marketplace, and then come back is a really powerful force for MIT. Absolutely, and when you think about that, but a lot of the action was happening in the west, how did you relate to that when you were thinking of that? Because there was some, you know, I visit here a lot, and there was some Boston companies, but really it had moved really dramatically West with a lot of the bigger companies locating there. Yeah, well, digital technology we kind of lost, so a lot of the computer revolution began here. And we lost it. And one of the things I studied when I came to MIT is AnnaLee Saxenian’s book on regional advantage because I wanted to understand the difference between the Boston region’s innovation economy and Silicon Valley’s innovation economy; and she’s quite insightful about what it takes to build those kinds of vibrant economies, vibrant ecologies, and I thought it was really interesting. So regional advantage somehow got inside my brain and has become something that I’ve actually pursued and tried to foster, and regional advantage in terms of what we do on campus, in terms of how we interact between campus and our industrial neighbors — frankly, how we build bridges across the academic institutions so that we can do more with our resources than we could do on our own. Truth be told, if there’s a theme for my presidency, it really was that. Among the things that we started when I was president was the MIT Energy Initiative, a cross-campus activity, because when I arrived, I heard from almost everyone I talked to, when I asked the question of, “What were MIT’s opportunities and responsibilities for the next decade?” The answer I got invariably was, “We should be doing more to invent a sustainable energy future.” It was not an idea that I brought to MIT, it was an idea that was here, and as I explored it, I discovered dozens of fantastically important energy research projects that were not yet seeing the light of day because it was one by one ... Throughout MIT, across the campus. Yeah, economics and the business school and mechanical engineering and chemistry, I mean really, everywhere I looked, there was someone, or many people, with an interest in designing a sustainable energy future. So we launched the MIT Energy Initiative as this cross-campus activity. Ernie Moniz and Bob Armstrong started out a co-directors, but Ernie became the director and Bob the associate director and really engendered a kind of, not just enthusiasm, but the, again, the regional advantage to, I think, really advance technologies, policies, economics for a sustainable energy future. So when you left, you were getting back to your roots, you had built a building, right? You had built this center for cancer ... I don’t have the full name. Right, and so what were you, you had been part of creating that, correct? Yeah, so that was another example of this kind of idea of bringing together different disciplines to attack a problem. So the other theme — so the primary theme I heard was climate and energy, and the second thing was the opportunities around the convergence of biology with engineering. When I first came to MIT, I was talking to everyone I possibly could to understand what was going on, and again, what the opportunities and responsibilities were. The Dean of Engineering at the time, Tom Magnanti, told me that of the almost 400 faculty in the School of Engineering, a third of them were using biological parts in their work, and as a sometimes know-it-all, I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, bio-medicine.” And he said, “Uh-uh, you don’t get it. Way beyond bio-medicine.” And so that door began to open for me to understand what was going on: Engineers building technologies out of biological, rather than physical, parts. That became the second major theme of the presidency, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research is one example. So the Center for Cancer Research was started in 1974, here at MIT. Salvador Loera, who had already won a Nobel Prize, was the founder of that, he recruited 12 faculty in the department of biology to be the founding members, and they did spectacular work. Four of those original 12 have a Nobel Prize at this point, and my guess is that others of those 12 will win the Nobel Prize before time is out on that. The then-current director of the Center for Cancer Research, Tyler Jacks, came to talk to me, as everyone did who had promises from the previous administration, and said that the Center for Cancer Research had been targeted to have either a renovation or a new building and would I be committed to that also? And I said, “Well, tell me what’s going on.” He described a turn in the Center for Cancer Research to cancer nanotechnology — basically, the application of engineering concepts in the study of cancer, and I found that very intriguing because it resonated with this thing I had been hearing, and I said, “We could do that.” And that was kind of the founding conversation for what has become the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. The thesis is, take the 12 cancer biologists that were in the Center for Cancer Research, pair them with 12 engineers, put them in the same building, get this conversation going, and see whether we can accelerate progress to finding new ways to diagnose, treat, prevent cancer, to accelerate progress on cancer which has been, I mean, we’ve been making progress, but can we make progress faster? It has proved to be successful beyond anything I could’ve imagined. So to have this conversation ... How so? Talk about what was the concept, is that you brought them together for them to percolate ideas together. So, what I’ve learned is you don’t just throw people together and say, “Mix it up, have fun.” This cancer thing’s been a problem, we need some solutions. Yeah, can’t you engineers find solutions? So the 12 engineers were hand picked, engineers will work on any problem with their technology, and so most of the engineers who joined the biologists worked on cancer and other things. One of my favorite examples is Angela Belcher, who works on building batteries, using viruses to build batteries. Yeah, I want to talk about that in a minute, yeah. But also using viruses to build cancer detection systems. So a set of 12 engineers ... but understanding that foundationally people who are raised in a discipline have a certain vocabulary, they have a certain perspective on what a problem is, they have a certain perspective on what a great solution would be, and it’s different. So we started out with basically conversations between the engineers and biologists, so they could understand one another’s worlds, develop a kind of vocabulary that would allow them to approach problems in a different way. Right, to be thinking of them, and we’re going to talk a little bit about this, because this leads right into your book, The Age of Living Machines, that you discuss the virus battery, would you call it the virus battery? I don’t know what you call it, whatever. In our next section we’re going to talk about this. So you decided then to focus on this idea, this idea of living machines, the combination of biology and technology? And the physical sciences. The Koch Institute is one example. The Ragon Institute is similar, a kind of mash-up of clinicians, biologists, and engineers to develop a vaccine against HIV/AIDS and other things. We started a new center called The Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, similarly can we figure out ways to bring biologists, clinicians, and engineers together around some of the really big problems ... And you think this is where the answers are, because you do say, “how biology will build the next technology revolution.” I do think so. Talk a little bit about how you decided to do this. I mean, you had been running institutions like Yale and MIT for years, you had abandoned what you were studying, or what did you want to do when you got out? Like the idea of studying, you’re a neuroscientist. During my academic leadership at Yale I had kept my lab, but had spent less and less attention on it. My mind had migrated from problems in the lab to problems in the university. Fundraising, really, you know? Not just fundraising, actually... We can talk about fundraising, because I found that to be incredibly exciting. And interesting to meet people who were capable of giving us enormous gifts, but they were capable of doing that because they had fantastic ideas that had changed the world. And when I moved to MIT from Yale, I decided not to move my lab, realizing that I would not have enough time in the day to be president, never mind time to be president and run a lab, so I left my research. I decided it was time to close the lab, which I did, and came to MIT, and this theme of the convergence of biology with engineering had started when I was at Yale. We invented a new department of biomedical engineering that was a hybrid between the medical school and the FAS campus. I felt really good about that, until I arrived at MIT and realized the scale of the enterprise was tenfold different. There was more going on here than I had ever imagined, so the idea of the age of living machines kind of emerged, and it didn’t really take concrete form in my mind until I spent a sabbatical year, and at the close of that sabbatical, I was at the Belfort Center at the Kennedy School at Harvard, I was invited to give the Godkin lecture, and I used this idea of the convergence of biology with engineering as the theme of that lecture, and realized with some encouragement from some close colleagues that it should be a book, and it should be a book. What do you mean by “living machines?” Define that for people who have some idea, I mean people have ideas in their heads about robots who are sentient, you know, from sci-fi or Star Trek or wherever they’re watching their things. And then of course you have the visions of robots that are all over — Boston Dynamics, there’s all kinds of robot stuff going on, but what does “living machines” mean? Define it. So this is very different from what you’ve just described. I know that, I’m saying, when you say, “living machines,” people think, I don’t know, Data from Star Trek or whoever. So I can hold up my cellphone and say, “This is a machine, built with physics.” Or I could hold up an abalone shell, and say, “This is a machine built with biology.” And what an abalone does is gather up components of the stuff in the seawater and creates an incredibly strong yet light and sufficiently flexible shell. Well, why can’t we build things that way? When the abalone dies, the shell falls apart into pieces and provides the resources for the next generation of abalone. So why can’t we build things using the principles of biology? Rather than the principles of physics. Rather than the principles of physics. But you know, at the end of the day, the biology is based on principles of physics. But why can’t we fast-forward? Let me give you an example from the book. One of the great challenges for humankind, going back thousands of years, is clean water. And remains to be. Probably the most important one going forward. Worse and worse problem because our fresh water becomes contaminated. There is less and less available for more and more people. And so we still rely on the same purification methods that were used 1500, 2000 BC, so filtration or distillation. These are energy-intensive, they’re slow, they’re expensive. Can we not do better? So one of the ideas that I talk about in the book is using nature’s genius to filter water. And it ends up that all of our cells have a protein in their membrane, in the cell membrane, that is the conduit for water to pass into and out of the cell. And it’s a little biological machine that only allows water to pass. It’s a great filter of water. Let me ask you, why do you call it a “machine?” I agree with you, but explain why you call it a machine versus people think of these as biological processes. Biology’s never thought of as a machine. It’s interesting. This was my insight as ... I have to say, my background is in neuroanatomy. I am fascinated by structure and how structure gives rise to function. So it was a bit of a stretch, when I became a molecular neurobiologist, to understand what a gene was, to understand what a protein was. I mean, these things just didn’t ... Yeah, I didn’t know what they were. And for me, the breakthrough understanding about proteins is they’re little machines. They’re machines that can move and do jobs for us, but they’re built from biology. So a channel, as I said, is a pore in a cell. It’s a protein. But the protein is a string of amino acids that winds itself up into a structure that carries out a job. The job that they’re doing, and machines have jobs, either general machines or very specific machines. Yeah. And the components of machines have jobs too, and basically that’s what proteins are. Proteins are the components that form the whole machine of a cell. But the proteins themselves act as little machines. Some of them are more active than others. Some are just kind of, you know, passive pores. In any case, so filtering water is a very difficult task. And with the discovery of this water channel called aquaporin — it was discovered by Peter Agre, another fascinating story, how he got to it. But the idea is that rather than racking our brains to figure out how to build a channel that would be selective for water, why don’t we just use what nature has given us? And so Aquaporin AS is a company outside of Copenhagen that’s building water filters using the aquaporin protein. And it’s a very different way of thinking about how to purify water. Potentially more efficient, potentially more specific than the water purification methods that we’ve used before. Right, for water only? And so the concept is that there are millions of these machines living in biology. There’s zillions. Or everything is, and everything in biology is a machine, is some kind of machine that solves a problem. And that we just have to find, look at them, they’re there. We just have to look for them. We have to find them. But we now have the technology to find them. We have technologies to understand them. And you know, we know how to change them to fit our purposes. So the molecular biology revolution that decoded how information is carried in a cell, and then the second biology revolution, genomics, which allows us to tackle genes and proteins in enormous number, allow us to figure out how we might manipulate a protein if it doesn’t perfectly fit our needs, how to change it a little bit so it more exactly fits the needs that we might want it to fit. So the concept is that we have to ... That this biology, that we could find these machines in whatever areas we’re looking to solve, such as water purification. What else? Talk about some more examples. The battery. Go into the that. The battery gets ... Sustainable energy is a really big problem for us. We love the idea of alternative energies to get off fossil fuels. But truth be told, wind and solar are not viable, really, at scale without storage. Sometimes the sun doesn’t shine, sometimes the wind doesn’t blow. And then what are you going to use? So without really phenomenally efficient and effective energy storage, wind and solar are not going to be really replacement technologies for fossil fuels. So batteries is what energy storage devices are called. And the technology for batteries is basically the same that Volta invented, what, over 200 years ago. It’s so funny. I just had this discussion with, I don’t mean to drop names, but Elon Musk was going on about this. Like, “It’s just a storage vehicle.” And then he was saying it hasn’t changed at all. It hasn’t changed in any way. Right. So the components changed a little bit. So the lithium ion battery that is now kind of state of the art, great batteries. But the problem with lithium ion batteries is to make them consumes a huge amount of energy. And produces a huge amount of toxic waste. And you know, that’s not really sustainable if you do a full accounting, that’s not sustainable at all. So we need better ways of making batteries. And Angie Belcher, a faculty member at MIT at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research — by the way, you talk about what her cancer research also has figured out how to get viruses to organize battery components. So her lab now can make lithium ion batteries, essentially lithium ion batteries using viruses. But they make them at room temperature without any toxic byproducts. So that potentially ... So talk about the science of it. I mean, I think it’ll be too hard for everyone to understand, but the science of it is using viruses. Explain that. So what a battery is is a carefully organized, a closely organized set of materials. Lithium, cobalt, whatever you want to put in. But they have to be organized. It’s not all jumbled up together. They have to be organized into, essentially, layers and components and be separated. The standard method is a chemical method, but Angie looks at the abalone shell. If abalone can build this, can’t we get living things to build what we need? And she has used viruses, standard lab strains of virus, that she has modified so that they bind the metallic components of batteries. Now, we knew they bound organic components. So biological ... What was the inspiration from? What were they doing before that she saw this? What was their machine purpose before? Well, viruses organize organic materials. That’s what they do. They bind to your cell. They interact with the world around them through the proteins on their surface. So let’s use them for this. So Angie’s question is, could we use the proteins on the surface of the virus not to bind biological things, not to bind an organic things, but to bind metals? Her first application was actually, could we use viruses to build wires? A simple problem, compared to batteries. So she did that and then realized that the ... This is to manufacturer wires, right? That we might use different kinds of wires. To build wires that could have some different kinds of designs than our current wires. And then she realized that the things that viruses organized well — metals — made them perfectly designed for building batteries. And so she’s done a couple of things. She has selected, she mutates viruses and then selects those that bind to, let’s just say cobalt, or carbon nanotubes or various things that you want to put in a battery to make them work better. So some of that she does just through kind of random mutation and selection. And some of them she does by targeted genetic manipulation. So she has a library of viruses that organize components of batteries. Because these viruses have a rod-like structure, they’re almost like crystals. So you can get them to lie down in sheets with a highly ordered structure, which again makes it perfect for a battery. So she has these viruses that bind battery components make sheets, naturally, that she then packages into the standard coin cell battery cases that ... That then hold ... They work just like regular batteries. It’s just that the cathode is built with a virus. The anode is built with a virus. You package them together and you have a battery. The batteries that she’s building now have the same charge density of state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries. And most importantly, they recharge over the same number of cycles as standard lithium ion batteries. Which is a certain amount, right. This is all really important to have batteries that really work. She told me recently that the new batteries that they’re building are built without lithium and without cobalt, which everyone who reads any kind of technology section of the newspaper will understand that if we are sticking with lithium or cobalt, we’re not going to get very far because these are expensive and dangerous metals to have around. And so they become made out of what? I’m not sure what she’s using, but it’s not lithium and it’s not cobalt. All right. So it’s getting these cues from nature. Give me some more examples of what a living machine would look like. Take a big problem, even if it’s not being made right now. A really big problem, of course, is ... Let me just back up. The biggest problem that we face right now outside of people not getting along... The biggest technological problem is that ... That’s why we have to get rid of the living and just replace them with living machines. But go ahead. ... is that we have over seven-and-a-half billion people on the planet and very sage projections have it that we will be over 9.7 billion by 2050. Susan, that’s when I plan to die. But go ahead. Keep going. It’s fine. I’ll probably be dead then too. But you know, we’ve got kids. No, population is an enormous issue. And we are already stressing our planet to provide the energy, the water. The food. And by the way, the health and health care that we need to have a vibrant and productive global population. We can be hysterical about it, or we can say we’re going to develop new technologies to meet these challenges. This has been a refrain throughout human history. Many people are familiar with the name of Malthus. In 1798, he did this fantastic demographic study showing that population growth was faster than the growth in agricultural production. Said, “We’re all going to starve.” And then he went back and looked through time and said, “We always faced this problem.” And when there are too many people, there’s war, there’s famine, there’s epidemics, there are ways of reducing the population, and that’s coming. Basically, you know, the world is ending. What he didn’t recognize is that new technologies for agriculture were already in place for field crop rotation and the ships that were going around the world exploring things were coming on islands that were actually not much land mass, but a huge amount of bird poop, guano. And those ships were bringing this back for fertilizer. Fantastic fertilizer. So agricultural productivity in Britain ... Fixed the problem. And of course, population actually grew even faster than had been predicted. Because of the technology, because of the ability to feed more people, food and water. Food is rate-limiting for population. In any case, we’re at a similar point now. We’ve got to figure out how to provide for 9.5 billion-plus people without provoking war and famine and all these terrible things. So energy, we talked about energy. Water can be critical. But health, we have endless conversations in the United States about how we can deliver health and health care to our population at more reasonable costs and with better access. And for many diseases, not all, but for many diseases, you can make a lot of progress. Obviously, No. 1 is prevention, right? If you can prevent a disease, that’s great. That’s vaccination. So if we could persuade everyone to get vaccinated, we’d ... It’s an uphill battle these days. But go ahead. Unfortunately. We can come back to that if you want. The second-best strategy for many diseases, not for all, is early detection. So particularly for cancer, if you can detect a cancer early, your probability of actually curing someone of cancer is much higher than if you detect it late after a cancer has spread from its primary location and metastasized to other locations. Our technologies for detecting cancer right now have gotten better. And declining death rates from cancer, finally, after decades of trying, resulting from reduced smoking but also from diagnostic procedures like colonoscopy and mammography. Those are late, actually. So by the time you could detect a cancer using those methods, cancers are pretty far along. So can we move earlier? So one living machine that Sangeeta Bhatia here at MIT has developed is using nanoparticles that detect the earliest signs of cancer. That is, the changes in the biology of the cancer for a detection method. I love this. This just blows my mind. So let me see if I can explain it. I’m waving my hands but without a whiteboard or a blackboard. So you take a nanoparticle and decorate it with a short stretch of a protein. One of the hallmarks of many diseases is they make disease-specific processes and disease-specific enzymes. An enzyme is a kind of protein that cuts other proteins, we’ll just say for now. And for a cancer to grow, it’s got to grow in an environment that’s very dense. It can’t grow unless it cuts up the material standing in its way. So cancers make particular kinds of enzymes. So Sangeeta thought, “Huh, if we could detect that enzyme, we could actually see whether there’s a cancer or not.” So the nanoparticle has a little stretch of protein on it that contains the site for that cancer enzyme. So the idea is you put this decorated nanoparticle into a patient. If there isn’t any cancer, that nanoparticle stays whole, eventually will degrade. But if there is a cancer, the cancer’s enzyme will clip off those protein fragments. And she’s designed it so that the protein fragment is small enough to be filtered by the kidney into the urine. And so you can detect it. You can detect it. Now, we all happen to be familiar with over-the-counter pregnancy tests. We already know how to do that. And detecting something in urine is so much easier than detecting it in blood. Blood is full of other proteins. Urine, normal urine, has no protein background, essentially no protein background. And what she and her team have shown is that, at least in animal models, this synthetic biomarker that she’s designed can detect cancers when they’re about a tenth the size of current detection techniques, and at, we anticipate, a fraction of the expense. So very powerful technique. So a machine that would go in your body and then pee out, essentially. Which would give you the information. All right, that’s fascinating. How do you shift the thinking on this? Because I think so much has been focused on computing and digital and things like that. How do you shift the idea that we move into this era? Now, there’s some analog stuff going on, like self-driving cars and all kinds of things like that. So there’s more analog and tech computing coming together and analog activities and in health care. How do you shift the idea that this is where the investment should be made and this is where the big money should be spent? Because it hasn’t been. No. So this is a very big challenge, and there are two pieces of this. There’s the funding of the fundamental research that leads to a possible opening in the marketplace. And then there’s the funding of the passage into the marketplace. So, let me first talk about the basic research funding. We talked earlier about how biologists and engineers are raised in very different disciplines with very different vocabularies, and creating opportunities for these people from different cultures, essentially, to come together is a challenge, but it’s a challenge that, I think, we can meet. And more and more places are trying to figure out how to actually make that happen in terms of bringing people together. But if you think about how these activities are funded, our federal funding agencies have done, truly, a magnificent job in catalyzing discovery. But they were set up along, let’s just say, a 20th century model. The National Institutes of Health, which has delivered incredible things, I mean, HIV/AIDS was a death sentence and within a decade, became a treatable ... Because it was mobilized. Took a long time. The government, I mean. I’m talking about the government to focus in on ... Yes, yeah. No, initially, the Reagan Administration ... the focus on it, to focus and mobilize on it. But if we think about when HIV/AIDs was described as a disease ... Right, I guess in the ... No, it was in the ’80s. And we actually got ... Fantastic. But, you’re right, mobilizing the government to take a particular issue seriously takes a nation’s enthusiasm. So the NIH does biomedical and biological research. The National Science Foundation does engineering research and some physics research and some math. The Department of Energy does a lot of physics research. And if you think about, how are you going to fund a project that crosses these disciplines, that is really hard to do. Because none of these agencies is really set up to do that. Right, and they have NASA doing space, right? Yeah. And from time to time, we mount fantastic cross-agency collaborations. The National Nanotechnology Initiative, the United States was nowhere in nanotechnology until we realized that we had to get moving, and a cross-agency collaboration was built to make that happen. The Human Genome Project: cross agency. It required the development of great technology and great biology. We figured out how to do that. The New Brain Initiative is another great example of crossing agencies. But it’s from time to time, so we don’t have a standard way of creating opportunities to cross disciplines. We’ve got to get better at that. And so, how would this be that way? I mean, and it requires the administration to also be, or maybe not, maybe these things just go on, these various institutes. How do you get the ... So, it certainly helps for the administration to be enthusiastic about research and about science. I think you can safely say this one is not. This one is not, has not demonstrated enthusiasm for it. But Congress continues to step up to the plate and say ... ”We’re going to fund it. We understand its importance. If you look through our history, this is the source of not just medical cures, this is the source of the technologies that have built our economy.” ”And provided jobs and futures for our nation.” We can come back to that later if you like. But the agencies themselves can organize themselves. The Office of Science and Technology Policy has played a role in making that happen. You know, my own view is that we need a go-to strategy, rather than reinventing it episodically. To deal with some particular thing. That’s a really good way to put it, episodically. That would be great. So that’s on the funding, the initial part of it. The government, the government where ... But then, we’ve got to get these technologies out of the lab, into the marketplace. And this is a place where I think, also, our national policies are misaligned. The kinds of technologies I’ve just described are what we at MIT call tough tech. They are tough. Let me give you one example of just how hard it is to take a biologic from a lab into the marketplace. So Herceptin is a Genentech drug for a variant of breast cancer that was a death sentence. It’s called HER2-positive. It has a particular marker on it. The HER2 gene, between the discovery of the HER2 gene and the FDA approval of Herceptin, 20 years. And not because no one was trying. They were working as hard as they can and, standardly for any biological product, the guess is — the estimate is, it’s not a guess — it is overall, it’s about 10 years and a billion dollars. And so you have to have long-term investments. You have to set up conditions that encourage people to put in the money and have the stamina to last through all of the wrong, blind alleys and failed pursuits that you’re going to do before you actually get to the promised land. Currently, we don’t privilege long-term investments. Our investments get the same kind of tax advantage if you invest for a year or two as if you invest for 20 years. That’s not a recipe for success for these really tough technologies. We talk about building a new manufacturing base in the United States. We’ve got to start by building the technologies that we want to manufacture. We can go back to the technologies of yesteryear, but truth be told, you can do that less expensively someplace else. So we want to be able to design a new manufacturing sector that makes use of these new ideas. But for that, we need long-term investment. So, how do you do that? How do you get that, the people thinking like that? I mean, you have people with plenty of money. There’s plenty of money all over. They tend to fund universities or long-term research projects, but how do you get people thinking like that? Where does that ... Yeah, we’re talking about bigger money, actually, and we’re talking about industrial productivity. There’s some argument about whether tax incentives are sufficient to actually drive people to fund things, and I think it’s worth the bet. Okay, so putting the amazing amount of money into it, how does that happen? It happens through incentives, and there are a number of things that we have done in the past to encourage those kinds of incentives and to privilege those kinds of companies. Right now, there is hardly an incentive to do that. The big accelerant for the second half of the 20th century was coming out of World War II, where we had poured federal dollars into research that created the technology marvels of World War II. Toward the end of the war, FDR turned to Vannevar Bush, his primary science adviser, and said, “Can we not figure out how to transform this strategy for war into a strategy for peace?” And Bush laid out a blueprint for the second half of the 20th century in America that actually put all the pieces together and produced not just a research enterprise, an educational enterprise and an industrial enterprise that was unrivaled in the world. So, where is that now? These things do come out of war. They come out of conflict and things like that. And there are obviously controversies in Silicon Valley about funding a lot of war-related stuff, but we’re not in a state of war. We haven’t been in a state of major war for a very long time, luckily. How do you get that kind of urgency then, to create things for peace, I guess? Because that’s where it really is. We will have wars over water. We’ll have wars over resources. We’ll have wars over energy. It seems that those are the wars to come going forward, if I had to guess, if one would have to guess. Yeah, well there’s evidence of these being the catalysts of war. And so, motivating the nation to understand that we have an opportunity, not just to ... for the promise of peace, but also for the promise of the next generation of economic growth. I’ll tell you, following World War II, the United States played this game essentially by ourselves. What might have been our rivals in Europe were rebuilding their countries after the war. We had emerged from the war without the need to rebuild our destroyed cities. So we had that advantage. But now, everyone understands the recipe that the United States used. And while I was president, there was hardly a week that would go by when someone from some other country wasn’t in my office saying, “We understand what the United States did. We want to do it in our country. Can you help us understand how we can build something like MIT because we understand that is part of the recipe to build an economy like the United States has enjoyed.” It is exciting. It’s awesome that other countries want to build these things, but what it means is that we’ve got competition. And if you look at the investments ... China, China, China, and other smaller countries, but China’s putting the kind of money behind this that is stunning. You know, when our Chinese colleagues came with the same question, they were enormously insightful because many of the others would say, “We just want to know how to build engineering. We need engineering departments because that’s where the tech transfer comes from. We understand that’s how some technology gets developed.” But our Chinese colleagues would say, “We get it. We’re going to build the best physics department, we’re going to build the best math departments, we’re going to build the best biology departments. We’re going to do basic science because we understand that’s at the foundation of the engineering of the technologies of the future.” A very broad understanding of the intellectual backdrop for economic growth, for sustained economic growth. So finishing up, how do we do that? How do we dominate the age of living machines? Because it worked out pretty well, the last technology booms were pretty ... Or is it just a global ... It seems like it still isn’t a global situation for anybody. It’s a Chinese situation or an American situation or a European ... How do we get our arms around owning this part of the future? Well, there are a lot of components to it and I don’t ... I haven’t given up hope that the United States will be a leader in this. There are things that we do in our culture that are absolutely fantastic. Our insisting on scientific integrity, our sense of real competition, internal competition to figure out what kind of technology’s going to win. I love the idea, although I think it should be funded differently, of people making bets, different people making bets on various technology, that’s not all government. Government isn’t saying what we do and what we don’t do. One of the recipes that Vannevar Bush laid out in his Science: The Endless Frontier blueprint was about federal funding. How is federal funding distributed? Peer review. So he understood that it was the community of scientists, the community of engineers who knew best where the frontiers would emerge from. So, you can say it’s top-down because it’s federal funding, but it’s top-down mediated by the community, who are at the leading edge. A brilliant solution. So, finishing up, what would be the most exciting living machine you could conceive of? Wow, what a great question. I don’t know that I have a favorite. I always say that my crystal ball gets a little fuzzy five years out. And I’m not sure if ... There are some people who 25 years before that computer that rode on Apollo 11, right? Which was an amazing achievement. There were people, probably, who thought there could be a computer like that. It’s a step-by-step evolution. So I see a lot of potential in all the technologies I’ve called out and well beyond. There is some kid in some lab at MIT or in any place, anywhere in the country, who has an idea, a new idea of a living machine that you or I couldn’t ... But what one would you make? Oh, I’d make them all. I think water is critical. I think energy is absolutely critical. If we don’t figure out how to provide sustainable energy, we are ... Our planet is doomed. And one of the things I really do worry about is this current lack of confidence in experts and expertise. It’s what science is about. We test ideas, we contest ideas, and if we don’t believe that there are things that are more right than others, which is where we place our bets now, we have no way of making it into the future. I agree. The truth is now political, you get that? So you have to be political. I get that and it terrifies me. So we have to continue to insist on an apolitical realm. Politics are never out of it entirely. We have to insist on an understanding that there are people who understand areas better than we do. I don’t pretend to be an engineer. I don’t pretend to be a physicist. If the physicists at MIT tell me that they’ve figured out gravitational waves, I’m going to trust them more than I’m going to trust myself to imagine whether or not there are gravitational waves. But this idea that there are people with expertise that we should value and value their opinions greater than others. I understand that people might debate the fine points of climate change, but the fact is that the best science indicates that we’re in trouble. If an asteroid were coming toward Earth, don’t you think we’d mount every possible defense to send it off its course, rather than say, “Asteroids don’t exist?” Of course we would. So it’s simply folly to my mind not to step up and invent the technologies that are going to prevent us from the ravages of climate change that we’re inflicting on the planet, or frankly whether it’s us or anyone or some other natural operation. It’s our job to protect ourselves so that we have a better future. Absolutely. Or maybe we’ll just learn our lesson. It’s probably the way it’s going to go, unfortunately the way it’s going to go. Yes, me too. Well, this is a fascinating read. This is Susan Hockfield, her book is called The Age of Living Machines, including machines that will help us have cleaner water, more sustainable energy and I don’t know, a dating app? I don’t know, what do you think? What is the dating app of a living machine? It’s a person. Anyway: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution. I urge you to read it. Thank you very much, Susan. Thank you, Kara. It’s fun talking with you. Recode and Vox have joined forces to uncover and explain how our digital world is changing — and changing us. Subscribe to Recode podcasts to hear Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka lead the tough conversations the technology industry needs today. | Eric Johnson | https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/31/18646556/susan-hockfield-mit-science-politics-climate-change-living-machines-book-kara-swisher-decode-podcast | 2019-05-31 10:20:00+00:00 | 1,559,312,400 | 1,567,539,645 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,044,418 | thinkprogress--2019-03-22--EPAs secret science proposal being used by Big Oil to undermine clean water rules | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | thinkprogress | EPA’s ‘secret science’ proposal being used by Big Oil to undermine clean water rules | Internal emails reveal two major fossil fuel trade groups are lobbying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from updating a decades-old list of toxic chemicals found in petroleum wastewater — and they’re using the Trump administration’s controversial “secret science” proposal to make their case. The EPA currently monitors for 16 types of chemicals in wastewater, or effluent, released by petroleum refineries under the Clean Water Act. However, in the more than 40 years since the list was developed, scientific understanding around the number of chemicals and their toxicity levels has grown. As a result, the EPA is in the early stages of determining whether the priority list of chemicals needs to be updated. But according to emails released to the Sierra Club and reviewed by ThinkProgress, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) are lobbying to limit the scope of the EPA’s study. The fossil fuel trade groups want to ensure that two categories of chemicals known to be toxic to aquatic life, and potentially harmful to humans, are excluded from the study: alkylated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (alkylated-PAHs) and naphthenic acids (NAs). The industry even goes so far as to state that including these in a study would risk “legal challenges.” These two sets of chemicals are not currently on the EPA’s priority list. There are hundreds of different variations of PAH chemicals and levels of toxicity (alkylated-PAHs, for instance, are a derivative of the main “parent” PAH compounds). Burning coal and oil is the main source for these chemicals. Yet, according to Jan Andersson, a chemistry professor at the University of Münster in Germany who has studied the EPA’s list, roughly 97 percent of the PAH chemical compounds found in crude oil are alkylated chemicals, making any lobbying against their inclusion quite significant. Meanwhile, NAs are found primarily in the byproduct of tar sands oil; the non-biodegradable compounds are stored in giant tailings ponds. Excluding these types of chemicals from the EPA study would therefore serve to preemptively limit the scope of any potential rule changes in the future. “They’re trying to cook the books at the very earliest stages of a study for petroleum refinery and ignoring the considerable data that’s out there that alkylated-PAHs are absolutely at least as toxic, if not more toxic, than the ones everybody monitors for right now,” Betsy Southerland, former director of the EPA’s Office of Water’s Office of Science and Technology, told ThinkProgress. Southerland worked for the EPA for 30 years before resigning in 2017 in response to the change in leadership. At high or prolonged exposure, PAH chemicals can cause tumors in aquatic life and birds as well as impact their reproduction, development, and immunity. Studies show that NAs have similar impacts, along with causing liver and heart damage in mice. Some known health effects to humans from PAH exposure include eye and skin irritation, nausea, and diarrhea, as well as longer-term impacts such as kidney or liver damage and asthma-like symptoms. Scientists are still studying how the various chemicals impact humans; a range of PAH chemicals are classified as suspected or possibly carcinogenic to humans. What is known though, is that alkylated-PAHs are likely more toxic than other types of PAHs. They also take a longer time to biodegrade in the environment. Issued by the EPA in 1976, the list of 16 types of PAH chemicals is used to determine which chemicals must be monitored for risks to drinking water and human health. Under the Clean Water Act, petroleum wastewater effluent guidelines establish a national floor — a baseline limit — for these chemicals. So, if there is a discharge of waste such as the release of industrial wastewater, stormwater runoff, or oil spills, only these 16 chemicals are tested to determine the level of toxicity. The simplicity of the list has made the process easily applicable and cost-effective, and other countries have also turned to it as a resource. The list hasn’t just been used to monitor wastewater, either — environmental studies frequently use it as a basis for research. However, as a 2015 article co-authored by Andersson and published in the academic journal Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds notes, the list leaves out three large groups of these chemical compounds, including alkylated-PAHs. As the paper states, crude oil and coal are “rich” in alkyl compounds. Despite the potential impact on human health and the environment, the levels of these chemicals currently found in petroleum wastewater is unknown; that’s one thing the EPA’s study would determine. PAH concentrations can vary from site-to-site and by the source of the crude oil. The findings would then help guide any necessary changes to the list of chemicals that should be regulated. As part of its argument against the EPA measuring these chemicals, the trade groups are using the EPA’s proposed “secret science” rule to argue against disclosure of NAs because that would constitute a risk to companies’ proprietary data. The proposed rule, also known as the “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule, was introduced last April by former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. The rule has been supported by climate science deniers and effectively aims to restrict the use of scientific evidence in the rule-making process. The plan has been stalled under Administrator Andrew Wheeler, but if adopted, it would require the EPA to rely only on scientific studies where the underlying data used by the researchers is made public. Critics argue the bill would severely limit the kind of science the EPA could use in justifying regulations (excluding public health data, for instance) and would place a number of unnecessary burdens on EPA scientists. Some in the chemical and fossil fuel industries, both of which maintain close ties with the Trump administration, have also warned that the rule would expose confidential corporate information. In a June 8, 2018 letter attached to an email to Brian d’Amico, branch chief at the EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, API and AFPM wrote that using the industry’s own proprietary method of analyzing naphthenic acids would be a “clear contradiction” to the EPA’s proposed secret science rule. “Independent validation is clearly not possible when a proprietary analytical method is used to generate the data,” the organizations argued. “In the interest of transparency, per its own proposed rule, EPA should abandon the use of this proprietary method in the Detailed Study.” “Data derived from these methods could result in the EPA facing substantial scientific and legal challenge,” API and AFPM warned. In other words, under the hypothetical scenario where the EPA decides to update its chemicals list at a time when the secret science rule is officially adopted, it would require the results of the EPA’s effluent study be made public, as that would be considered underlying data used to introduce the new chemicals rule. But doing so would, in the eyes of the fossil fuel industry, violate their proprietary methods used to analyze the chemical and so the chemicals should instead be simply excluded from the very beginning to avoid such a scenario. “Quoting a rule that has not even gone final yet for the reason why [the EPA] shouldn’t be allowed to monitor it is pretty outrageous,” said Southerland. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment from ThinkProgress about whether or not it will be studying the two types of chemicals the fossil fuel industry has been lobbying against. The API and AFPM also did not respond to requests for comment. The fossil fuel industry is also arguing that the EPA doesn’t have sufficient data to claim that these two groups of chemicals should be regulated. As Roger E. Claff, senior scientific adviser at API, wrote in a February 2018 email to d’Amico, among the concerns is a “lack of toxicity data for decision-making.” But as Southerland explained, that’s precisely why the EPA is initiating its study; growing scientific findings suggest these chemicals are highly toxic and therefore updates might be warranted. Meanwhile, she said, “API is saying ‘hell no.'” Andersson made the case for updating the list in his 2015 paper. The 1976 list was created based on what was commercially available at the time, but many more variations of PAH chemicals exist now. Meanwhile, toxicology has improved understanding of the adverse health impacts of a wide range of these chemicals, and “a wealth of new compounds have been added to the inventory of confirmed or suspect carcinogens.” “This list of compounds is not suitable,” Andersson told ThinkProgress. “Most of them are pretty innocuous… [there are] many that are much more toxic that don’t appear on this list because in 1976, people didn’t know about them. This list looks pretty obsolete.” The first meeting between the EPA and the fossil fuel trade groups on this issue occurred in May 2016, under the Obama administration. And as a January 2018 slide show presentation to the Trump administration shows, the industry highlighted its “collaboration through the years” with the EPA. Of course, some degree of collaboration is needed in order for the EPA to properly conduct its study and gather the necessary data. However, the internal emails provide insight into the scale of influence the fossil fuel lobby is trying to exert at the very early stages of decision making. Dalal Aboulhosn, who works on federal water policy for the Sierra Club, said this shows how under the current administration industry “is allowed to come in and pretty much write their wish list.” On water specifically she said, there has been a pattern of industry approaching the EPA under both Pruitt and Wheeler with policy ideas before the EPA has actually decided to move on the issue. Shortly after, a change is announced. “It’s very blatant and it’s across the board when it comes to issues in the agency, and we’re seeing it very starkly on water issues,” Aboulhosn said. Indeed, after arguing last June that “the science and data for the toxicity of NAs and alkylated-PAHs are still a work in progress,” the two trade groups go so far as to suggest that, should the EPA wish to study them, the agency must address these two groups of chemicals “in a project outside of the Study.” They argue the EPA should make a new official rule in order to create a new “method” for studying these chemicals. This separate project should undergo “the appropriate public notice and comment period required to gain method approval,” the trade groups’ letter states. This, however, would be highly uncommon given public notice and comment periods typically apply to new regulations, or changes to existing regulations (such as repealing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan or introducing the “secret science” rule); it would also serve to delay the process by several years. “It sounds like they’re trying to set some new bar to any future detailed studies,” Southerland said, “where no analyses can be done unless there’s a standard method… that would be a bar not just for petroleum refinery but every industry category.” It quickly becomes a “chicken and egg” situation, Southerland said; you need a study to determine if a new rule is needed, but the industry is arguing you need a new rule before conducting the study. But as the June 2018 industry letter to the EPA reads, “API and AFPM members believe in due diligence and support EPA in developing sound science.” | Kyla Mandel | https://thinkprogress.org/oil-lobby-groups-epa-secret-science-proposal-clean-water-rules-9de63644deed/ | 2019-03-22 12:00:53+00:00 | 1,553,270,453 | 1,567,545,262 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,032,385 | theverge--2019-01-13--How the government shutdown could harm the future of American science | 2019-01-13T00:00:00 | theverge | How the government shutdown could harm the future of American science | A partial government shutdown that has dragged on for weeks has young scientists wondering if working for the federal government is a good idea. Graduate students and early-career researchers are watching what the government has done to their colleagues at shuttered federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the Department of the Interior, and they’re not liking what they’re seeing. For some, the ongoing threat of government shutdowns isn’t enough to change their career goals. But for others, it’s making them rethink whether a career in the federal government is really worth the frustration. “I don’t know if I want a job that could be used as a pawn to further someone’s agenda,” says Kathleen Farley, a graduate student at Rutgers University-Newark. “I don’t know if I want a job that could be used as a pawn to further someone’s agenda.” Scientists aren’t the only ones affected by the current shutdown, which has beat the 1995 shutdown by Republicans to become the longest one yet. Food stamps may end in March, while air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents are on the job without pay. But scientific research has, in some cases, halted, Nature reports. Grants are going unreviewed and field work has been delayed or scrapped altogether. At the National Weather Service, a key weather model is performing badly without anyone around who can maintain it, according to The Washington Post. Policy experts are worried about what future scientific research in the US looks like. “All this comes to a halt when there is a shutdown,” says John Holdren, former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology under President Obama and now a professor of environmental policy at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. “That’s a double whammy because it discourages folks from staying in the government if they have other options,” Holdren says. He and other sources in this story were careful to note that there are worse and more immediate consequences than a hit to American competitiveness, particularly for the federal employees and contractors who are living paycheck to paycheck. “The less attractive government becomes as a place to work.” Looking forward, he can see ongoing ripple effects even after the government starts up again. “The more frequent and the more long-running shutdowns are, the less attractive government becomes as a place to work for scientists and engineers,” Holdren says. And he worries that will mean that young scientists will take their years of education, their training, and their skills elsewhere. It could mean a federal brain drain from agencies where scientists help policymakers make critical decisions. Farley, the graduate student who expressed nervousness about a federal career, is in her fifth year of graduate school studying birds and urban ecology, and hasn’t been directly affected by the government’s partial closure. As she reaches the end of her PhD, she’s looking ahead to applying to jobs, including work in the non-profit sector, teaching, and federal positions at the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, or potentially the EPA. The appeal of a government job is that she could do good for the community and also have healthcare and a chance to retire, one day. “I’d like to retire before age 80 or 90, and retirement packages don’t seem to really exist in the nonprofit world,” she says. “But they don’t do you any good if you can’t get the paycheck you need to pay for the medicines you need and to pay rent.” Her colleague Nicole Dykstra, also a graduate student at Rutgers, has been through the frustration of a shutdown before. Dykstra, an Army Reservist who served in Iraq with the National Guard, was forced to miss a training weekend during the 2013 shutdown. “You do everything right, and everything supposed to — and suddenly you’re not being compensated on time for reasons that are entirely out of your control,” she says. “It is stressful and frustrating to feel like we’re being held hostage in a fight that has nothing to do with us.” “It is stressful and frustrating to feel like we’re being held hostage in a fight that has nothing to do with us.” Dykstra studies animal behavior, particularly group movement and leadership. And she’s pragmatic about the chances of snagging one of those coveted, ever-dwindling, tenure track positions: her son and her spouse’s job mean she probably can’t uproot her life to chase down a job. “If you’re being realistic with yourself looking at job prospects out there, the amount of tenure track or even non-tenure track positions are shrinking all the time,” she says. So she’s also considering what she calls “alt-academic” positions — like one day applying for a job at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, for example. There’s a lot to like: federal healthcare, the possibility of a pension, not having to worry about being denied tenure, she says. But she worries about the potential to have to go weeks to months without the pay she’s relying on to support her family: “I don’t want to be in that position, I don’t think it’s fair. It feels so terrible to have that vulnerability at any time.” “It feels so terrible to have that vulnerability at any time.” Elena Thomas, a graduate student studying analytical chemistry at the University of Washington, says she’s always been interested in going into public service — maybe at the FDA, or even NASA. “However, it’s hard to stay motivated in going into that when I see how semi-regularly scientists who work government jobs have to go without pay for these extended periods,” she tells The Verge in a direct message on Twitter. She’s considering having a family one day, and says it’s hard to justify risking her future financial security when there are other options in pharmaceuticals, for example. “Industry jobs already pay better in general for scientists.” NASA is among the institutions that could suffer. Taryn Black, a graduate student studying geoscience at the University of Washington, has considered working there. But being in the heat of the shutdown makes her more wary, she says. “Having dealt with financial insecurity before, not knowing when the next paycheck is coming would be terrifying,” she tells The Verge in a direct message. But she still has time left in her PhD to make that decision, and she’d considered jobs at the state or local level as well as in in the private sector before the shutdown. “So this isn’t drastically upending my career plans.” “It’s hard to stay motivated in going into that when I see how semi-regularly scientists who work government jobs have to go without pay.” But as some like Black consider other career paths, Zach Pace, an astronomy graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the shutdown hasn’t given him second thoughts about aspiring to a job at NASA. “NASA is the worldwide leader in not only space exploration but also astrophysics,” he says. “I don’t want to just throw up my hands and say ‘okay, well, I’ll go do something else.’” But Pace notes in a direct message on Twitter that he doesn’t have a family to support or significant debt — so his decision is less fraught than that of other scientists. And he worries that if the threat of unexpectedly having to go without pay for weeks or even months makes people avoid positions at government agencies, it could harm both equity and excellence in the long run. If only people with enough financial security to weather a shutdown apply, he says, “You will find yourself drawing from a smaller talent pool.” One early-career scientist at the Department of the Interior who is currently furloughed remains hopeful. In fact, this scientist did not want their name used because they’re concerned it could damage their future career prospects in federal agencies — even as they anticipate dipping into savings to pay rent next month. Others, they say, have it worse. For them, the shutdown means missing out on collecting data, and puts papers, reports, and collaborations on hold. But that doesn’t change the fact that this job makes them feel like they can make a difference. And for now they’re willing to put up with the frustrations of the shutdown in order to keep doing work that matters. The longer the shutdown goes on, however, the more likely it is for that balance to shift. “It is another factor that I’ll have to weigh.” For Farley and Dykstra, there are too few jobs in their fields and the competition is too fierce for the ongoing threat of government shutdowns to fully deter them from applying to federal positions. “I think it just causes me to weight it less, as opposed to eliminating it from the running,” Farley says. Dykstra agrees: “Honestly, I’ll still probably look at them.” Thomas, too, says she’ll still consider government jobs: “I wouldn’t say it completely would change my mind on my career post-grad school, but it is another factor that I’ll have to weigh.” | Rachel Becker | https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/13/18179892/government-shutdown-2019-interior-environment-parks-space-nasa-epa | 2019-01-13 16:00:01+00:00 | 1,547,413,201 | 1,567,552,648 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,027,056 | thetorontostar--2019-07-03--Arctic mission will trap scientists in ice to study climate | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Arctic mission will trap scientists in ice to study climate | BREMERHAVEN, Germany - Cranes hoist cargo onto the deck, power tools scream out and workers bustle through the maze of passageways inside the German icebreaker RV Polarstern, preparations for a yearlong voyage that organizers say is unprecedented in scale and ambition. In a couple of months, the hulking ship will set out for the Arctic packed with supplies and scientific equipment for a mission to explore the planet’s frigid far north. The icebreaker will be the base for scientists from 17 nations studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world. “So far we have always been locked out of that region and we lack even the basic observations of the climate processes in the central Arctic from winter,” said Markus Rex of Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute, who will lead the 140-million euro ($158 million) expedition. “We are going to change that for the first time,” Rex told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the Polarstern at its dock in Bremerhaven, Germany. Scientists plan to sail the ship into the Arctic Ocean, anchor it to a large piece of sea ice and allow the water to freeze around them, effectively trapping themselves in the vast white mass that forms over the North Pole each winter. As temperatures drop and the days get shorter, they plan to race time to build temporary research camps on the ice, allowing them to perform tests that wouldn’t be possible at other times of the year or by satellite sensing. “We can do a lot with robotics and other things but in the end the visual, the manual observation and also the measurement, that’s still what we need,” Marcel Nicolaus, a German sea ice physicist who will be part of the international mission, said. “We need to go out, establish that ice camp.” Dozens of scientists from the United States, China, Russia and other countries will be on board the Polarstern at any one time, rotating every two months as other icebreakers bring fresh supplies and a new batch of eager researchers. The mission is considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many scientists, even those who are veterans of multiple Arctic expeditions. The expedition is receiving substantial funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA By combining measurements on the ice with data collected from satellites, scientists hope to improve the increasingly sophisticated computer models they use to predict weather and climate. The interdisciplinary work spans several fields of science, including physics, chemistry and biology. Its overarching purpose - to answer key questions around global warming - means there’s no time for national rivalry, said Rex. “The different geopolitical interests don’t play a role in our research community,” he said. The mission’s international collaboration and scope have drawn comparisons with the International Space Station, the most expensive and remote outpost mankind has yet created. “Actually, we’ll be farther away from civilization because the space station is in an orbit only 400 to 500 kilometres high, and we’ll be much farther away,” Rex said. Once the Polarstern is carried into the depth of the Arctic night, far off the coast of northern Greenland, the scientists will be on their own, too far away for emergency evacuations by air or sea, he said. “We’ll be isolated,” Rex said. “No other ice breaker can then reach us because the ice will be too thick.” The MOSAiC mission, which stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate, comes about 125 years after Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen first managed to seal his wooden expedition ship, Fram, into the ice during a 3-year expedition to the North Pole. Since then, scientific understanding of the role the Arctic plays in the world’s climate has grown. Scientists now believe the cold cap that forms each year is key to regulating weather patterns and temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere. Anything that disrupts the Arctic will be felt further south, they say. Rex cited the polar vortices that blasted cold air as far as Florida last winter and last month’s early heat wave in Europe as prime examples of the impact that a change in the Arctic weather system might entail. “The dramatic warming of the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic,” he said, adding that understanding the processes at play in the far north is crucial if world leaders are to make the right decisions to curb climate change. “We as scientists, I think, have the obligation to produce the robust scientific basis for political decisions,” Rex said. | Frank Jordans - The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/2019/07/03/scientists-to-be-trapped-in-ice-for-year-long-arctic-mission.html | 2019-07-03 21:39:31+00:00 | 1,562,204,371 | 1,567,537,124 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,013,613 | thetelegraph--2019-08-22--Scientists apologise for accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein as academia engulfed by scandal | 2019-08-22T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Scientists apologise for accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein as academia engulfed by scandal | Leading American scientists have apologised for taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, as the academic community became engulfed in the scandal. As more details of his predatory activities came to light, several leading universities and respected figures were struggling to contain the backlash. It saw one prominent laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the firing line with its director apologising and pledging to return the money paid by Epstein. Another Harvard academic has apologised for meeting with Epstein after the billionaire’s Florida conviction on child prostitution charges. More scientists are likely to find themselves under the microscope over the next few weeks as critics demand to know how much Epstein’s beneficiaries knew of his activities, including his interest in eugenics and plans to “improve” the human race by impregnating 20 women at a time. | David Millward | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/22/scientists-apologise-accepting-money-epstein-academia-engulfed/ | 2019-08-22 13:31:39+00:00 | 1,566,495,099 | 1,567,533,714 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,012,709 | thetelegraph--2019-08-08--10 best UK universities to study forensic science | 2019-08-08T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | 10 best UK universities to study forensic science | As any crime drama buff will know, forensic scientists are integral to a crime scene. By collecting and analysing evidence, their findings are essential in a criminal investigation and can support a case in a court of law. If you enjoy chemistry and biology and you're good at problem-solving, then a degree in forensic science may be for you. This could put you on the path to becoming a forensic scientist, but could open doors to other careers, too - including jobs in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, hospitals or analytical service laboratories. You could become an analytical chemist, forensic computer analyst or even a toxicologist. If you are set on a forensic science degree, you will undoubtedly notice that there is a lot of choice for UK institutions. That's why we have investigated the best universities for studying forensic science, including details on entry requirements, the course and any stand-out features. The following is the list of the top 10 universities to study forensic science in the UK, according to the latest 2020 data from the Complete University Guide, which takes into account entry standards, research quality, student satisfaction and graduate prospects. Entry requirements: Applicants are required to have between 104 and 112 UCAS points (including Biology, Chemistry or Applied Science) | Katie Russell | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/0/10-best-uk-universities-study-forensic-science/ | 2019-08-08 09:37:45+00:00 | 1,565,271,465 | 1,567,534,588 | science and technology | scientific institution |
1,000,167 | thetelegraph--2019-02-22--Tangerine Dream how German electronica is helping genetic science at The Francis Crick Institute | 2019-02-22T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Tangerine Dream: how German electronica is helping genetic science at The Francis Crick Institute | German electronica, eyelashes stuck on cocktail sticks and 1.5 million fruit flies are the secret weapons of one of Britain’s largest scientific centre, it has emerged. The Francis Crick Institute in London is at the cutting edge of research into cancer, Alzheimer’s and genetic engineering. Now ‘The Crick’ is flinging open its doors to disclose the unusual goings-on of its technicians for a new exhibition into the unseen side of science. | Sarah Knapton | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/02/22/tangerine-dream-german-electronica-helping-genetic-science-francis/ | 2019-02-22 17:38:49+00:00 | 1,550,875,129 | 1,567,547,661 | science and technology | scientific institution |
994,208 | thetelegraph--2019-01-02--Italy health czar resigns over populist governments unscientific anti-vaxxer stance | 2019-01-02T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Italy health czar resigns over populist government's 'unscientific, anti-vaxxer' stance | The president of Italy's national health research organisation on Wednesday said he had been driven to resign due the "anti-scientific" policies of the country's populist government including efforts to undermine confidence in vital vaccinations. Professor Walter Ricciardi of the National Health Institute (ISS) said an aversion to evidence-based policy among the coalition of Italy's far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) put public health at risk. "Representatives of the government have endorsed unscientific or frankly anti-scientific positions on many issues," he said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily. "It's clear that when the deputy prime minister says that he, as a father, believes there are too many obligatory, useless and dangerous vaccines, that's not just unscientific, it's anti-scientific," he said in reference to League head Matteo Salvini. In 2017 Italy's centre-left government made it compulsory for children in pre-school education to be vaccinated against 10 diseases, including measles, tetanus and polio. The Five Star Movement, then in opposition, led a charge against the law, saying it amounted to a gift to pharmaceutical companies, while the League played on discredited claims that vaccinations can cause autism. The parties came power last year by forming a coalition government. In the interview Dr Ricciardi listed a wide array of areas in which he accused government policy-makers of ignoring the facts. | Agence France-Presse | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/02/italy-health-czar-resigns-populist-governments-unscientific/ | 2019-01-02 20:46:22+00:00 | 1,546,479,982 | 1,567,554,231 | science and technology | scientific institution |
9,745 | aljazeera--2019-02-13--Mission complete NASA announces demise of Opportunity rover | 2019-02-13T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Mission complete: NASA announces demise of Opportunity rover | During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars, it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the Red Planet - but NASA's Opportunity rover has analysed its last soil sample. The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact with it during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead on Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration. Unable to recharge its batteries, Opportunity left hundreds of messages from Earth unanswered over the months, and NASA said it had made its last attempt at contact. "I declare the Opportunity mission as complete," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate told a news conference at mission headquarters in Pasadena, California. The community of researchers and engineers involved in the programme were in mourning over the passing of the rover, known affectionately as Oppy. "Spent the evening at JPL as the last ever commands were sent to the Opportunity rover on #Mars," Tanya Harrison, director of Martian research at Arizona State University, tweeted after a stint at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "There was silence. There were tears. There were hugs. There were memories and laughs shared. #ThankYouOppy #GoodnightOppy," she wrote. The nostalgia extended across the generations of scientists who have handled the plucky little adventurer. "Godspeed, Opportunity," tweeted Keri Bean, who had the "privilege" of sending the final message to the robot. "Hail to the Queen of Mars," added Mike Seibert, Opportunity's former flight director and rover driver, in another tweet while Frank Hartman, who piloted Oppy, said he felt "greatly honoured to have been a small part of it". "Engulfed by a giant planet-encircling dust storm: Is there a more fitting end for a mission as perfect and courageous from start to finish as Opportunity?" he said. The programme has had an extraordinary record of success: 28.1 miles (45.2 kilometres) traversed, more than the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 moon rover during the 1970s and more than the rover that US astronauts took to the moon on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Opportunity sent back 217,594 images from Mars, all of which were made available on the internet. "For the public, the big change was that Mars became a dynamic place, and it was a place that you could explore every day," Emily Lakdawalla, an expert on space exploration and senior editor at The Planetary Society. "The fact that this rover was so mobile, it seemed like an animate creature," she said. "Plus it has this perspective on the Martian surface that's very human-like." "It really felt like an avatar for humanity travelling across the surface," she added. Opportunity landed on an immense plain and spent half its life there, traversing flat expanses and once getting stuck in a sand dune for several weeks. It was there, using geological instruments, that it confirmed that water was once present on Mars. During the second part of its life on Mars, Opportunity climbed to the edge of the crater Endeavour, taking spectacular panoramic images - and discovering veins of gypsum, additional proof that water once flowed among the Martian rocks. Opportunity's twin, Spirit, landed three weeks ahead of it and was active until it expired in 2010. The two far exceeded the goals of their creators: In theory, their missions were supposed to last 90 days. Today, only a single rover is still active on Mars, Curiosity, which arrived in 2012. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/mission-complete-nasa-announces-demise-opportunity-rover-190213210352169.html | 2019-02-13 21:18:30+00:00 | 1,550,110,710 | 1,567,548,682 | science and technology | scientific institution |
352,200 | newswars--2019-02-25--New NASA mission could find more than 1000 planets | 2019-02-25T00:00:00 | newswars | New NASA mission could find more than 1,000 planets | The new telescope paves the way for a more accurate, more focused search for extraterrestrial life, according to researchers. The study, by a team of astronomers at The Ohio State University, provides the most detailed estimates to date of the potential reach of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission (nicknamed WFIRST.) It was designed by NASA and astronomers throughout the country to find new planets and research dark energy, the mysterious force that pervades otherwise empty space and that could hold the keys to understanding how the universe expands. Their work was published Feb. 25 in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. “We want to know what kind of planetary systems there are,” said Matthew Penny, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher in the Ohio State Department of Astronomy. “To do that, you need to not just look where the obvious, easy things are. You need to look at everything.” The planets WFIRST is likely to find will be further from their stars than most planets found to date, Penny said. The mission will build on the work of Kepler, a deep-space telescope that found more than 2,600 planets outside our solar system. The Kepler mission ended Oct. 30, 2018. “Kepler began the search by looking for planets that orbit their stars closer than the Earth is to our Sun,” Penny said. “WFIRST will complete it by finding planets with larger orbits.” To find new planets, WFIRST will use gravitational microlensing, a technique that relies on the gravity of stars and planets to bend and magnify the light coming from stars that pass behind them from the telescope’s viewpoint. This microlensing effect, which is connected to Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, allows a telescope to find planets orbiting stars thousands of light-years away from Earth—much farther than other planet-detecting techniques. But because microlensing works only when the gravity of a planet or star bends the light from another star, the effect from any given planet or star is only visible for a few hours once every few million years. WFIRST will spend long stretches of time continuously monitoring 100 million stars at the center of the galaxy. Penny’s study predicted that about 100 of those not-yet-discovered planets could have the same or lower mass as Earth. The new telescope will be able to map the Milky Way and other galaxies 100 times faster than the famous Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990. The WFIRST mission, with a budget of around $3.2 billion, will scan a small piece of the universe—about 2 square degrees—at a resolution higher than any similar mission in the past. That resolution, Penny said, will allow WFIRST to see more stars and planets than any previous organized search. “Although it’s a small fraction of the sky, it’s huge compared to what other space telescopes can do,” Penny said. “It’s WFIRST’s unique combination—both a wide field of view and a high resolution—that make it so powerful for microlensing planet searches. Previous space telescopes, including Hubble and James Webb, have had to choose one or the other.” WFIRST, Penny said, should give astronomers, astrophysicists and others who study space significantly more information about more planets outside of our solar system. “WFIRST will allow us to find types of planets that we haven’t seen before now,” Penny said. “From WFIRST’s microlensing survey, we will learn how frequently different types of planets are formed, and how unique our solar system is.” So far, scientists have discovered about almost 700 planetary systems—also known as solar systems—containing more than one planet. And they have discovered some 4,000 planets. But even though humans have searched galaxies near and far for signs of life, the search mostly has found planets that are closer to their stars than Earth is to our Sun. The “infrared” piece of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope is also important, Penny said. “Infrared light allows WFIRST to see through dust that lies in the plane of the Milky Way in between us and the galactic center, something optical telescopes on the ground cannot do,” he said. “This gives WFIRST access to parts of the sky that are more densely packed with stars.” Ohio State has played an important role in WFIRST, from the project’s inception to the design of research programs the telescope will execute. The mission is still in the planning stages; NASA announced plans to move forward with WFIRST in February of 2016, and began its initial planning in May of 2018. | Ohio State University | https://www.newswars.com/new-nasa-mission-could-find-more-than-1000-planets/ | 2019-02-25 22:27:42+00:00 | 1,551,151,662 | 1,567,547,436 | science and technology | scientific institution |
572,847 | tass--2019-11-01--Press review: NASA begs Roscosmos for seats on Soyuz and what’s fueling Kurdish separatism | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | tass | Press review: NASA begs Roscosmos for seats on Soyuz and what’s fueling Kurdish separatism | Kurdish forces continue to confront the Turkish army and its allies in northern Syria, mostly along the territories that Ankara seized during its Operation Peace Spring. As for the areas controlled by Moscow and Damascus, there are no Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) units left, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. However, it doesn’t mean that the Russian-Turkish joint patrol of the safety zone, which is due to begin on November 1, will proceed smoothly, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that he may resume his Syrian operation if Kurdish armed units fail to pull back 30 km away from the Syrian-Turkish border. Erdogan does have grounds for such statements. First, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which include some SDF groups, are conducting a guerrilla war against Turkish troops. Second, the Syrian government has come up with an initiative to include SDF units into government forces. That said, Turkey has reasons not to trust Damascus. "A situation where the Turkish leader and his allies are fighting against Syrian government troops gives Ankara the advantage as it seeks to find an excuse to combat the Kurds and seize as much of Syria’s land as possible," military expert Lieutenant General Yuri Netkachev told the newspaper. However, in his words, "SDF units and local Kurdish authorities… still have US support." Netkachev pointed out that the SDF had no desire to be disbanded and intended to continue defending its territories under the Syrian army’s flag. The Americans control all oil fields east of the Euphrates River with the SDF’s assistance, and have no intentions of handing them over to Bashar al-Assad. "By withdrawing troops from northern Syria, US President Donald Trump managed to pit the Turks and the Kurds against each other, as well as the Syrian army and the SDF. The Kurds remain in the country’s north under the protection of the Russian military police. They still have hopes for autonomy - an idea that the US continues to back, denying Damascus access to the rich oil fields on the other side of the Euphrates," military expert Colonel Vladimir Popov pointed out. He believes that unless the issue is resolved, the Syrian Constitutional Committee initiative is bound to fail. Beijing has issued a $357 mln grant to Tajikistan to reconstruct the Dushanbe-Kulma highway through the Kuhistani Badakhshan Autonomous Region, which connects the country’s central area with China. A Chinese company will build nine bridges in the region and will also develop the Yakchilva silver deposit, Nezavisimaya Gazeta noted. According to experts, China is becoming Tajikistan’s main economic partner, driving all other investors away. In addition, over the past few years, Tajikistan has found itself heavily indebted to China, which will inevitably lead to changes in Dushanbe’s foreign policy. "As a result, Tajikistan is putting off a response to Moscow’s proposal to join the Eurasian Economic Union. Right now, regional powers are seeking to divvy up spheres of influence in the region. Russia has been ensuring political and military stability, while China has shouldered responsibility to resolve economic issues," said Director General of the ‘East-West Strategy’ think tank Dmitry Orlov. According to Deputy Director General of the Moscow Center for Strategic Assessments and Forecasts Igor Pankratenko, Kuhistani Badakhshan is Tajikistan’s troubled region of strategic importance. Since Dushanbe is unable to integrate the region into the national economy, then some other power will fill the void. So, it’s good that it is China. "Investments into Kuhistani Badakhshan are not a purely economic matter, it’s more like a program to ensure the loyalty of a very complex region in order to prevent the spread of extremist ideas by way of raising the living standards," Pankratenko explained. He pointed out that China was largely involved in efforts to resolve the situation in Afghanistan and expected to gain Dushanbe’s assistance in that regard. "This is why Beijing will pursue a more active policy in its client states. It won’t involve direct pressure, but a clarification of China’s positions on various aspects of Dushanbe’s foreign policy," the expert emphasized. President Igor Dodon of Moldova, in an interview with Izvestia, pointed to a shift in relations with Transnistria and emphasized that half a year after a new government came on board in Chisinau, the country’s foreign policy had gained balance. He also said that Moldova’s Prime Minister Maia Sandu would soon go on an official visit to Moscow. According to Dodon, "dialogue turned out to be positive" at his recent meeting with the leader of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky. The parties predominantly discussed the operation of their banking systems but refrained from touching upon political issues "since they are not on Chisinau’s nor Tiraspol’s agenda at the moment." "However, we thoroughly addressed current matters, which will make it possible to improve the lives of people on both sides of the Dniester River," Dodon pointed out. When asked about changes to the country’s foreign policy following the government change, the Moldovan president noted that "its foreign policy is beginning to show signs of balance." "Before the July events, the government and parliament had strongly refused to build dialogue with the East, and Russia in particular. Today, we can already see dialogue between lawmakers. Our speaker recently went on an official visit to Moscow. As for the government, the foreign minister, the economy minister and a deputy prime minister have visited Russia’s capital. The prime minister’s working visit is scheduled for November," Dodon said. He added that he planned to attend an informal summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December and visit Moscow to attend the 75th anniversary celebration of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War on May 9, 2020. Vedomosti: America has no alternative in sight to Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft Administrator of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James Bridenstine has officially requested that Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Agency provide additional seats for American astronauts on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft due to delays in efforts to put new US spaceships into operation, Vedomosti wrote. Rogozin believes that Boeing and SpaceX won’t complete the tests of their spacecraft earlier than in 2021, so Russia will have to cut the size of its crews in order to provide seats to the Americans. According to a source close to Roscosmos, NASA is being held hostage to politics. The American agency could have reserved additional seats on the Soyuz spacecraft in advance, but was unable to do so due to extraordinary pressure from US government officials. The situation is now at a stalemate, said a space industry company’s manager, noting that work on both of the new American spacecraft had been underway since 2014 but the tests of SpaceX’s CrewDragon had faced serious technical difficulties, while Boeing’s Starliner still hadn’t been included into a test launch program because a number of systems were not ready. NASA only got around to asking Russia for assistance after a threat had emerged that the US segment of the International Space Station (ISS) would have to go offline. Now, according to the newspaper’s source, talks will rather focus on NASA’s chances to carry out manned space missions on Soyuz-MS spaceships than on seat purchases. NASA has preliminarily requested seats on spacecraft to be launched to the ISS in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2021. At the same time, Roscosmos plans to allocate money to build two more Soyuz ships. A source close to the space corporation said they would be constructed as a backup. The debt burden of Russians (based on the correlation between debt repayments and disposable incomes) stood at 10.6% as of October 1, the country’s Central Bank said. It is at its highest since July 2012, Vedomosti notes. According to the Central Bank, more than half of Russia’s employed population (39.5 mln people) have loans to repay. Most people have either a cash loan or a mortgage, but the number of those with several types of loans is growing. The debt burden of all borrowers, particularly the poorest ones, has been increasing, the National Bureau of Credit History pointed out. A growing debt load poses a significant danger to banks that are focused on unsecured consumer loans, as well as to families that have to take unsecured long-term loans, said Sovcombank First Deputy Chairman of the Board Sergey Khotimsky. The debt burden will continue to grow unless the pattern of loan products changes and interest rates are reduced, he warned. Since people’s real incomes are hardly rising, taking loans is a reasonable way to purchase goods and services, Director of the Research Center for Financial Technologies and Digital Economy at Skolkovo-New Economic School Oleg Shibanov noted. Real incomes and consumption fell by ten percent in 2015-2016, but after that, different trends emerged: incomes are not going up but consumption is increasing by two to three percent a year, ING Chief Russia Economist Dmitry Dolgin specified. Consumer loans are the main source of consumption growth. If income growth rates fail to go up, then the debt burden will only get heavier. In the event that no structural measures are taken to boost business activities and improve the revenues of private companies, consumer growth will keep leading to more banking and budget risks, although those are low at the moment, the expert pointed out. TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews | null | https://tass.com/pressreview/1086479 | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0300 | 1,572,627,600 | 1,572,610,854 | science and technology | scientific institution |
416,996 | politico--2019-01-16--New House Science chair seeks more oversight of NASA projects | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | politico | New House Science chair seeks more oversight of NASA projects | The new chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee says upcoming oversight hearings will "be a little more in-depth" on major NASA programs like plans to construct a lunar outpost orbiting the moon. "We intend to have the subcommittees function, which will give us time to be more in-depth in our questions and getting answers than I think we’ve had in the past few years," Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson tells POLITICO. "Our subcommittees have just had cursory hearings and that’s been it. We want to be a little more in-depth to get more information and make sound recommendations." The Texas Democrat also said she wants the committee to hear from more rank and file officials at NASA to get a better picture of of agency operations. "We've got to get beyond just the leadership," she explains. "There are a lot of hidden figures at NASA [and] researchers who are very involved." But finding colleagues to join the oversight committee has been a tough slog, she complains. Incoming lawmakers seem more concerned with fund raising so tend to seek slots on committees that better position them to raise money for their re-election campaigns. "There’s so much emphasis on raising money here that everybody picks committees [where] they think they can raise money easily," explains Johnson, who first arrived in 1993 and whose district is centered around Dallas. "The scientific community is not a big fund raising area. You can’t expect scientists to have as much money as an oil person. But they probably have more to offer in terms of the future and how we can be prepared for it. But that’s not the way this institution functions, which is very unfortunate." Johnson also spoke about her hopes for NASA’s fiscal 2020 budget request and future cooperation in space with with Russia and China. "The space research has been one of the most successful bodies of research we ever had," she says. "I would hate to see a curtailment of that research after so much investment." This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. What would you like to see in NASA’s fiscal 2020 budget request? We’d like to see all the research funded as well as we can. We recognize that we can have all kind of pie in the sky but the money isn’t available, so we hope to be very attentive and also very sensible through our subcommittee research...to come up with what we consider a very sound and responsible budget. What that has to do with what’s coming out of the executive branch, I don’t know. Because the executive branch sent over their budget that has no relationship to much of what we’ve researched and would recommend. We have worked very closely with the Senate committees and tried to come up with some reasonable. It has never matched what this executive branch said. We have got to determine what our commitments really are to these programs...Almost any large research program, if you’re going to be consistent, it’s going to cost money. What comes out of it obviously is many times going to be a lot more than you ever put in it, but you have to put in first. The space research has been one of the most successful bodies of research we ever had...Whether we can afford it and whether we are committed enough to continue to do more of the research and take advantage of what we’ve already invested, that’s yet to be determined. I would hate to see a curtailment of that research after so much investment. How do you get your colleagues on board with that? There’s so many people even here [in Congress] that do not understand why we are messing around in space without realizing how many modalities, how many products this activity has brought. I don’t know what the new class understands about it. But we also have to go through that process of making sure that we all…[understand] why we’re here and what we’re trying to determine based on what we expect to get in return. This committee is the door to the future, because without research you don’t have a future. It’s very difficult for that to be really understood sometimes. When you have a freshmen class of this size coming in and 95 percent of them want to be on [other committees, like] Ways and Means, Appropriations and Energy and Commerce, it doesn’t [show me] that they understand what the future really is about. We’ve got to go through that. This is a new beginning. All the people who have scientific backgrounds, I’ve sent them a letter of invitation to consider asking for the committee. It would be very nice to have someone with a background in research or science of some sort join the committee. Any sense of how many new members might be interested in joining the committee? I’ve had two or three approach me expressing interest, but not more than that...There’s so much emphasis on raising money here that everybody picks committees [where] they think they can raise money easily. The scientific community is not a big fund raising area. It is an essential knowledge base area that I thoroughly enjoy, but that’s not the focus here. The focus here is how much money you can bring in. You get promotions, you get assignments all based on how much money you raise. They come here knowing that, so that’s their focus...Of course, you can’t expect scientists to have as much money as an oil person. But they probably have more to offer in terms of the future and how we can be prepared for it. But that’s not the way this institution functions, which is very unfortunate. What topics do you plan to focus on as chairwoman? We have not organized yet...There are a lot of questions that are up in the air that we have not decided on related to the International Space Station...We will be looking at all of that...We’ve invested a lot in that space station, we don’t know yet how a phase out will come [or] whether we turn it over to another country. I’m certainly not settled in my mind that it ought to be phased out any time soon. Do you have any concerns about the Space Launch System? I have been impressed with NASA’s defense of their activities...The ability to ask questions that we still have in our minds on this side of the aisle will help to see if we can get to any information we feel we’ve not gotten...I don’t know that we could have done any more as the minority, but we will continue to be vigilant and ask questions. I don’t know if we’ve had enough hearings or enough input from the scientists involved to make a definitive decision on that, but I think we will. That area remains an area in which we have great interest. We intend to have the subcommittees function, which will give us time to be more in-depth in our questions and getting answers than I think we’ve had in the past few years. Our subcommittees have just had cursory hearings and that’s been it. We want to be a little more in-depth to get more information and make sound recommendations. How can NASA change its culture to better take advantage of commercial capabilities? I’m not so sure how much NASA has had to do with decisions in the direction of privatization...I’ll have to explore that and just see what the basic attitude is. There are a lot of hidden figures in NASA that we have not heard from...I’m not so certain that I have the full picture of anything other than Orion and a few of the individual projects. I think it’s going to be important for us to have a really good view of what some of the thinking might be and to try to see how we can plan a future collaboration with other countries of which we’re working with. It’s been more difficult for me to grasp it all with materials going up on the commercial vehicle and they’re going up on another country. We see the actual researchers now and then. Hopefully we can have better insight as to what the activities really are and I think so many of the researchers, we never have contact with. So you would like to hear from lower-level officials at NASA? We got to get beyond just the leadership. There are a lot of hidden figures at NASA [and] researchers who are very involved. How should the U.S. adapt to China’s growing space capabilities? I do think we need to be in a little bit more collaboration…[if for no other reason] than to find out what...they’re doing. Can NASA adequately do that given current restrictions under the Wolf amendment? It’s very difficult, because we don’t do this in isolation. When you look at the other items in question with China, with trade and all that, I’m just not sure whether it’s an environment for us to get the appropriate scientific information. All of that we’ll have to explore. It would be easy if we could separate this program away from the overall China picture. | [email protected] (Jacqueline Klimas) | https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/16/congress-space-house-nasa-eddie-bernice-johnson-1101691 | 2019-01-16 11:45:48+00:00 | 1,547,657,148 | 1,567,552,168 | science and technology | scientific institution |
11,661 | aljazeera--2019-04-05--Islamic banking in Ethiopia offers Muslims financial inclusion | 2019-04-05T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Islamic banking in Ethiopia offers Muslims financial inclusion | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - It's afternoon in Addis Ababa's bustling Bole Michael district, and businesswoman Hukun Aden Mohammed is doing a brisk trade. The 45-year-old, single mother of seven opened her modest cosmetics and snack shop in the heavily ethnic Somali neighbourhood two years ago. Business is so good, she's planning to grow and diversify. "I plan to expand my business by opening up a shoe store," Mohammed told Al Jazeera. "Inshallah (God willing) I also plan to open businesses in my home city, Jijiga in Somali regional state and across other parts of Ethiopia." Ten years ago, Mohammad, an observant Muslim, would have struggled to find funding that aligned with her religious beliefs. But Ethiopia's measured embrace of Islamic banking is offering her and other entrepreneurial-minded Muslims a gateway to financial inclusion. She started her business with a loan from the Somali Microfinance Institution (SMFI), Ethiopia's first provider of sharia-compliant microfinance services. "I first received around 7,000 Ethiopian bir ($246) loan from SMFI and with my business successfully expanding, I have recently received a loan of around 75,000 Ethiopian Birr ($2,645)," said Mohammed. Unlike conventional finance, sharia-compliant financial institutions do not charge interest on loans. Instead, they share in any potential profits or losses of the businesses they underwrite. They also refrain from lending to businesses that engage in or promote activities prohibited under Islamic law, such as gambling, or selling pork or alcohol, or selling services that promote "immorality." The vast majority of SMFI's loans are structured as resale agreements known as Murabaha, where the bank purchases goods for its client and then sells the goods back to them at a slightly higher price than the original cost. The customer can then repay the loan in instalments. For Mohammad, Islamic banking services have transformed her financial life. "The loans from Somali Microfinance Institution have already allowed me to support the needs of my children, pay for my accommodation and business rent," she said. "With future loans from SMFI, I plan to buy house or land to expand my business and build a stable home for me and my family." While financial inclusion has improved in Ethiopia, it still lags behind the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. The percentage of adults in Ethiopia with a bank account increased from 22 percent in 2014, to 35 percent in 2017, according to the World Bank Global Findex database. In Kenya, by contrast, 82 percent of adults had a bank account in 2017. Part of that gap can be attributed to mobile money uptake, which is far greater in Kenya than Ethiopia. While the drivers of that difference are not fully understood, Islamic banking is helping to boost financial inclusion in Ethiopia by reaching communities which formerly felt excluded from the country's banking sector. Though roughly a third of Ethiopia's estimated 105 million citizens are believed to be Muslim, formal directives on Islamic law-compliant finance were only issued by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) in 2011 - the same year SMFI opened its doors. SMFI has since served around 30,000 customers, mostly in rural communities in Ethiopia's eastern Somali region. Islamic law-compliant microfinance institutions have also sprung up in Ethiopia's Afar region. SMFI hopes to evolve from a microfinance institution into a fully-fledged Islamic bank - a hurdle no Ethiopian financial institution has cleared yet. "Regardless of whether we become a fully-fledged sharia-compliant bank in the future, we plan to expand our services to other parts of Ethiopia serving interested customers, Muslims and non-Muslims alike," Ubah Hassan, senior saving and credit officer at SMI, told Al Jazeera. While most big banks in the country have a window where customers can access Islamic financial services, a dearth of expertise in Islamic law-compliant banking has hampered past attempts to form an Islamic bank. The proposed Islamic bank Zamzam stalled in 2012 when it failed to satisfy NBE directives on interest-free banking issued the year before. "We didn't have experienced personnel in Ethiopia on sharia-based banking services and products in Ethiopia previously," Solomon Desta of NBE told Al Jazeera. "That's why we initially opted to start with interest-free window banking services." Abdillahi Farah, financial inclusion adviser at Mercy Corps Ethiopia which helped launch SMFI, said Islamic law-compliant windows in big banks do not go far enough for some customers. "Sharia-compliant MFIs have attracted customers who have felt banks don't represent them even though they have window-based interest banking system as some suspect it's a compromised banking practice," he told Al Jazeera. But Ethiopia may be inching closer to green-lighting an Islamic bank. Efforts to create a more hospitable climate for Islamic banks have been renewed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Christian whose father is Muslim, came to power in April 2018. And many see greenlighting Islamic banks as part of a greater liberalisation drive to attract more foreign investment, including the NBE, which is preparing a study to assess the impact of allowing fully Islamic law-compliant financial institutions. "Ethiopia is looking on how to comprehensively liberalise the financial sector," said Desta. "Ethiopia is geographically close to Middle Eastern countries that have lots of money which can be easily mobilised to invest in the country." | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/islamic-banking-ethiopia-offers-muslims-financial-inclusion-190404192204542.html | 2019-04-05 08:05:42+00:00 | 1,554,465,942 | 1,567,543,912 | religion and belief | religious belief |
12,995 | aljazeera--2019-05-20--Breaking the silence Report documents torture in Kashmir | 2019-05-20T00:00:00 | aljazeera | 'Breaking the silence': Report documents torture in Kashmir | Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir - Prisoners in Indian-administered Kashmir have been subjected to abuse and torture, including "water-boarding, sleep deprivation and sexualised torture", according to a report by two rights bodies. The 560-page report released on Monday mentions solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and sexualised torture including rape and sodomy, used as torture techniques against Kashmiris. Other torture methods included electrocution, hanging from a ceiling, dunking detainees' head in water (which is sometimes mixed with chili powder), said the report by Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). During the torture detainees were stripped naked, beaten with wooden sticks, and bodies were burned with iron rods, heaters or cigarette butts, it said. "Muzaffer Ahmed Mirza from Tral and Manzoor Ahmad Naikoo were subjected to insertion of a rod through their rectum. It caused multiple ruptures to their internal organs," reads one of the 432 testimonies documented in the report. "While Mirza died after a few days in the hospital of lung rupture, Naikoo had to undergo five surgeries to finally heal the wounds he received due to this torture. "Apart from insertion, a cloth was wrapped around Naikoo's penis and set on fire." Titled, "Torture - Indian state's instrument of control in Indian-state of Jammu and Kashmir", it said that more than 70 percent of the torture victims were civilians. India has stationed more than half a million security forces in the disputed Muslim-majority region to quash an armed rebellion against its rule. Indian forces have faced criticism for excessive use of force, with the UN human rights body last year calling for an international probe into rights violations. The UN Human Rights Chief had also called for establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir. A COI is one of the UN's highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises like the conflict in Syria. Rights bodies have called for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), a law that gives forces immunity from prosecution. The report, which documents cases since the start of the armed rebellion in 1990s, reveals many detainees were put under behavioural coercion where they were forced into activities that were against their "religious beliefs" like rubbing piglets on their bodies or forcing them to consume alcohol. In some cases, it said, rats were put inside victims' trousers after soaking sugar water on their legs. "The prisoners are forced to eat or drink filthy and harmful substances like human excreta, chili powder, dirt, gravel, chili powder mixed water, petrol, urine, and dirty water," it said. The report reveals most of the civilian victims were usually reluctant to report the atrocities due to the fear of reprisals at the hands of security forces. "Victims have been randomly picked up, tortured and never even told what they were tortured for," it said. In a prologue of the report, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E Mendez, said the report "will be enormously helpful in drawing attention in the international community to the need to express concern about India's human rights record". Parvez Imroz, the human rights lawyer and the president of JKCCS, told Al Jazeera that "torture is one of the massive human rights violations going on unabated in the region from last many decades". "This report is an effort to break the silence around this heinous crime," he said. The Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir state, Dilbagh Singh, rejected the torture claims. "There are no such cases, if there have been any allegations, there are magisterial inquiries and other investigations. If they have any such case, they must tell us and we would respond to them". Vijay Kumar, the advisor to the governor of the restive region, said that he would comment after reading the report. The report said that more than half of the 432 victims suffered some form of health complications after being tortured. "In the 432 cases studied for this report, 24 are women. Out of these 12 had been raped by Indian armed personnel," the report says. The torture survivors have battled with psychological issues long after their physical wounds were healed. "Of the 432 victims, 44 suffered from some form of psychological difficulty after being subjected to torture," it said. A study published in 2015 by Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials MSF) said that 19 percent of the population in the region suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although India has been a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) since 1997, it has not ratified the treaty to date. In all three UPRs conducted by the UNHRC in 2008, 2012 and 2017, it was recommended that India ratify the convention. In 2010, Prevention of Torture Bill was introduced in the Indian parliament but was not passed and it lapsed in 2014. Khurram Parvez, who is also one of the researchers for the report said that "the report is a challenge to state-imposed erasure of history and memory". | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/silence-report-documents-torture-kashmir-190520060706202.html | 2019-05-20 09:31:35+00:00 | 1,558,359,095 | 1,567,540,436 | religion and belief | religious belief |
13,245 | aljazeera--2019-05-29--US activist goes on trial for helping migrants on southern border | 2019-05-29T00:00:00 | aljazeera | US activist goes on trial for helping migrants on southern border | An Arizona activist charged with harbouring two undocumented migrants faces trial on Wednesday in a case likely to set a precedent over what aid US citizens can give to undocumented migrants. United States Border Patrol agents arrested Scott Warren in a January 2018 raid near Ajo, Arizona after they found two migrants hiding in the shower of a ramshackle building used by humanitarian groups. The 36-year old faces two felony counts of harbouring the undocumented migrants and one felony count of conspiracy to transport the two men. The university geography instructor could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Warren was indicted after former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed prosecutors to prioritise cases involving the harbouring of migrants. The crackdown was part of President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" policies at the border. Warren is a volunteer for No More Deaths, a faith-based group providing water, food and medical aid to migrants in the harsh deserts of southern Arizona. More than 3,000 undocumented migrants have died since 2001 trying to cross the area where temperatures can exceed 115 Fahrenheit (46 Celsius), according to Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner data. Warren was arrested the same day No More Deaths published a video showing US Border Patrol agents destroying water supplies the group left for migrants. Warren's lawyers argue the arrest was in retaliation for the video. They say he was lawfully exercising his religious beliefs and rights to help the migrants after they spent two days crossing the desert. His parents have collected over 128,000 signatures calling on the US Attorney's Office in Tucson to drop all charges. "This is an overreach of federal authority," said Juanita Molina, executive director of Tucson-based human rights group Border Action Network. "Humanitarian aid is vital to the survival of migrants crossing the desert," she added. US Border Patrol referred questions to the US Attorney's Office. It did not respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors are expected to argue Warren went beyond humanitarian aid. Jury selection for the trial in US District Court, Tucson, begins on Wednesday morning, and opening statement are expected later in the day. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/activist-trial-helping-migrants-southern-border-190529164454124.html | 2019-05-29 17:16:38+00:00 | 1,559,164,598 | 1,567,539,872 | religion and belief | religious belief |
13,912 | aljazeera--2019-06-27--Protests in Indian cities after Muslim man beaten to death | 2019-06-27T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Protests in Indian cities after Muslim man beaten to death | New Delhi, India - Protests were held in various parts of India on Wednesday following the lynching of a Muslim man, with people demanding an end to what they termed as "lynch terror". Tabrez Ansari, 24, was beaten to death by a Hindu mob in Kharsawan district in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on suspicion of theft, causing a public uproar. Protests were planned in about 50 cities under the hashtag #JusticeForTabrez and #IndiaAgainstLynchTerror. It was not clear how many cities participated in it. In the Indian capital, New Delhi, scores of people, including university students and activists, held a protest at Jantar Mantar close to the parliament house. Holding placards and chanting slogans against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the protesters demanded an end to the violence against Muslims. "Violence against Muslims has to stop," said one of the speakers at the protest site. "Government must understand that we will not tolerate this lynch terror any more," he added. Mobile phone videos, which went viral on social media, shows Ansari tied to a lamppost and beaten by a mob before police intervened and took him into the custody. He was forced to shout "Jai Shri Ram" (Hail Lord Ram), a slogan increasingly used by Hindu far-right groups. In the footage, Ansari is seen crying and pleading for mercy while being beaten with sticks and forced to repeat the chants. Police took Ansari to hospital for treatment but four days after the June 18 incident. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at a local hospital. Police have arrested at least 11 villagers over the grisly attack and two officers have been suspended from duty. "It is a very scary situation for Muslims," Sana Maryam, a protester, told Al Jazeera. She alleged that the perpetrators of the violence have enjoyed impunity. Another protester named Fatima, a university student, said: "We the people of India have been living in peace and harmony since very long and we have not been hostile to each other but after the BJP government came to power things have changed." "Efforts are being made to divide people in the name of religion so that they fight each other and the real issues are not talked about." The public anger prompted Prime Minister Modi to make a comment in parliament, saying he was "pained" by the incident and called for "the strictest possible punishment to the accused". However, he said that it was unfair on part of people to call the state of Jharkhand, also ruled by the BJP, "a hub of lynching". "The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. But some people in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian parliament) are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state? None of us has the right to insult the state of Jharkhand," Modi said. Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of NGO All India Progressive Women's Association, said: "People from the Muslim community are being continuously targeted." "In almost every case of lynching, barring one or two, people have been arrested but never prosecuted or convicted," she said. Hate crimes against minorities, particularly Muslims, have increased in the South Asian nation since Modi's Hindu nationalist party came to power about five years ago. Dozens of Muslims have been attacked or lynched by Hindu mobs since 2014, in many cases over suspicion of cow slaughter which is banned in most Indian states, as Hindus consider the cow a sacred animal. According to data from the website Factchecker.in, which has been monitoring hate crimes in India, this is the 11th instance of hate crime this year. Last year, the Supreme Court condemned "horrendous acts" of mob violence and asked the government to enact a new law to deal with an increase in incidents of lynching. In all the cases of hate crimes since 2009, the data indicates that in 59 percent cases the victims were Muslims and 28 percent of the incidents were related to alleged cattle theft or slaughter. In its annual report - International Religious Freedom for 2019, released last week - US State Department said religious intolerance in India is growing under Modi's right-wing government. The report said: "There were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism, and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice their religious beliefs." "Authorities often failed to prosecute perpetrators of 'cow vigilante' attacks, which included killings, mob violence, and intimidation," it added. New Delhi rejected the report, saying a foreign government had no right to pronounce on the state of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights. Ansari's wife Shaishta Ansari told NDTV news channel that her husband was beaten so brutally because he was a Muslim. "My husband was my only support. Who will I live for now? I want justice." Activists say that "it's an emergency situation" and the Indian government must act. "India must realise that this is not an emergency for the Indian Muslims only but for India's democracy as well," said Apoorvanand, an activist and professor of Hindi at Delhi University. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/protests-indian-cities-muslim-man-beaten-death-190627005534986.html | 2019-06-27 05:19:54+00:00 | 1,561,627,194 | 1,567,537,895 | religion and belief | religious belief |
14,307 | aljazeera--2019-07-05--Repression stalks Chinas Uighurs 10 years after Urumqi riots | 2019-07-05T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Repression stalks China's Uighurs, 10 years after Urumqi riots | Ethnic minority Uighurs in China's far western region of Xinjiang are living through an era of unprecedented surveillance and detention that has done little to address inter-ethnic tension a decade after riots in the city of Urumqi, which left nearly 200 people dead. Last week, Xinjiang's vice chairman Aierken Tuniyazi told the UN Human Rights Council there had been no "terrorist" attacks in the region in three years. But experts say the absence of visible violence belies the continuing repression of minority culture and inequality between the Han Chinese majority and the Muslim Uighurs. "There's a lack of trust," said Reza Hasmath, a professor at the University of Alberta who has studied ethnic relations in Xinjiang. Tough policies such as the re-education camps "are going to suppress any potential violence," he told AFP. "But it still creates a generation of distrust with Han people among Uighurs" Xinjiang, home to most of China's Uighurs, has suffered repeated episodes of inter-ethnic violence. But the riots that broke out in Urumqi, the regional capital, on July 5, 2009, were a seminal event. Hundreds if not thousands of rioters smashed shops, burned vehicles and attacked people after two Uighur migrant workers were killed in a factory brawl in southern China. The riots revealed "very ugly scenes" of distrust, said Joanne Smith Finley, an expert on Uighur-Han relations at Newcastle University, describing reports of Han Chinese doctors refusing to treat Uighur patients and vice versa. In the years since she said divisions between the two groups have only "magnified" with members of both ethnic groups fleeing mixed neighbourhoods. "It's still very strained," Smith-Finley added, recounting Uighur-Han interactions she observed on a work trip last year. "It's all pretence on the surface." In recent years, Xinjiang authorities have clamped down on public displays of religion and rounded up an estimated one million mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into internment camps in the name of "counterterrorism". China describes the facilities as "vocational education centres" where "trainees" learn Mandarin and job skills. Tuniyazi told the rights council the centres have "scored remarkable achievements" as trainees have "broken away from the spiritual control of terrorism and extremism". But former inmates have said they were jailed for merely following their Islamic traditions. A Kazakh businessman, who spent nearly two months in a camp, told AFP the facilities only had one goal: to strip detainees of their religious belief. Inmates were forced to sing patriotic songs every morning and eat pork, a violation against Islam's religious restrictions, he said. Dozens of mosques and religious sites around Xinjiang have also been demolished or stripped of their domes since 2017, according to satellite images. Observers say racial profiling is prevalent, with Han Chinese often waved through police checkpoints while Uighurs are stopped. "The Han Chinese in the region more or less are given special treatment, and don't have to undergo the type of scrutiny in terms of checks that Uighurs do," said Timothy Grose, a China ethnic policy expert at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. "I think this will certainly add to the discontent between the two groups," he said. Along with the security clampdown, Xinjiang authorities have been actively pushing Uighurs to assimilate. According to a 2018 document from the central government, Xinjiang is popularising the use of Mandarin at schools. The aim is to ensure "ethnic minority students can master and use the national language" by 2020. The local government is also trying to encourage inter-ethnic marriage. National census data from 2010 shows only 0.2 percent of Uighurs were married to Han people. In May, the Xinjiang government published new rules to reward students of mixed descent by increasing the number of bonus points they receive on the nationwide college entrance exams while reducing marks for those whose parents are from the ethnic minority. Meanwhile, waves of mass migration from China's heartland have raised Xinjiang's Han population from six percent in 1949 to 37 percent in 2015, according to the most recent official figures. The growing influx of Hans could exacerbate ethnic tensions, said Hasmath, who cites 2002 and 2012 census data in a paper on socioeconomic inequality between the two groups. If Han people get the best jobs and tend towards hiring others within their group, "minorities are pushed out of the best jobs and the best wages," he added. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/repression-stalks-china-uighurs-10-years-urumqi-riots-190705045804805.html | 2019-07-05 06:22:07+00:00 | 1,562,322,127 | 1,567,536,792 | religion and belief | religious belief |
14,850 | aljazeera--2019-08-01--Dutch ban on burqas and niqabs takes effect | 2019-08-01T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Dutch ban on burqas and niqabs takes effect | The Netherlands has banned face-covering clothing, such as a burqa or niqab, in public buildings and on transport, as a contentious law on the garment worn by some Muslim women came into force. Between 100 and 400 women are estimated to wear a burqa or niqab in the European country of 17 million people. "From now on the wearing of clothing which covers the face is banned in educational facilities, public institutions and buildings, as well as hospitals and public transport," the Dutch interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The legislation - which was passed in June last year after more than a decade of political debate on the subject - also applies to other face coverings such as full-face helmets or balaclavas. Security officials are now required to tell people with face-covering clothing to show their faces. If they refuse, they can be denied access to public buildings and fined 150 euros ($165). However, it is unclear how strenuously the law can be enforced, with the public transport sector saying it would not stop to make a woman in a burqa get off as it would cause delays. Hospitals also said they would still treat people regardless of what they were wearing. Both groups said enforcement of the law was up to the police. Muslim and rights groups have voiced opposition to the law - formally called the "partial ban on face-covering clothing". The Nida party, an Islamic political party in Rotterdam, has said it will pay the fine for anybody caught breaking the ban and has opened an account where people can deposit money. Nourdin el-Ouali, leader of the Nida party, said the prohibition has far-reaching consequences as it poses a "serious violation" for freedom of religion and freedom of movement. "They will not be allowed to go on a metro, bus or tram when the law is observed. They can't go to a hospital, they can't go to the schoolyard, they can't report to a police station," he was quoted as saying by the Hart van Nederland news website. "For the 17 million Dutch people, the question is - what kind of problem are we actually solving here?" el-Ouali asked, noting only a few hundred women wore the niqab or burqa in the Netherlands. "It is a minimal part. It is often women who, when you speak to them, indicate that they [wear the niqab, burqa] from their religious belief." El-Ouali said he feared people would feel like they could take the law into their own hands when they saw someone wearing a niqab or burqa. "That they'll think, 'I'm well within my rights when I put someone like that straight to the ground and call the police'," he said. On Wednesday, an editorial in the conservative newspaper Algemeen Dagblad sparked outrage after it published an explainer on what to do if someone was spotted wearing the prohibited clothing. The tips included making citizen arrests. There were no immediate reports on Thursday morning of anybody being fined under the new law. Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, who proposed the face-covering veil ban in 2005, welcomed the introduction of the limited ban as an "historic day" and called for it to be expanded to include Islamic headscarves. "I believe we should now try to take it to the next step," Wilders told The Associated Press news agency in a telephone interview. "The next step to make it sure that the headscarf could be banned in the Netherlands as well." The Dutch government has insisted that its partial ban doesn't target any religion and that people are free to dress how they want. The Dutch law does not ban the wearing of a burqa on the street, unlike France's ban which took effect in 2010. Belgium, Denmark and Austria have similar laws. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2019/08/dutch-ban-burqas-niqabs-takes-effect-190801131509037.html | 2019-08-01 17:37:32+00:00 | 1,564,695,452 | 1,567,535,137 | religion and belief | religious belief |
15,344 | aljazeera--2019-08-24--I want people to see me as a wrestler not just some hijab girl | 2019-08-24T00:00:00 | aljazeera | 'I want people to see me as a wrestler, not just some hijab girl' | At 19, Nor "Phoenix" Diana has only been performing for three years but has already made a significant impact in the world of professional wrestling. The first woman to wrestle in a hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women, she captured her maiden championship in Malaysia Pro Wrestling and has recently performed in the Philippines. "I have a goal to wrestle in WWE," she told Al Jazeera, referring to World Wrestling Entertainment. "I think I can bring something to the wrestling industry. I want people to see me as a wrestler, and not just as some Muslim hijab girl. "I started watching wrestling when I was 14 with my father and little brother as they were fans. I eventually became a fan too, and started thinking, 'Hey, I want to do that one day,'." When she finished high school in 2016, she started searching for a place to get her in-ring training under way. She enrolled in a wrestling school in the Kampung Baru, a Malay enclave in central Kuala Lumpur. But not everyone at home was comfortable with her ambitions. "My dad has always been supportive, but my mum doesn't really support me. I'm her youngest daughter," she said. "She knows wrestling has a high risk, and is afraid that I'll get injured easily." Despite her concerns, Nor's mother didn't stand in the way. Nor's coaches were so impressed with her acrobatic style that she debuted in the ring two months after starting her training. Initially, reluctant to wrestle in the standard hijab, Nor, five feet tall and weighing less than 50kg, wore a mask to accommodate her religious beliefs. She made the switch in 2018. "When I started I was always worried that I don't belong in wrestling as I wear a hijab. I was worried what people would say about a Muslim girl wrestling. But I always trained in my scarf, and I started feeling more comfortable and confident, and decided to wear it to the ring. My bosses were really supportive of my decision." Some people on social media have criticised her, saying Muslim women should not be involved in rough sports. But on the whole, her choice hasn't hindered her progress. That's not surprising to Malaysian sports commentator Abu Bakar Atan, who said that, within the Malaysian context at least, a woman wrestling in a hijab is not something out of the ordinary. "It is not uncommon in Malaysia, where a number of female athletes wearing hijab have had a lot of success locally and internationally. For example, Aifa Azman is the British Open junior squash champion, while Siti Rahmah Mohamed Nasir is a multi-time silat martial arts world champion. "The number of female athletes wearing the hijab is notable in Malaysia these days as they practice their religious belief without much issue. It's not a social taboo." Nor hopes her example will encourage more girls to take up wrestling and other sports. Malaysian wrestling fan Eli, a 27-year-old who also wears hijab, said Nor is an already inspiration. "She is so young and she is already a champion. That inspires me to follow my dreams, and follow my passion," she told Al Jazeera. "It's not just me. What she is doing helps women's empowerment and helps veiled women in Malaysia to strive for their goals." In the US market, female players in the mainstream wrestling scene compete in lavish and often revealing ring gear. However rather than this being an issue, Nor's look will help her stand out, said Ring Magazine reporter Ryan Songalia. "The worst thing that could happen to a wrestler is to be forgettable," he said. "There was probably a time when her look might have been a hurdle, but I think that time has passed. "Major companies like WWE have a more diverse roster than ever before. And the business has gone global in a way that opens many new markets, so it'd be an asset to a US-based company looking to tap into those new audiences." In 2017, Shadia Bseiso, a Jordanian, became the first Arab woman to sign with WWE. Nor has already received support from within the WWE locker room. WWE Superstar Ali, an American of South Asian heritage whose real name is Adeel Alam, told Al Jazeera that he was "beyond impressed" with Nor and believes she has a bright future. "She's breaking down barriers. She's inspiring athletes across the globe that a hijab doesn't limit or define them. She's 'normalising' the hijab, something many people don't understand. I can totally see her making it to WWE," he said. "Can you imagine the influence she would have on a global stage like that? I'm rooting for her, I really am." Back in Kuala Lumpur, Nor knows she still has some way to go before making it to the elite level. In the meantime, she remains focussed on refining her skills and raising the profile of pro-wrestling in Southeast Asia. But if she continues on her current trajectory, it's difficult to see anyone stopping the Phoenix from rising. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/people-wrestler-hijab-girl-190821115657207.html | 2019-08-24 20:23:19+00:00 | 1,566,692,599 | 1,567,533,514 | religion and belief | religious belief |
15,681 | aljazeera--2019-09-05--Teachers Day Why does Google celebrate it today | 2019-09-05T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Teachers' Day: Why does Google celebrate it today? | Google has marked Teacher's Day in India with a Doodle or logo showcasing an animated red octopus, conducting a class. Teacher's Day is being celebrated on Thursday across India in the memory of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher, and India's second president who was born on September 5, 1888. As an academic, philosopher and statesman, Radhakrishnan is recognised by many as one of the most influential Indian thinkers of the 20th century. President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended their congratulations to teachers around the country. "On Teacher's Day, I pay homage to Dr Radhakrishnan and extend greetings to all our teachers," President Kovind wrote on Twitter. Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, in Tirutania, southeast India, into a Brahmin family, the highest Hindu caste, in an area where Hinduism was a strong social force. By the age of eight, he was sent to a German missionary school, where he started to focus on his native religion. "I became familiar not only with the teaching of the New Testament but with the criticism leveled by Christian missionaries of Hindu beliefs and practices," Radhakrishnan wrote in a short autobiography. In 1904, he entered Madras Christian College, and before beginning his MA degree in 1906, his interest seems to have been placed in law. Radhakrishnan later recalled: "The challenge of Christian critics impelled me to make a study of Hinduism and find out what is living and what is dead in it... I prepared a thesis on the Ethics of the Vedanta (the earliest sacred literature of India), which was intended to be a reply to the charge that the Vedanta system had no room for ethics." The success of his thesis led to his first academic appointment at Madras Presidency College in present-day Tamil Nadu state. At Presidency College, Radhakrishnan lectured on a variety of topics in psychology as well as in philosophy. From 1921, Radhakrishnan held the chair of philosophy at Calcutta University. It was the first time he was out of his native place, and he was geographically, culturally and linguistically isolated. However, this isolation allowed him to work during his early years in Calcutta, now renamed as Kolkata, on his two volumes of "Indian Philosophy". This was the first systematic approach to the subject, and one that opened the doors for Indian philosophy to be included as a formal study in universities throughout the world. Radhakrishnan was knighted in 1931 and years later he became the first Indian to hold a chair at Oxford University. During these years he expressed his vision of an autonomous country. Radhakrishnan envisioned a country that was guided by those who were educated. The years following India's independence from Britain mark Radhakrishnan's increasing involvement in Indian political affairs. Towards the end of the 1940s, he headed India's delegation to the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation and became the chairman of the organisation in 1949. Radhakrishnan also served as a member of the Indian Constituent Assembly helping to draft the first constitution. Later in 1949, then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him the ambassador to Moscow, a post he held until 1952. His tenure was known for his conversations with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. On one occasion, by his own account, he asked the Soviet leader: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?," according to a report by the New York Times. He became the country's vice president in 1952. Later, his religious beliefs changed, and he gradually came to believe that all religions shared a basic unity. In 1961, speaking at Harvard Divinity School of Harvard University, Radhakrishnan said: "It is one of the major tragedies of the world that the great religions, instead of uniting mankind in mutual understanding and goodwill, divide mankind by their dogmatic claims and prejudices." Eastern and Western religions, he declared, can share with each other as "two sides of the same mold". He became India's second president in 1972. After his retirement, he moved to his birthplace. Radhakrishnan died in 1975. Radhakrishnan was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in the country, in 1954. He was also nominated five times for the Nobel Prize for literature, and 11 times for the Nobel Peace Prize. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/teachers-day-google-celebrate-today-190905072655472.html | 2019-09-05 12:27:10+00:00 | 1,567,700,830 | 1,569,331,278 | religion and belief | religious belief |
15,764 | aljazeera--2019-09-08--Animal slaughter ruling in Belgium stirs religious freedom debate | 2019-09-08T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Animal slaughter ruling in Belgium stirs religious freedom debate | Brussels and Wallonia, Belgium - Inside his Brussels office, animal rights activist Michel Vandenbosch opens a large book he wrote about the Global Action in the Interest of Animals, or GAIA, Belgium's leading animal rights organisation. Vandenbosch, its president, points to photos of a 2014 rally in Belgium's capital, attended by thousands of people calling for a national ban on slaughtering animals such as cattle, sheep and goats without stunning them first. "When you cut an animal's throat, without stunning, it still feels pain," said Vandenbosch. GAIA produced a video showing animals contorting after a knife cuts the blood vessels in the neck. "If you take the scientific evidence really seriously, then these kinds of habits should change." On September 1, Vandenbosch and fellow supporters of the ban claimed a victory when the second such law went into effect in Brussels. It first went into effect in Flanders - the northern, mostly Dutch-speaking region - in January. Now, the law must be respected in the southern, mostly French-speaking region, called Wallonia. Flanders and Wallonia are Belgium's two largest regions. Back in 2017, Wallonia's parliament voted nearly unanimously in favour of the ban - just three members abstained. Only Brussels, Belgium's third region, has not imposed the ban. Belgium has three animal welfare ministers for each of its regions - Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. Some claim the bans are discriminatory, but Vandenbosch rejects framing them as a target on Muslims or Jews. "It does not apply only to members of religious communities," he said. "It does apply to each and every single Belgian citizen period, whatever his religious beliefs may be." He explains his organisation took on the cause around 1995, when Belgium's far right began pushing for a religious slaughter ban. Activists like him feared that the far right had tinged the issue with Islamophobia. "This would have meant a taboo on the whole issue," he said, so GAIA focused it on animal wellbeing. But many Muslims and Jews in Belgium say they are outraged because, according to their religious laws, animals must be in perfect health before slaughter. To them, the options for stunning - making animals unconscious - mean harming an animal before slaughter, which is forbidden. They say cutting the throat causes the least amount of pain for animals. A number of Muslim and Jewish groups filed a petition with Belgium's Constitutional Court against the Flemish law. The ruling would also affect the new Wallonia law. Belgium's Constitutional Court has asked the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg a "question prejudicielle" - a prejudicial question, to help it make the decision whether the ban needs to change, whether it can be upheld or if it needs to be struck down. The European Court is expected to answer between this autumn and the early new year, and then the decision returns to the Belgian court to make. The Belgian Federation of Jewish Organizations is among the groups that filed the petition. Its president, Yohan Benizri, says when politicians make decisions on religious laws, they trample on the separation between church and state. The bans infringe on religious freedom, he adds, and are undemocratic. "The politicians are not there to define what is permitted and not permitted under religious law," Benizri said. "When minorities say this really affects us, I think people should listen." The European Union has made stunning obligatory since 1979, but member states may make religion-based exemptions. Other EU countries that have passed slaughter bans include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Slovenia. Only Belgium's ban has led to a challenge all the way to an EU court. "This is one of the first cases of a conflict between what I would call modernity on the one hand and religious freedom on the other," said Caroline Sagesser of the Centre de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Politiques, or CRISP, in Brussels. "Now the European Union will have to take a stand and on an issue that the European Union does not like to decide upon," Sagesser added. "Generally speaking the Union has always let the member states decide for themselves on everything that covers relationship between church and state public funding and so on." In the meantime, shops like El Halal, located in Charleroi, a city in Wallonia, have had to comply as of September 1. They will likely provide imported meat from nearby EU countries, says employee Halim Aissani. "It's not about the Belgian label," Aissani said. "It's about quality and for sure other countries have quality meat." Instead, the problem, as he sees it, is how many Muslims now feel in their own country. "We think we are a part of Belgium people, we feel Belgian, and these kinds of things show us that we are not accepted by the Belgian community," Aissani said. Other halal meat consumers worry about a jump in prices. At El Halal, where Aissani works, restaurant owner Abdelhak Ouelbani waited for his order of salami and ground beef. A warm, red light glowed above, from a neon sign bearing the store's name. "It will get a lot more expensive for us," Ouelbani said. "It will be hard to come and buy meat that's halal. I don't understand why before it was allowed and now it's not. Years pass and things change, and then it's always the people who pay." Back in Brussels, Mustapha Chairi, a cofounder and president of Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium, said generally, Muslims can find common ground with GAIA, but not on these bans, which he said "restrict the fundamental rights of citizens". Still, Chairi sees one silver lining: maybe the ban will lead Muslims to eat less meat, he added. "And with this kind of approach you influence the action on climate change," Chairi said, in reference to how meat production adds to global warming. Experts predict in the coming years, similar conflicts will arise. Sagesser, the researcher at CRISP, described conflicts "between religious norms and some principles which have become important in modern society. "I think circumcision, for instance, is another issue where you may see this conflict between principle of protecting the child on the one hand and respect for religious freedom on the other." | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/animal-slaughter-ruling-belgium-stirs-debate-halal-meat-190906101608102.html | 2019-09-08 08:27:03+00:00 | 1,567,945,623 | 1,569,330,810 | religion and belief | religious belief |
16,084 | aljazeera--2019-09-24--When is this going to endaTM Indonesians shrouded in toxic haze | 2019-09-24T00:00:00 | aljazeera | 'When is this going to end?’: Indonesians shrouded in toxic haze | Jambi, Indonesia – In an emergency clinic in the south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, three-year-old Rafael has a cough and a fever. The boy’s oxygen levels are so low he can barely raise his head from the gurney. All he can do is lie still and wait for oxygen; his mother waiting anxiously at his side. Parts of Indonesia have been ablaze since July as plantation owners burn land that is no longer considered productive to prepare it for replanting in the coming season or to turn jungle into plantation, sending plumes of choking smoke into the air. The islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan have been the worst affected by what’s known as the haze, but is really a toxic smog made up of microscopic particles, including soot and tar, and chemicals such as cyanide and carbon monoxide. With the fires still raging the cloud of pollution spread across Malaysia and Singapore this month, affecting millions more people. In Jambi, Rafael’s mother Yuli tried to keep her son safe from the smog, but as he struggled to breathe, she rushed him to the clinic, one of 20 emergency response units set up for those affected by the pollution. “I keep all the doors and windows closed and keep my two children locked up in the house,” she told Al Jazeera. “I’m not brave enough to let them go outside. I’m so worried and I just hope it ends soon. I feel so sorry for the children.” The city’s mayor, Syarif Fasha, closed schools on Friday and has ordered a review of the situation in the coming week. “We monitor the air quality every 30 minutes and as soon as it hits unhealthy levels, I take action,” he told Al Jazeera. “If it keeps getting worse I will recall all teachers from schools as well as civil servants.” Over the last 48 hours the air quality index peaked at 656, which is classified as "hazardous". Fasha has ordered 100,000 masks to be distributed across the city and every local health clinic in Jambi is required to have an operating “recovery room” for patients suffering from respiratory problems caused by the haze. The rooms are sealed and equipped with oxygen, air-conditioning units and an exhaust fan. One such clinic is headed by Dr Tety who told Al Jazeera that she had seen a spike in patients seeking treatment for acute respiratory infections in recent days. “If patients come in with respiratory complaints, we take them straight to the emergency room and give them a nebulizer and oxygen. Then they go to the ‘recovery room’ for ‘cooling down’ where they are given more oxygen until their breathing returns to normal,” she said. Dr Tety said the treatment was free for patients suffering from haze-related medical conditions, on the orders of the mayor of Jambi City. Many of the patients are children, including six-year-old daughter Marwa who has a cough, fever and runny nose. “I’m worried about my children’s health,” her mother Nurhasana told Al Jazeera. “They like doing their daily activities outside, but for the past few days, I’ve kept them in isolation in the house. We only go out now if we really need to.” But while the response in town has been praised, people living closer to the fire hotspots, say they feel abandoned by their local authorities. In the village of Catur Rahayu, about an hour away from Jambi City, Siti Sunarsi can do nothing but sit in her home and hope for things to improve. Her daughter, five-year-old Nabilla, has been off school for one and a half months, and Sunarsi says she’s worried about her education as well as the health effects of the haze. “She’s already forgotten everything she learnt, and the smoke is getting worse and darker every day. We keep asking ourselves: ‘When is this going to end?’” she said. Pointing to the thick orange glow in the air, Sunarsi added that the smoke pollution was taking a huge psychological and physical toll on the local population. “Everything is upside down. It doesn’t feel like day any more, it always feels like sunset. People who are usually healthy are sick. We have to have the lights on all the time, and we’re weak and feverish from the fires.” Asked if she had considered leaving the area and moving her children to a place where the air quality was better, Sunarsi pointed out that there were few options for local residents, as the haze had blanketed all of Jambi Province. “Even if we could leave, where is there to go?” she said. Last week, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited Riau Province - another haze hotspot in Sumatra - and said that the Indonesian government had deployed some 6,000 troops across Indonesia to put out the fires. “We have made every effort,” he told the media. Back in Jambi City, its beleaguered mayor said that the city had received only two helicopters to drop water bombs on the fires, compared with seven in other provinces such as Riau, and that more resources and personnel were needed to tackle the choking haze. Until then, he said he was doing all he can to keep his community safe. “I’ve instructed all residents of Jambi to pray for rain to extinguish the fires, in accordance with their individual religious beliefs,” he said. “When nothing else is working, it’s our last resort.” | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/indonesians-shrouded-toxic-haze-190923074629869.html | 2019-09-24 00:59:52+00:00 | 1,569,301,192 | 1,570,222,344 | religion and belief | religious belief |
17,696 | aljazeera--2019-11-22--US Supreme Court to hear Trump appeal in 'no-fly list' suit | 2019-11-22T00:00:00 | aljazeera | US Supreme Court to hear Trump appeal in 'no-fly list' suit | The United States Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a bid by President Donald Trump's administration to shield FBI agents from a lawsuit by three American Muslim men who said they were placed on the government's "no-fly list" for refusing to become informants. The justices will take up the administration's appeal of a lower court ruling allowing the men, all US citizens or permanent residents who were born abroad, to sue under a 1993 federal law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. • US arrests counterterrorism analyst over leaks to journalists The law was aimed at ensuring that the government had compelling reasons to substantially burden any person's exercise of religion. At issue is a part of the law that provides for "appropriate relief against a government", without defining what type of relief may be appropriate. The Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018 ruled that New York City residents Muhammad Tanvir and Jameel Algibhah and Connecticut resident Naveed Shinwari could pursue their lawsuit. They are seeking monetary damages, saying they were put on the no-fly list despite no evidence showing they threatened airline or passenger safety. The men, whose separate encounters with the FBI spanned from 2007 to 2012, said they refused to spy on Muslim communities as requested by the FBI at least in part because of their religious beliefs. Their inclusion on the no-fly list meant they could not visit family in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, sometimes for years. They said they were stigmatised by other community members and lost employment. Tanvir, for instance, said he had to quit a job as a long-haul trucker requiring him to fly home after completing a route. Algibhah said he could not take a job in Florida because of his travel restrictions. The government has told the men there is "no reason" why any of the three cannot take flights, indicating that they do not remain on the no-fly list. A trial judge had thrown out the claims, but the appeals court revived the case, ruling that the law allows individual federal officers to be sued for damages. In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department said that the 2nd Circuit ruling, if allowed to stand, would clear the way for a slew of lawsuits against countless federal employees including national security officials, criminal investigators and correctional officers, which could deter them from performing their duties. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/supreme-court-hear-trump-appeal-fly-list-suit-191122192708096.html | Fri, 22 Nov 2019 19:52:18 GMT | 1,574,470,338 | 1,574,468,499 | religion and belief | religious belief |
19,033 | aljazeera--2019-12-29--Israel, UAE and the hypocritical manipulation of religion | 2019-12-29T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Israel, UAE and the hypocritical manipulation of religion | On December 21, right-wing British magazine The Spectator published an article by Ed Husain, a controversial figure on the British Muslim scene, entitled Islam's reformation: an Arab-Israeli alliance is taking shape in the Middle East. Husain, a self-styled champion of "Islamic renaissance" who describes himself as a former Muslim extremist is seen by some as an ally of Islamophobia. His article puts forward a bizarre narrative: That a burgeoning alliance between a handful of authoritarian Arab leaders, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and the UAE's Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is a sign of "religious glasnost" in the Muslim world. It was tweeted almost immediately after its publication by the Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed. It is not surprising that the UAE's leadership gave its stamp of approval to the article. Husain, after all, has close links to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is a close friend and supporter of the UAE's rulers and their allies. Husain's CV includes the title of former adviser to Blair, and a stint at the Blair Faith Foundation, whose stated goal was to counter religious extremism. This same foundation was mentioned in a proposal made by Blair to the UAE in 2016 for a $35m contract to "build its brand and reputation, and to establish powerful networks of influence". In his pitch to the Gulf state, Blair, who recently offered his services to Egypt's military ruler, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, bragged about his and his foundation's connections in more than 50 countries. Over the last couple of years, Blair has been defending himself against claims of impropriety over the direct and indirect consultancy payments he allegedly received from the UAE and Saudi Arabia for services rendered. Husain's article peddles some of the questionable theories we have previously seen Blair promote. These include blaming the hostility Israel faces in the Middle East and beyond on Arab and Muslim "extremism" and "anti-semitism" and claiming that Arabs should become more "tolerant" in order to end the conflict. Also, the claim that conflicts involving Muslims, from the Philippines to the Caucasus, and from Palestine to Mali, are all linked, and again the fault of Muslims, and their "intolerant" religious doctrines. At one point, Saudi-promoted Wahhabism was advertised as the main culprit. This is, of course, too simplistic, since the bulk of the conflicts Muslims are involved in today are not religious but political and exist outside Wahhabism's zone of influence. Husain himself had become an extremist without ever coming in touch with Wahhabism - the ideology of the group he joined, Hizbut-Tahrir, is anathema to Salafi Wahabism. The irony is that the proponents of these views now appear to believe, as demonstrated in Husain's article, that the Saudis hold the key to religious enlightenment in the Muslim world, and "reformist" MBS's Saudi Arabia can bring peace to the Middle East by forming an alliance with fellow "peace-lover" Netanyahu's Israel. Even from an Israeli perspective, the Netanyahu government is not an advertisement for religious enlightenment, tolerance or peace. Secular Israelis are feeling under siege in the face of the hegemony of religious bigotry, fascistic tendencies and the ever-increasing aggression and self-entitlement of illegal settlers. It is even worse for Israel's beleaguered Arab citizens, or the Ethiopian Jewish minority, let alone the Palestinians living under occupation. It may be a coincidence that the International Criminal Court announced an imminent investigation into Israeli war crimes just the day before this article came out, but it was another blow to any misguided hopes that Netanyahu's Israel should be the source of inspiration for anyone in this region, let alone religious reformers. The coincidental highlighting of the UAE's own dismal human rights record did not help either. The day after bin Zayed's tweet, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a damning report documenting systematic and brutal harassment of the relatives of Emirati dissidents. Dozens of relatives of jailed or exiled peaceful opposition figures are currently banned from travel, cannot renew identity documents, or have restricted access to jobs or higher education. Tolerance, it appears, does not start at home. The chorus of international condemnations that greeted the announcement this week of sentences against those convicted of murdering Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi did not help either. It was another unwelcome reminder of the credentials of another key ally in this coalition for so-called "Islamic reformation". Spin and self-promotion do not qualify as reform or renaissance, and its promotors lack authority. This a reminder that the Arab-Israeli conflict has nothing to do with religion, any more than the current intra-Arab struggles. The main actors in the conflict, both Israeli and Arab, have been, and still are, predominantly secular rulers and groups. In both the Arab and Israeli camps, the leaders of the initial struggle, whether from the Israeli Labour party, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation or leaders like Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser and Syria's Hafiz al-Assad, were lukewarm towards religion. Islamist actors and Jewish religious extremists entered the fray much later, in the 1980s. Palestinians and other Arabs are not interested in the promotion of "religious tolerance" by highly intolerant regimes, but in a halt to the campaigns of dispossession and oppression. No one knows or cares what Netanyahu's religious beliefs are and how different they may be from those of Arab leaders. It is what is being done on the ground (harassment, dispossession, killings, etc) that is causing conflict. For peace with Israel to happen, the war and the colonial appropriation of land first has to stop. For the UAE and its allies, the human rights abuses and foreign adventures must cease. The hypocritical manipulation of religion will not lead to peace and tolerance. Quite the reverse, it will drive continuing conflicts and resentment within the Muslim Arab community. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/israel-uae-hypocritical-manipulation-religion-191226090446952.html | Sun, 29 Dec 2019 10:34:22 GMT | 1,577,633,662 | 1,577,622,021 | religion and belief | religious belief |
19,703 | anonymousconservative--2019-01-04--News Briefs 01042018 | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | anonymousconservative | News Briefs – 01/04/2018 | I always see lots of r/K related stories I think might interest the readers here, but I only have time to blog about a few, so here are some additional news stories that might be of interest. You can skim the titles and summaries, and click the links if they are of interest. Watched the JFK Jr show on ABC last night. The summary was that it was mostly a “look at the pretty people who died” piece. Three interesting parts to me. One, his magazine was better than other magazines, had a better schtick and publicity with big stars on the cover dressed as George Washington, had better promotion with him going on every talk show to promote it relentlessly, and yet it was failing. If a magazine that combined pretty people doing publicity-driving things, with issues oriented politics (and Ann Coulter), and JFK Jr promoting it everywhere on every talk show, could not make a profit, how does something lame like Newsweek, or similar turn a profit? Is it Michael Isakoff? I suspect similar Cabal outlets don’t turn a profit – they are funded by Cabal, and George was not. George may have been beginning to open John’s eyes to the reality, which is not like you are taught. Once you realize how you are living in a costly production designed to control what you think, it changes everything. You realize that what you think is worth the expenditure of a lot of money. The second thing was all the female Kennedy’s killed in plane crashes, which they listed on the show. I am doing a blog on a Rothschild interview which was quite interesting. They seem to have a quasi-religious belief that the competition is not between individuals, but rather that at their elite level, bloodlines exist across time, almost as living entities, and it is bloodlines which are in competition, and which live or die. Thus if you kill one person in a bloodline in competition with your own, you will not win because it was their bloodline that made them competitive and a threat, and their relatives will eventually be a problem which might destroy your bloodline. Thus you must extinguish the bloodline, or subsume it. That is why royal bloodlines either warred, or intermarried, apparently. If they were killing female Kennedys who were not in politics, that would pass as a credible reason, under the belief system of a bloodline family. It also might explain why JFK Jr survived while he was single, and the drive to kill him would increase once he was married. Hillary’s Senate seat was probably the catalyst, but JFK Jr possibly having a son someday soon likely didn’t help. The third thing was the bullshit about the crash. At the time he flew, a plane would have had four relevant instruments. A physical compass, an electronic compass/heading indicator, a banking/attitude indicator, and a GPS system. If he started to turn while in a cloud, his compasses would both have been turning too, as the plane did. The GPS screen, which would have had a straight lit-up line, with him at one end of the line at the center of the screen, and his destination airport at the other end of the line at the outer margin, would have been spinning like the hand of a clock, as his plane turned and his destination turned around the plane. and his bank/attitude indicator, run off a gyroscope, would have shown his wings banking. After one hour of flight time and familiarity with the instruments, if you were losing altitude, you could have looked at any one of those, and figured out what was going on. Second, even though the pilot they had on the show said he looked up at the clouds, and saw it look weirder than he had ever seen it, FAA was telling all pilots is was clear skies and perfect weather for Visual Flight Rules all night long. A pilot on the show said he kept calling that night, and that was FAA’s response. There is only one entity which can go to the FAA call center, flash something, and tell them what they will say when people call in about the flight conditions. It is not the FBI. Also, his instructor pilot, who he would normally have brought, was unavailable that night. Could be innocent, or could be arranged. Finally, they claimed his plane was seen on radar suddenly plummeting straight down at “4700 feet per minute” into the ocean on the radar. Who calculates speed in feet per minute? Why would they do that on the show? Because although 4700 feet per minute sounds super fast, it is only 53 miles per hour. He was in a plane that flew at 160 mph when cruising. So his plane was probably doing 160mph, and on the radar it’s trajectory suddenly changed, and it headed down, hitting the ocean at 53 miles per hour. That does not sound like a powered plane pointing itself at the ocean and burning in under full throttle. It sounds like a mid-air explosion with the plane then crashing straight down at terminal gravitational velocity for falling debris. But nobody thinks critically today, so until Trump reveals it, don’t expect to see anyone else believe anything odd happened. File under things you will not see on your local evening news show – Local Police inundated with calls from Targeted individuals who feel they are being assaulted with Space-Based weapons, after local council passed a resolution to try and ban such use of technology on their citizens. Interestingly, I cannot get the comments to load there. Democrat Congresswoman, freshly sworn in, says to the crowd of Trump, “We’re going to impeach the Motherfucker!” Sweden is amping up convictions of those who criticize mass migration 10 fold. So much for debating national policy. Muslim Migrant doctor in Germany rapes four patients, gets a suspended sentence. Man who won New Jersey Lottery twice is a gun-toting drug dealer. Or as Cabal would say, a ground-level sales associate with a history of helping in multiple special operations. Evidence may be circulating that Brennan and Clapper hacked a FISA Judge as well as John Roberts, and Comey covered it up. This shit will all need to be outed soon, or by the time it is released it could be seen as old news. Migrant remittances to Mexico and Central America rise to $53 billion per year. Houston teen killed in “No lackin” challenge, where one teen pulls a gun and points it at someone, and they then have to prove they are not lacking a firearm by puling their own gun and pointing it back. Unfortunately, this teen squeezed off a round accidently. An interesting article on a Lawyer suing the SPLC because he says they stole confidential documents to prove he represented a white nationalist group, so they could ruin him and get him fired from his job in the City of Baltimore. I find all of these things interesting in light of the idea that Cabal has a robust infiltration network all throughout the country at all levels, which it can use to police the ranks of positions of power in government. It is always possible this guy was judged a risk for some reason in his current position, and SPLC was just following orders of the Cabal to get him moved and neutered. I strongly suspect SPLC will be a big casualty of the Storm, and is comped entirely. Financial blacklisting by Cabal financial services companies is increasingly being used to silence opposition to Cabal’s ultra-left-wing agenda. Koch Network is going to push for Amnesty for Dreamers in 2019. Clearly they recognize small government conservatism will not be helped by that. FBI documents show a plot was afoot to kill Occupy Wall Street leaders, if necessary. Not enough to know for certain what this was, but there should be no doubt there would have been a plan to kill any Occupy leaders who were not Cabal plants. I just doubt the real plan would ever have ended up in any FBI report. Municipalities are making city services, like paying for parking spots, dependent on downloading the city’s App, probably so you can be tracked. Religious dating apps must now make their services LGBT friendly. Man arrested at Mara Lago trying to get to Trump to talk to him about “his $6.3 Trillion.” Are they sending in the MK Ultra windup toys? Man moves security barrier and tries to get to Trump to give him 2 bottles of Crown Royale in return for advice on getting a wife. Given Trump did land Melania, this guy may not be as crazy as he seems. Though the fact Trump doesn’t drink should have factored into his calculations. An article on how Snowball Earth erased a large section of the geological record through glacial erosion. FBI is trying Amazon’s facial recognition software. I wonder if FBI does this in an environment where Amazon’s software could facilitate access to FBI’s video surveillance feeds by Cabal assets back in Amazon. Facial Recognition requires computing resources. Might FBI use Amazon’s computing resources to power the software, and thus run their video through Amazon systems? Might that video already be there on an Amazon Cloud account? List of new gun laws for 2019. Be warned, a bump stock is now a $250,000 penalty and 10 years. That is just ridiculous. Zuckerberg has stopped selling facebook stock as the value has plummeted. State Department warns citizens visiting China that they may be detained using exit bans: Hillary’s campaign ignored multiple offers of help from Silicon Valley to aid her in exploiting Social Media in 2016. This article feels like it indicates Hillary dropped the ball, but in reality, those accustomed to operating in an espionage-prone environment have to be doubly careful with those who show up offering to help. And just as nobody is as paranoid about being fucked over by friends and family as a narcissist, nobody will be as paranoid about being spied on as Hillary Clinton. Think about it, and you realize why she blocked them out. Richard Shelby says shutdown could last for months and months. It seems Cabal needs Homeland Security funded so it can perform some service. I would assume every day DHS is not there, Cabal is blowing resources trying to replicate that function itself. Navy SEAL will be Court Martialed for killing an ISIS fighter. After a contentious election, Congolese are fleeing to Uganda, and there are fears Ebola may be following them. Video of a diverse pack of feral youth attacking at a train station in Chicago. Diverse pack of feral youth attack in New York. Lesbian Batwoman is set to become a Social Justice superhero. Russian living in North Carolina who defrauded Russian Government and tried to have his wife’s lover killed has a business tie to one of the Russians accused of election tampering. So somebody ripping Putin’s government off is also involved in a plot to make it look like Putin was interfering with our elections? CIA mouthpiece WaPo announces Elizabeth Warren should not be supported in her run for President by any Cabal-member. I assume they want her to run to rile the feminists, but this is more to tell her to recognize what the final outcome needs to be, and stay in her lane in the final stretch. Mitt Romney backtracks furiously after his op-ed attacking Trump falls flat. He is a psychopath, and this is how you control him. There is no principle, or willingness to traverse the difficult path. You only have to structure things so it is best for him to do what you want, and he will. Just it is best to structure them ahead of time. According to Gallup, Pelosi only has 38% favorable rating, and 48% unfavorable. And that means even leftists are not able to bring themselves to approve of her, in what is probably a fake poll skewed to make her look good, because she is unlikable. Look at the brilliance of Trump not wasting effort on the House election. For the next two years, he will create very public fights with a woman who is highly unlikable, and many people will, subconsciously, view him as the enemy of an enemy. Excellent for 2020. Paul Ryan left with only 12% approval. That is a measure of how Awake the Republicans are. Whitaker reveals Huber is still investigating FBI surveillance of the Trump Campaign and Trump administration officials. This is directly ordered by Cabal. The question is, can the orders be tracked back up to where they were issued? I’d love to see who Huber’s neighbors are. There is no way Cabal has just gone hands off with him and his team. This thread alleges that the Military Tribunals have already begun, Mattis and Kelly are handling the Military aspects, Rogers is handling the intel/classification aspect, and Sessions is doing the prosecuting. Mattis attacking Trump was strangely unprofessional for a consummate professional. And yet it allowed him to be slipped out of SecDef at exactly the right time, compared to when Trump’s EO went into effect. Iran-allied militias will pull out of Kurdish region in Iraq. Iranian allies in another country agreeing to act reasonably in ways that benefit US allies elsewhere? Trump says he has never had this much support, as he has gotten fighting for the border wall this past week. It is true, but you can see how that will alter the perceptions of the lemmings as well when he says it. Trump already has the logical support. The illogical is further out of reach, but in the middle are the lemmings. They hear this, and their minds open to the idea of the wall as something good, and they begin to move toward him. Trump is one in a trillion. Trump is sending more troops to the border to string concertina wire. When the full story comes out, I suspect we will be blown away by what was actually going on at the border. | Anonymous Conservative | https://www.anonymousconservative.com/blog/news-briefs-01042018/ | 2019-01-04 11:40:35+00:00 | 1,546,620,035 | 1,567,554,023 | religion and belief | religious belief |
20,467 | bbc--2019-01-07--Rahaf al-Qunun Saudi woman ends airport hotel standoff | 2019-01-07T00:00:00 | bbc | Rahaf al-Qunun: Saudi woman ends airport hotel standoff | An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family at the weekend has left Bangkok airport "under the care" of the UN refugee agency, the head of Thailand's immigration police says. Thai immigration officials had tried to return Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, to Kuwait, where her family is. But she refused to board a flight on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room. She said she feared her family would kill her as she had renounced Islam. "My brothers and family and the Saudi embassy will be waiting for me in Kuwait," Ms Mohammed al-Qunun told Reuters. "My life is in danger. My family threatens to kill me for the most trivial things." Her relatives have not commented on her claims. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have expressed grave concerns for Ms Mohammed al-Qunun, who had travelled to Thailand for a connecting flight to Australia, where she hoped to seek asylum. The Thai authorities said her status would be assessed by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). The Australian government said it would closely monitor the case, calling Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's allegations "deeply concerning". On Monday evening local time, Thailand's chief of immigration police Surachate Hakparn confirmed that Ms Mohammed al-Qunun was "allowed to stay", and that she "left the airport with the UNHCR". He earlier said the country would "take care of her as best we can", adding: "She is now under the sovereignty of Thailand; no-one and no embassy can force her to go anywhere. "Thailand is a land of smiles. We will not send anyone to die." Mr Surachate said he would meet Saudi diplomats on Tuesday to clarify Thailand's decision. Ms Mohammed al-Qunun tweeted that her father had arrived, "which worried and scared me a lot", but said she felt safe "under UNHCR protection with the agreement of Thailand authorities". Thailand is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and provides no legal protection to asylum seekers although there are more than 100,000 refugees in the country. An injunction filed by Thai lawyers in Bangkok criminal court to stop the deportation was dismissed earlier on Monday. Ms Mohammed al-Qunun says that when she arrived in Bangkok on Saturday, her passport was seized by a Saudi diplomat who met her coming off the flight. Thailand initially said she was being deported because she did not meet the requirements for a Thai visa. However, Ms Mohammed al-Qunun insisted she had a visa for Australia, and that she never wanted to stay in Thailand. Saudi Arabia said the Thai authorities had stopped the young woman for "violating the law". On Monday, police chief Mr Surachate said the Thais had been tipped off by Saudi officials, adding: "The Saudi Arabia embassy contacted the immigration police... and said that the girl had run away from her parents and they feared for her safety." Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told the BBC: "It seems that the Thai government is manufacturing a story that she tried to apply for a visa and it was denied... in fact, she had an onward ticket to go to Australia, she didn't want to enter Thailand in the first place." Ms Mohammed al-Qunun drew attention to her plight through social media posts over the weekend. She also gave a friend, Noura, access to her Twitter account, saying it was in case anything should happen to her. "I shared my story and my pictures on social media and my father is so angry because I did this... I can't study and work in my country, so I want to be free and study and work as I want," she said. Women in Saudi Arabia are subject to male guardianship laws, which mean they need a male relative's permission to work, travel, marry, open a bank account, or even leave prison. Ms Mohammed al-Qunun wrote on Twitter that she had decided to share her name and details because she had "nothing to lose" now. She has asked for asylum from governments around the world. A photo appeared of her in her room as officials reportedly stood outside, waiting to put her on a flight back to Kuwait. Ms Mohammed al-Qunun told the BBC that she had renounced Islam, and feared her family would kill her if she was sent back to Saudi Arabia. Freedom of religion is not legally protected in the kingdom, and people who convert to another religion from Islam risk being charged with apostasy - or abandoning their religious beliefs. The crime is legally punishable by death - although courts have not carried out a death sentence in recent years. The BBC World Service spoke to Noura, the friend who is tweeting from Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's account. She said the pair knew each other from an online group for Saudi feminists, and that she herself had "escaped" Saudi Arabia because she is "an ex-Muslim". Noura says Ms Mohammed al-Qunun is a student at a Saudi university, and that she believes her father works for the Saudi government. "Her family kept her alone in the house for - I think for more than six months - because she cut her hair," she told the BBC. Noura said she was speaking to Ms Mohammed al-Qunun "every 20 minutes", adding: "She is terrified." Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's case echoes that of another Saudi woman who was in transit to Australia in April 2017. Dina Ali Lasloom, 24, was en route from Kuwait via the Philippines but was taken back to Saudi Arabia from Manila airport by her family. She used a Canadian tourist's phone to send a message, a video of which was posted to Twitter, saying her family would kill her. Her fate on arriving back in Saudi Arabia remains unknown. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46777848 | 2019-01-07 23:22:13+00:00 | 1,546,921,333 | 1,567,553,602 | religion and belief | religious belief |
20,944 | bbc--2019-01-14--Judge blocks Trumps new birth control rules in 13 states and Washington | 2019-01-14T00:00:00 | bbc | Judge blocks Trump's new birth control rules in 13 states and Washington | A California judge has blocked new Trump administration regulations on birth control from applying in 13 states and Washington DC. The rules allow employers and insurers to decline to provide birth control if doing so violates their "religious beliefs" or "moral convictions". The rules were to come into effect nationwide from Monday. But the judge granted an injunction stopping it applying in jurisdictions which are challenging the policy. Plaintiffs in 13 states and the nation's capital argued that the new regulation should not come into force while they moved forward with lawsuits against it. While Judge Haywood Gilliam did not make a final decision, he said the rules could mean a "substantial number" of women would lose birth control coverage, a "massive policy shift" which could breach federal law. Fifty-five million women benefited from the original Obama-era rule, which made companies provide free birth control. Before taking office, President Donald Trump pledged to eliminate the requirement. California attorney general Xavier Becerra said in a statement: "It's 2019, yet the Trump administration is still trying to roll back women's rights. "The law couldn't be clearer - employers have no business interfering in women's healthcare decisions." But the US Department of Justice said in court documents that the new rules defended "a narrow class of sincere religious and moral objectors" and stopped them from conducting practices "that conflict with their beliefs". Mr Becerra and his counterparts in the other states had asked for a nationwide injunction but Judge Gilliam limited the ruling to only those states moving against the new rules. Mr Trump's rule change could force state governments to provide additional birth control coverage, Mr Becerra said, and pay health costs arising from unplanned pregnancies. Aside from California and Washington DC, the new rules will not yet apply in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Virginia. The mandate requiring birth control coverage had been a key feature of so-called Obamacare - President Obama's efforts to overhaul the US healthcare system. While the requirement included a provision letting religious institutions forgo birth control coverage for their employees, President Trump's rule change widened the number of employers and insurers who could opt out, including on the grounds of "moral convictions". Conservative and religious groups welcomed the shift, while civil rights and health groups have criticised the change. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46862504 | 2019-01-14 09:59:03+00:00 | 1,547,477,943 | 1,567,552,542 | religion and belief | religious belief |
21,130 | bbc--2019-01-16--Vice-presidents wife Karen Pence to teach at anti-LGBT school | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | bbc | Vice-president's wife Karen Pence to teach at anti-LGBT school | Second Lady Karen Pence, the wife of the US vice-president, will return to teaching art at a school that requires employees to oppose LGBT lifestyles. The school in Springfield, Virginia, bars teachers from engaging in or condoning "homosexual or lesbian sexual activity" and "transgender identity". Mrs Pence previously taught art at the school for more than a decade while her husband was a member of Congress. A spokeswoman for Mrs Pence has hit back at criticism of her employer. "Mrs Pence has returned to the school where she previously taught for 12 years," the second lady's spokeswoman Kara Brooks said in a statement. "It's absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school's religious beliefs, are under attack." According to a job application for the Immanuel Christian School, a private school, applicants must initial a passage promising to "live a personal life of moral purity". It lists homosexuality along with premarital sex, polygamy, sexual harassment and sex abuse, among other factors, as examples of moral misconduct. "I understand that the term 'marriage' has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman," the document states. A parent agreement on the elementary school's website says that they can "refuse admission" or "discontinue enrolment" of a pupil "if "the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home, the activities of a parent or guardian, or the activities of the student are counter to, or are in opposition to, the biblical lifestyle the school teaches". In a statement on Tuesday, Mrs Pence said she is "excited to be back in the classroom and doing what I love to do, which is to teach art to elementary students". Online, Mrs Pence has faced some sharp criticism for affiliating with the school while serving as second lady. Others, however, have supported Mrs Pence in the face of the backlash, saying the school is just adhering to orthodox Christian values, like many others. Vice-President Pence has previously come under fire by gay rights activists for his Christian evangelical beliefs which include opposition to gay marriage. He has expressed support in the past for the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy and before becoming vice-president, as governor of Indiana he signed a bill that many said amounted to state-sponsored discrimination of LGBT people. Mr Pence became the first vice-president to speak at the openly anti-LGBT Family Research Council's annual conference in 2018. The organisation has been labelled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, Americans in 29 states can be fired for their sexual preference. Last year, a children's book Mrs Pence illustrated and authored with her daughter - Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of the Vice President - was lampooned by comedian John Oliver. Oliver released a rival book, A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo, telling a similar story, except the protagonist is a male bunny who falls in love and marries another male rabbit. Some online users at the time criticised the comedian for seeking to "tear down Pence through his wife". | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46898143 | 2019-01-16 20:11:22+00:00 | 1,547,687,482 | 1,567,552,206 | religion and belief | religious belief |
22,030 | bbc--2019-01-30--Wanting to die at five to midnight - before dementia takes over | 2019-01-30T00:00:00 | bbc | Wanting to die at 'five to midnight' - before dementia takes over | It's not unusual for Dutch patients with dementia to request euthanasia, but in the later stages of the disease they may be incapable of reconfirming their consent - one doctor is currently facing prosecution in such a case. But fear of being refused is pushing some to ask to die earlier than they would have liked. Annie Zwijnenberg was never in any doubt. "The neurologist said: 'I'm sorry, but there's no way we can mistake this - it's Alzheimer's," says Anneke Soute-Zwijnenberg, describing the moment her mother was first diagnosed. "And she said: 'OK, then I know what I want.'" Anneke's brother Frank chips in: "Maybe she hesitated for five seconds, and said: 'Now I know what to do.'" They both knew she was referring to euthanasia. You could say Annie's story is a textbook case of how euthanasia is supposed to happen in the Netherlands - with very consistent and clear consent. But there are other cases where the patient's consent is less consistent, and at the final moment, less clear. Annie's story was featured in a film called Before It's Too Late by the Dutch director, Gerald van Bronkhorst. In the documentary viewers follow her journey through Alzheimer's, ending in her death by euthanasia at the age of 81. They see a proud woman who brought up three children alone, who enjoyed mountain climbing and had a strong religious belief, laid low by dementia. "I used to go climbing or skiing or whatever," says Annie in the film. "In the village they said, 'That Annie, she's always on the go.' I'd put my rucksack on in the morning and start hiking. I'd walk all day. Now I can't do anything. I get confused all the time." Annie wanted people to understand her decision, so she allowed the camera to film on the day she died. She is shown sitting on the sofa, looking relaxed and positive. Her three children are with her, joking with the two doctors who've arrived to carry out the euthanasia about a special meal they had the previous night. "We went to a three/four-star restaurant," Frank tells me later. "I asked her, 'What do you want to do before you die?' We had a beautiful meal, laughed and cried. There was no tomorrow that evening. It was so special. "But then you go home. It was very hard to get any sleep the night before." Anneke describes finding a letter that her mother wrote that night. "She wrote a letter to God, asking him to take care of her children. She knew that if there was a God it would be a really warm forgiving God." Frank adds: "She said, 'It's a pity I can't send an email back to my children to tell them what it's like.'" The film shows the doctor taking great care to make sure that Annie is fully aware that she is choosing to die by euthanasia. He asks her several times if she is sure she knows what she is doing. "You're sure you want to drink the mixture I'll give you?" the doctor asks. "You know it will put you to sleep and you won't wake up again?" Annie says: "I thought it through once again last night, from start to finish and back, and in the end this is what I want. Purely for myself. This is what's best for me." She does not hesitate when she is handed a glass of clear liquid, containing a lethal dose of sedative. She drinks it, complaining only about the bitter taste. Her family is shown hugging her as she goes to sleep for the last time. "She drank the cup," remembers Frank later. "But it took a while." "The sleep was getting deeper and deeper," adds Anneke. "It was very gentle." But a couple of hours went by and Annie was still sleeping. This led to a surreal scene, described to me by Gerald van Bronkhorst, who was filming. "She was asleep on the couch, and then she started snoring. And the family started to say: 'I'm hungry, shall we have a sandwich?' So we're all chewing around this lady, who's sleeping on the couch, and dying. But this shows how normal life takes over, even in a situation like this." Worried that Annie might actually wake up, the doctors eventually gave her a lethal injection. "It was 20 seconds, and then she was gone," says Frank. Frank and Anneke say they always supported their mother in her decision, despite any reservations they felt about it. "It's hard to see your mother die from euthanasia, but it was not our decision - it was her decision," says Anneke. "There is no right or wrong decision. It's hard to decide you want to die but it's as hard to decide, I think, that you want to live. She hated it when someone said: 'It's so brave that you made this decision.' She said choosing to live with dementia is just as brave." Frank adds: "A good friend of mine said, 'You have to stop your mother - as a son you have to stop her.' I said, 'No I'm not going to, I support her.' His mother said [to me], 'You're killing your mother, you're murdering your mother if you go on with this…' It's hard to hear." Arguments like this are common among families and friends and reflect the wider debate which began in the Netherlands in the 1970s, when doctors first started carrying out so-called "mercy killing" fairly openly. The arguments continued in the run-up to the legalisation of euthanasia in 2002, and have never really stopped. The number of those opting for euthanasia has grown steadily, particularly in the past 10 years. In 2002, the Dutch authorities were notified of 1,882 cases; 15 years later the figure was 6,585. In order to satisfy the law on euthanasia, patients must convince a doctor that their decision is completely voluntary, that their life has become, or will become, one of "unbearable suffering without prospect of improvement", and that there is "no reasonable alternative". An independent assessment must then be made by another doctor. The first recorded case of a patient with dementia being given euthanasia came about in 2004, two years after the law changed. But euthanasia cases involving dementia patients almost always take place in the earlier stages of the disease, because it's hard to convince a doctor that the patient has the capacity to understand their decision to die in the later stages. In 2017, 166 early-stage dementia patients died by euthanasia, and only three with late-stage dementia. Despite this, medical ethicist Berna van Baarsen believes that a shift is under way and that in future there will be more. She used to sit on a committee that reviewed every case of euthanasia in one region of the Netherlands but resigned, saying that troubling cases were being approved too easily. "I have seen the shift," she says. "The problem is that the shift is very difficult to catch. But it is happening. It's happening under your nose, and in the end you realise there has been a shift." She thinks there is an over-reliance on written declarations, or living wills, which patients who might want euthanasia often give to their doctor in the early stages of a disease. "You can write down what your fears are. What you don't want to experience. But it is a wish. It is an expression of fear, and as we know, people change. "In the beginning they say: 'Oh no, I don't want to live in an old people's home.' Or, 'I don't want to be put in a wheelchair,' and it happens. People always find ways to cope. That's a beautiful thing about being human." So she argues that before helping someone to die, doctors must always check that this is still the patient's wish. And with late-stage dementia patients, this is not always possible. "If you can't talk to a patient, you don't know what the patient wants," she says. But if Berna van Baarsen is right that the pendulum has been swinging in favour of euthanasia for patients with late-stage dementia, the prosecution of a doctor involved in one such case may push it back in the opposite direction. The case involved a 74-year-old woman who had signed a written declaration saying she wanted euthanasia, but only when she said she was ready. And she had also said, at other times, that she did not want to die by euthanasia. The doctor, who worked in a nursing home, put a sedative into the woman's coffee without telling her. Then the woman woke up while the doctor attempted to give her a lethal injection. She had to be restrained by relatives while the euthanasia was completed, although the level of restraint used is disputed. Listen to Andrew Bomford's documentary Living and Dying with Alzheimer's on BBC Sounds Jacob Kohnstamm, co-ordinating chairman of the Dutch review committees, which examine every euthanasia case, says it is clear the doctor overstepped the mark. "The commission said the written declaration wasn't good enough, and the doctor should have stopped the procedure the moment the patient got up," he says. The committee ruled that the doctor had not acted with due care, and referred the case to prosecutors. The case will be watched closely when it comes to trial because it may help to clarify the circumstances when dementia patients can die by euthanasia. But while for many doctors this will be welcome, it is an unnerving prospect for those who are prepared to carry out euthanasia even on people with advanced dementia - such as Annie Zwijnenberg's doctor, Constance de Vries. She is content to end the lives of patients who may find it difficult to express their wishes, as long as they were always very clear about their wishes when they could express them. It's important to have a long-term relationship with the patients and their families, she says, to enable her to talk to them about their written declaration, and observe over a long period of time an unwavering desire for euthanasia. She tells me about one such case. "The lady was very unhappy; she was crying, and yelling, and not eating, and not sleeping, and aggressive to other people. When you saw her, you saw how unhappy she was. And she always had it in the statement: 'When I don't recognise my grandchildren any more, then I want to die.'" As the moment when she could no longer recognise her grandchildren had arrived, Constance de Vries proceeded with euthanasia, with the support of the woman's family. "When I gave her a glass of fruit juice, I said, 'When you take it, you will sleep forever.' She looked at her daughter, and the daughter said, 'It's OK mum.' And she took it. I don't know if she did understand fully, but I know what we did was OK, so unhappy was she." I ask her if the first prosecution of a doctor for ending a patient's life by euthanasia makes her worried about being involved in such cases? "This is making me worried, yes," she says. "I'm a little bit afraid of the judgement afterwards. So I try to be very, very, very sure about what I'm doing." But does she have any intention of stopping? "No," she says, adamantly. She does concede, though, that the case may make it harder for patients with late-stage dementia to get euthanasia in future. And if this happens, it could also have a knock-on effect for those with early-stage dementia who want euthanasia at some point in the future. Many of them already worry that if they wait too long they'll be denied it. The fear has become so commonplace that a shorthand phrase has been adopted for the perfect time to have euthanasia - "five to midnight". Just like Cinderella, everyone wants to wait until the last possible moment before they leave the party - until five to midnight - but many feel that it's too risky to leave it that long. It's the one regret Anneke and Frank express about the death of their mother, Annie. "She was very afraid that even when she had the law on her side, or she had the doctors on her side that there would be a point that somebody would say: 'OK, but sorry you're too far gone now, you can't make this decision any more, so sorry you're too late,'" Anneke says. Annie herself talks about it in Gerald van Bronkhorst's film, which alludes to her fear in its title, Before It's Too Late. "Yesterday I spoke to a former neighbour on the phone," Annie says. "She said, 'But I don't understand. You can still do everything can't you?' I said, 'Well the point is, first of all I can't. And second, if I wait until the moment has come to stop it'll be too late. I won't be allowed to do euthanasia any more.'" Images from Before It's Too Late courtesy of Gerald van Bronkhorst In January 2018 a young Dutch woman drank poison supplied by a doctor and lay down to die. Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide are legal in the Netherlands, so hers was a death sanctioned by the state. But Aurelia Brouwers was not terminally ill - she was allowed to end her life on account of her psychiatric illness. Read: The troubled 29-year-old helped to die by Dutch doctors Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-47047579 | 2019-01-30 00:31:25+00:00 | 1,548,826,285 | 1,567,550,244 | religion and belief | religious belief |
22,504 | bbc--2019-02-07--US court stays Muslim inmates execution over denial of imam request | 2019-02-07T00:00:00 | bbc | US court stays Muslim inmate's execution over denial of imam request | A federal appeals court has blocked the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama after the state refused to allow his imam to be present at his death. Domineque Ray, convicted of murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1995, was scheduled for execution on Thursday. But his lawyers argued that the state infringed on his religious rights by denying his request for an imam over a chaplain during the execution. The state has now appealed the stay to the US Supreme Court. A three-judge panel reversed an earlier court ruling and delayed Ray's death by lethal injection, writing in an opinion that Ray had a "powerful" claim against the state. "The central constitutional problem here is that the state has regularly placed a Christian cleric in the execution room to minister to the needs of Christian inmates, but has refused to provide the same benefit to a devout Muslim and all other non-Christians." According to the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), Christian chaplain Chris Summers has witnessed nearly every execution since 1997. Ray's complaint requests the court to not mandate the chaplain's presence in his execution chamber and to allow his imam instead, "so that he may receive spiritual guidance and comfort from a cleric of his own faith" at the time of his death. The federal judges also noted that Ray has been a committed Muslim since 2006, and even the ADOC is not disputing the "sincerity of Ray's religious beliefs". In addition, his imam, Yusef Maisonet, has been providing religious services to prisoners in the ADOC since 2015. The ADOC insists, however, that it will not allow a non-employee to be in the chamber in place of the chaplain. The imam could be present in the witness room and meet Ray ahead of the execution. An earlier District Court ruling said Ray had taken too long to raise the legal issues against the ADOC, "waiting until the eleventh hour" to seek a religious exemption. Ray has been an inmate for close to 20 years, the New York Times reported. The prison warden had informed Ray of the death penalty practices on 23 January, and Ray's lawyer contends he was unaware of the religious policies until then, US media reported. Ray's counsel had then suggested that the state train and screen his imam, who is already familiar with prison visitations, but the state responded by saying "it could not do so". Judge Stanley Marcus, writing for the federal appeals panel, said the state cannot appear to favour Christianity over Islam and then say it cannot provide the same rights to both. "Quite simply, the power, prestige, and support of the state may not be placed behind a particular religious belief." "Alabama appears to have set up precisely the sort of denominational preference that the Framers of the First Amendment forbade." The First Amendment states that the US government cannot make any laws regarding establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise religious beliefs. The Alabama Council of Islamic Relations (CAIR) said they welcomed the appeals decision and "hope Mr Ray will ultimately be provided equal access to spiritual guidance". | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47162710 | 2019-02-07 18:05:07+00:00 | 1,549,580,707 | 1,567,549,321 | religion and belief | religious belief |
24,391 | bbc--2019-03-19--Dutch shooting Letter may suggest terror motive in Utrecht | 2019-03-19T00:00:00 | bbc | Dutch shooting: Letter may suggest terror motive in Utrecht | Dutch prosecutors investigating the murder of three people on a tram said a letter found in the gunman's getaway car was among the reasons why a terrorist motive was being seriously considered. Three people were killed and three others seriously wounded in the attack in the central city of Utrecht. No connection has been found between Mr Tanis and the victims of the attack. Police said on Tuesday that armed officers had arrested another suspect, a 40-year-old man, in Utrecht. A statement said he was "suspected of involvement" and his role was under investigation. Two other men arrested on Monday were released and were no longer suspects, police said. Prime Minister Mark Rutte laid flowers at the scene of the attack on Tuesday afternoon. In a statement he paid tribute to the people of Utrecht who had "remained calm despite the great threat". "So far a terrorist motive is being seriously taken into account. Among other things a letter found in the getaway car and the nature of the facts give rise to that," a statement said (in Dutch), without detailing the contents of the letter. Prosecutors say a firearm was found when Tanis was detained. They say other motives have not been ruled out. The red Renault Clio getaway car was stolen from the scene of the attack and later found in Utrecht's Tichelaarslaan close to where the suspect was arrested. Owner Frans Hoogendijk said he had abandoned the car with the engine running when he saw people fleeing the tram and one shouted at him to run for his life. "I thought it was a bomb and leapt out of my car," he told the AD website. Neighbours had earlier described the suspected gunman as a "loser" and a petty criminal rather than a terrorist. Dutch justice officials confirmed on Tuesday that he had been released from custody recently in a rape case, which was due to go to court in July. He was freed after promising to co-operate with authorities. He has been convicted of crimes this month as well as in the past. According to Dutch law Tanis must appear in court by Thursday. Two of the three people who died have been named: Three of the wounded are in a serious condition and Mayor Jan van Zanen visited one of them in hospital on Tuesday. Two are women in their early 20s and a man in his 70s. Flags were flying at half-mast on public buildings in the Netherlands on Tuesday and flowers were laid at the site of the attack in Utrecht's 24 Oktoberplein. Sarah cycled to the scene to lay a fresh bouquet of tulips, her 13-month-old toddler, Jet, harnessed in a seat on the front of the bike. "I felt afraid to come out," she told me. "But I had to show my daughter that we have to be strong, to keep living." A note pinned to a bunch of roses read, "It hit right through the heart." A Muslim man fell to his knees, his head bowed and hands cupped in silent prayer. The victims appear to have been targeted at random. Among the tears and shows of solidarity, the overwhelming sense among the people is, it could have been one of us. Police released Gokmen Tanis's name after the shooting as they searched his home and other addresses. Prosecutors said he was known to police while friends told Dutch media that he had been in trouble on a number of occasions. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's intelligence service was "looking into" the attack. Gokmen Tanis was not known for extreme religious beliefs, although he was once captured on video criticising a female reporter's clothing. A 47-year-old woman called Angelique told Algemeen Dagblad that Tanis was a drug user with a criminal record who was facing trial for raping her in 2017. She said he had recently been freed from custody after violating the conditions of an earlier release. "He's not a terrorist but a psychopath," she said. The case is due to return to court during the summer. Earlier this month he was given jail terms for shoplifting as well as burglary. In 2014 he was cleared of attempted manslaughter but given a jail term for illegal arms possession. Several reports said his marriage had fallen apart. A neighbour who grew up with the suspect told De Volkskrant newspaper that he did not go the mosque and the case had nothing to do with religion. "He's a lost boy with the IQ of a shrimp." At about 10:45 local time (09:45 GMT), police were called to reports of a shooting on board one of the city's trams at the 24 Oktoberplein junction. Another witness told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that he had helped an injured woman when the tram came to an emergency stop. "I looked behind me and saw someone lying there behind the tram," he said. "People got out of their cars... and they started to lift her up. "I helped to pull her out and then I saw a gunman run towards us, with his gun raised," he said. "I heard people yell 'Shooter! Shooter!' and I started to run." The gunman then fled the scene, leading to the manhunt which lasted for much of Monday. A number of raids were reportedly carried out and counter-terrorism officers were pictured patrolling the streets near to where the attack happened. Police surrounded a building not far from the scene of the attack and arrested Mr Tanis on Monday evening. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47622916 | 2019-03-19 22:46:28+00:00 | 1,553,049,988 | 1,567,545,641 | religion and belief | religious belief |
25,232 | bbc--2019-04-03--Unvaccinated Kentucky teen loses lawsuit over school ban | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | bbc | Unvaccinated Kentucky teen loses lawsuit over school ban | An unvaccinated Kentucky teenager has lost his legal effort to force health officials to allow him to play basketball amid a disease outbreak. Jerome Kunkel sued after students without chickenpox immunity were banned from playing sports or attending school, where 32 people were sickened. A Kentucky judge sided with the health department, saying the 18-year-old does not have a right to play sports. In a statement health officials said the decision is best for the community. The Northern Kentucky Health Department said in a statement the ruling "underscores the critical need for Public Health Departments to preserve the safety of the entire community, and in particular the safety of those members of our community who are most susceptible to the dire consequences when a serious, infectious disease such as varicella [chickenpox], is left unabated and uncontrolled". Through a lawyer, Mr Kunkel said he was "devastated" by the ruling. Mr Kunkel sued after health officials banned unvaccinated students from attending Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Walton, Kentucky after at least 32 pupils were sickened there. The teen argued that this particular vaccination goes against his religious beliefs, because aborted cells were used to derive the vaccine. Some viruses used to make vaccines are grown with cells descended from matter that was sourced from two human foetuses electively aborted in the 1960s. But no new human cells have been used since then to produce vaccines, according to health authorities and drug manufacturers. The Catholic Church has told its members it is morally justifiable to use these vaccines, though it wants alternative treatments developed without "using cell lines of illicit origin". At the conclusion of the five-hour trial, the judge cited a document signed by the plaintiff's family when they initially invoked their religious exemption. The form contained a warning: "This person may be subject to exclusion from school, group facilities or other programmes if the local and/or state public health authority advises exclusion as a disease control measure." During the case, it was revealed that only about 18% of the student body at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy had been vaccinated against childhood illnesses such as chickenpox. The statewide vaccination rate for chickenpox is 90%, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The ban, which was initiated on 14 March, came just as the school's basketball team was about to play in a statewide basketball playoff tournament. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47805751 | 2019-04-03 16:42:10+00:00 | 1,554,324,130 | 1,567,544,177 | religion and belief | religious belief |
25,984 | bbc--2019-04-18--Evidence of rabbits in UK in Roman times say academics | 2019-04-18T00:00:00 | bbc | Evidence of rabbits in UK in Roman times, say academics | Rabbits have been hopping around the UK since the Roman period, experts have been able to scientifically prove for the first time. Tests on a rabbit bone, found at Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex, have shown the animal was alive in 1AD. The 1.6in (4cm) piece of a tibia bone was found in 1964 but it remained in a box until 2017, when a zooarchaeologist realised that it came from a rabbit. Academics believe the animal could have been kept as an exotic pet. Analysis, including radiocarbon dating, was carried out by researchers at the universities of Exeter, Oxford and Leicester. Rabbits are native to Spain and France and it had been thought they were introduced to Britain during the medieval period. Prof Naomi Sykes, from the University of Exeter, said there have been many previous claims of discoveries of Roman rabbits, and even some from the Bronze Age, but they had not been backed up by evidence. "The bone fragment was very small, meaning it was overlooked for decades, and modern research techniques mean we can learn about its date and genetic background as well," she said. Researchers say they believe the rabbit was kept as a pet, as the signature in its bones suggests it ate its own faecal pellets. "When they are in a hutch they tend to eat their own poo, and that gives them a really interesting signature in their bones, wild rabbits don't do that to the same extent," said Prof Sykes. She added: "This is a tremendously exciting discovery and this very early rabbit is already revealing new insights into the history of the Easter traditions." It is not clear when, why or how the rabbit became linked to Easter. Rabbits usually give birth to a big litter of babies (called kittens), and so they became a symbol of new life. The first historical mention of an "Easter Bunny" is actually an Easter hare, and was found in a German text from 1682. Some believe the association is due to the spread of Christian religious beliefs and Paganism, when Emperor Constantine merged Pagan rituals with Christian festivals. The story of the Easter Bunny is thought to have become common in the 19th Century. Prof Sykes says that during the Victorian period hare proportions were really low, whereas the rabbit proportions were "really really high", which could explain how the hare was ditched for rabbits. Rabbits are the third most popular pet choice, behind cats and dogs, according to PDSA Animal Wellbeing Report 2018. It estimates one million are kept as pets in the country. They typically live for eight to 12 years, the RSPCA says. However, the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund says rabbits are among the most abused and neglected pets in the country because some owners don't realise what's involved before taking them on. Jane Bramley, 64, from Pontefract, west Yorkshire, has been breeding rabbits for more than 30 years and says the animals played a big part in helping her overcome two serious illnesses. She was diagnosed with cancer aged 30, shortly after the birth of her son, and it was during her recovery from life-saving surgery that her interest in rabbits started. After taking over a pet shop, she thought she could make some extra money by breeding and selling rabbits. "Having such a positive hobby to focus my energy on really boosted my recovery," she said. Ten years later when she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, she says her rabbits once again aided her recovery. "Rabbits gave me a reason to live," she said. "I had to get out of bed every day to go and see them. "I feel very strongly that my rabbits are therapy and I have devoted my life to them." Jane currently owns 72 rabbits with her husband Douglas - she has had over 240 in the past - and it takes them two hours a day to feed and water them. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47963324 | 2019-04-18 08:01:00+00:00 | 1,555,588,860 | 1,567,542,554 | religion and belief | religious belief |
26,393 | bbc--2019-04-28--Should these school clubs be kept secret from parents | 2019-04-28T00:00:00 | bbc | Should these school clubs be kept secret from parents? | Should parents be told if their children are members of gay-straight alliances - student-run peer support groups for LGBT students and allies in their school? In one Canadian province, that question has sparked fierce debate. Gay-straight alliances - or GSAs - were first established in the US in the 1980s. The student-run clubs are meant to be a place where LGBT and other students can socialise and offer peer support. Research on GSAs suggests they create a "safe space" for students at a greater risk of mental health issues and discrimination, and can reduce bullying and harassment in schools where they're established. Some 30 years after the first one was founded by a history teacher and a student at Concord Academy in Massachusetts in 1988, thousands of GSAs exist in middle and high schools across North America. Despite their proliferation, these peer support groups have also faced resistance. One protracted battle over GSAs has been playing out in the Canadian province of Alberta - an issue debated in the provincial legislature, in the courts, and in the media. The latest flare up began during the recent provincial election in the province. At issue was a policy proposed by United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Jason Kenney to undo some legal protections for the school clubs, notably one that bars school officials from telling parents if their child has joined such a group. Critics of Kenney's plan say school staff could "out" LGBT students to parents who might not be supportive of, or might even be discriminatory of, their sexuality or gender identity - with potentially damaging consequence. Kenney - whose UCP swept the election and who will soon be premier - argues his proposal is a compromise between supporting GSAs and respecting parental authority. In his election night victory speech, he said that "parents know better than politicians what is best for their kids". Alberta is not the only place GSAs have caused social friction. In the United States, where the federal Equal Access Act guarantees that public school students have a right to form GSAs, the American Civil Liberties Union says the groups have prevailed in at least 17 federal lawsuits under the act between 1998 and 2015. Most of the US lawsuits were over obstacles put in place by school officials opposed to the clubs, like making last minute changes to school rules to prevent a GSA from being established. Concerns about the activities in GSAs has also cropped up in the US, with one California student battling his school telling the BBC in 2000: "This whole thing has stopped being about my club. It's become this debate about sex". Albertan Dylan Chevalier, executive director of Sexual and Gender Acceptance Edmonton, says GSAs are about "having a place where you can be safe, relax, and take your walls down for half an hour". Chevalier was the president of a GSA at his former high school, and he said the club hosted discussions and pizza parties, held bake sales to fund LGBT awareness campaigns and once organised a "drag and dance show". Local skirmishes over the clubs have also been seen in the UK and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, which also protect a student's right to start a GSA. University of Calgary's Darren Lund, who teaches social justice education, says that the issue has always had "the potential to be polarising". He says there's been a rapid cultural shift towards a greater acceptance of LGBT issues in the last 15 years or so - one that makes some people feel "discomfort". "And then politicians are quick to jump on that fear and use that fear to play into people's insecurities about these issues," he says. In 2014, legislation was first proposed to require all the province's public schools to establish a GSA on the request of a student. The right-leaning provincial government at the time eventually passed a law - Bill 10 - establishing that protection. It received support from all the provincial political parties. Some cheered the move, but it also led to protests. Advocates argued the law didn't do enough to protect LGBT students. Others called it an infringement on freedom of religion and parental rights. In 2015, the left-leaning NDP swept to power in Alberta and added more protections for GSAs. It passed Bill 24, which required schools, both public and private, to have a policy in place to allow for it to comply "immediately" with a student's GSA request. Further, school officials would not be allowed to disclose a student's involvement such a club. "No students will be outed for joining a GSA or a QSA [queer-straight alliance] in the province - it's against the law," the provincial education minister said at the time. Schools were put on notice - if they don't follow the law they risk having accreditation and funding stripped. Lindsay Peace, who has a son who is transgender and who is an advocate for trans youth in the province, has been a vocal supporter of protecting GSAs. "I think it's important for kids to know that they belong," she says "And sometimes it's the only place [where they do]." And as for parents who want to know what their children are up to at school: "they should ask them", she says. In Alberta, the second GSA law was contentious from the get-go. "This legislation would create a void of care for our children, into which anyone can set up shop, without proper oversight or accountability," one parents rights group stated in an op-ed. The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) filed a court challenge on behalf of a coalition of parents and 26 faith-based independent schools, arguing bills 10 and 24 breach multiple constitutional rights, including by failing to protect a parent's right to educate based on his or her own conscience and religious beliefs. It says the law further "undermines parental rights by prohibiting parents from knowing if their child is being exposed to sexual content through a GSA". Court documents filed by the legal group warn that "the parents are alarmed and frightened at the climate of secrecy that the School Act has created around ideological sexual clubs and related activities". JCCF president John Carpay summed up the tension up way: "The fuss is about making these clubs mandatory in schools where the parents disagree completely with the perspective or the belief system that is being advocated by these clubs". "It's the difference between voluntary versus coercive." Kenney's proposed policy - to roll back some GSA protections but to keep Bill 10 in place - looks unlikely to satisfy either side. Says Chevalier: "He's playing a game. He's pandering to the social conservative side of his base and playing a fast one [with everyone else]." The JCCF is waiting for a court decision on whether an interim injunction it's seeking on Bill 24 will be granted. Carpay told the BBC he's uncertain whether the schools his organisation represents will want to continue with the court challenge and fight the 2015 GSA protections that would remain in place if Kenney's government does roll back Bill 24. Meanwhile, campaigners like Peace and Chevalier say they'll continue to fight for GSA protections in all Alberta schools. Peace says she thinks it's students themselves who will end up creating more inclusive schools, regardless of how fierce the GSA fight might get between parents and politicians. Calgary high school students are now organising a province-wide school walkout next month - a few days after Kenney is to take office - to protest his party's GSA plans. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47901707 | 2019-04-28 23:44:46+00:00 | 1,556,509,486 | 1,567,541,808 | religion and belief | religious belief |
26,873 | bbc--2019-05-08--Kentucky teen who sued over vaccine gets chickenpox | 2019-05-08T00:00:00 | bbc | Kentucky teen who sued over vaccine gets chickenpox | A US teenager who took legal action against his school after he was banned for refusing the chickenpox vaccination now has the virus, his lawyer says. Jerome Kunkel, 18, made headlines last month after he unsuccessfully sued his Kentucky school for barring unimmunised students amid an outbreak. His lawyer, Christopher Weist, told US media that the teen's symptoms developed last week. The student had opposed the vaccine on religious grounds. His lawsuit argued the vaccine is "immoral, illegal and sinful" and that his rights had been violated. The ban from his school, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Walton, came during an outbreak that sickened at least 32 pupils. Mr Weist told NBC News his young client did not regret his decision to remain unvaccinated. "These are deeply held religious beliefs, they're sincerely held beliefs," Mr Wiest said. "From their perspective, they always recognised they were running the risk of getting it, and they were OK with it." The Northern Kentucky Health Department excluded unvaccinated students from classes and extracurricular activities from 14 March. A Kentucky judge sided with the health department in April, saying the 18-year-old did not have a right to play sports. The teenager's father, Bill Kunkel, said the vaccines were derived from aborted foetuses, which went against his family's religious beliefs. Some viruses used to make vaccines are grown with cells descended from matter that was sourced from two human foetuses electively aborted in the 1960s. But no new human cells have been used since then to produce vaccines, according to health authorities and drug manufacturers. The Catholic Church has told its members it is morally justifiable to use these vaccines, though it wants alternative treatments developed without "using cell lines of illicit origin". Chickenpox is a highly contagious virus that causes blisters, itching and fever, though it is generally not fatal. Before a vaccine was created, about four millions Americans caught the disease each year, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Now only around 12,000 people catch it each year. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48205523 | 2019-05-08 19:54:44+00:00 | 1,557,359,684 | 1,567,540,884 | religion and belief | religious belief |
27,018 | bbc--2019-05-16--The rapes haunting a community that shuns the 21st Century | 2019-05-16T00:00:00 | bbc | The rapes haunting a community that shuns the 21st Century | In Manitoba, an insular Mennonite colony in Bolivia whose residents eschew modernity, a group of men were rounded up in 2009. Later, they were convicted of the rape and sexual assault of 151 women and girls - including small children - within this small Christian community. So why are Manitoba's leaders now lobbying to free the men from prison? Unpaved dirt roads run alongside fields of soya and sunflowers and connect the far-flung houses of Manitoba, home to 1,800 people. Treads from the iron wheels of tractors are sunk deep into the mud - rubber tyres are prohibited on motorised vehicles, deemed too modern. The hot, still air is occasionally stirred by the passing of a trotting horse pulling a buggy laden with women in wide straw hats and men in dark dungarees. This is the principal form of transport in Manitoba. For members of the colony, driving a car or motorcycle is banned and punishable by excommunication by the bishop and ministers. To outsiders, it looked like a peaceful, if mysterious, haven from the modern world. Then in June 2009 the prosecutor for the district of Santa Cruz received a call from a police officer in the eastern Bolivian town of Cotoca. "He told me, 'Doctor, some Mennonites have brought men here who they're saying are rapists,'" remembers Fredy Perez, the prosecutor who investigated the case. "The image we have of Mennonites in Bolivia is that they work from six in the morning until nine at night, they're very religious, and they don't dance or get drunk. So when I got that call from the officer, I just couldn't believe it." But in Manitoba, many people had for months - years even - lived with the knowledge that something was deeply amiss. "In the night we heard the dogs bark, but when I went out, I couldn't see anything," says Abraham (not his real name), who was the father of teenaged daughters back in 2009. "In the morning we couldn't get up because we were half anaesthetised," he recalls. "We couldn't move… We didn't know what happened, but we knew something had happened. "And it wasn't just once - they were here twice those men." While the whole family was drugged and incapacitated, all his daughters were attacked by men who broke into their home. At the time, shame prevented the girls from telling their parents. Listen to Bolivia's Mennonites, Justice and Renewal on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents at 11:00 on Thursday 16 May Or catch up later online "Due to their religious beliefs, they thought something bad, something evil was happening in the colony," says Perez. "In the morning they had headaches… Women woke with semen on them, and wondered why they were without underwear. And they didn't discuss it with neighbours in case someone said, 'That house has the devil in it.'" Eventually, some women began to speak out. And the stories multiplied. "Every day we talked about it, but we were worried about telling the authorities. We just didn't know how to resolve things," says Abraham. Although the 90 Mennonite colonies are a powerhouse of Bolivian agricultural production, most are self-governing. Mennonites have their roots in 16th-Century Germany and Holland. They are pacifists, practise adult baptism and believe they must live a simple life. They came to Bolivia seeking religious freedom, land and isolation, and arrived via Russia, Canada and Mexico - always moving on when their autonomy was threatened. But with numerous reports of sexual assault among such a tiny population, the people of Manitoba were confronted with a level of criminality so shocking that it could not be ignored. In the end, events overtook the colony. One June night a decade ago, a young man was caught inside someone's home. He was taken and held by some of the local men, and then implicated eight others - all Mennonite, all from Manitoba except one. Abraham says that before they were handed over to the Bolivian police, the men confessed and gave detailed accounts of the attacks. "They told me they'd broken in to my house and done whatever they wanted to. There were four of them." Once the story was out, his girls finally confided in their parents, confirming what the men had said. "My daughters remembered something had occurred, but they didn't know what. And they told us about pain they had had in their vaginal area and their legs," remembers Abraham. In court documents, these stories are amplified by other victims. Women and girls talk of being raped by different men one after the other; of finding a bloody rag that didn't belong to them; of trying to scream, but being unable to. So how had it happened? And why had Abraham and his children been almost unaware at the time? The substance identified in the criminal rape case and allegedly used by the attackers to immobilise victims and their families comes from tropical plants. It is well-known in Latin America, and some Mennonite farmers on the continent apparently use it to anaesthetise bulls before they are castrated. In Manitoba the men sprayed it through bedroom windows before they broke in. Its effect is dramatic, especially on memory. Someone might know something terrible has happened but be unable to recall it. Or it can render a person compliant, impotent to fight back. Margarethe (not her real name), a grandmother, sits on the terrace of her home in Manitoba. The windows are obscured by security bars, a legacy of the rapes. Margarethe's scrubbed, workers' hands are crossed on her lap, her ankles crossed beneath her chair. She speaks softly in her native Low German - a dialect hundreds of years old. Most Mennonite women and girls do not speak Spanish. Often confined to work in the home and on the farm from the age of 12 or 13, they have little contact with Bolivians, and are not taught Spanish during their few years of schooling. "I can't even put into words how terrible it was," Margarethe says, recalling that period ten years ago, when life in Manitoba was dominated by the sex attacks. "They told us it happened more than once at my house - about five women were affected. I saw some people in the dark and I shone my flashlight at them, but I didn't recognise them." After the story emerged, psychological support was offered to the rape survivors by Mennonite missionaries, among others. But the Bishop of Manitoba rejected help on the victims' behalf and was quoted in the press saying, "Why would they need counselling if they weren't even awake when it happened?" Meanwhile, the prosecutor was working to get survivors to co-operate in the forthcoming trial. "It was very difficult to get them to testify," says Perez. "Many times the women said, 'No we don't want to,' and they'd start to cry. And I would say to them, 'But if you don't co-operate, I won't have any witnesses. So the men will be acquitted, and they'll return to the colony.' That would make the women and girls cry even more. "Mennonite culture is pretty sexist. And apart from that, the women are shy, and don't want contact with the outside world." But they overcame their upset, and in 2011 the trial began. The power of the testimony she heard in the court room has stayed with Gladys Alba, one of the judges in the case: "They had the courage to confront their abusers and accuse them face to face. That's what impressed me." And she believes there may have been many more victims. "In spite of the fact there were so many in the case, there were other stories that weren't part of the process, and there was talk about men who were victims as well." Perez agrees that the numbers affected - especially related to women and girls - could be much higher. "It could be more than 200," he says. "But some of those victims remained hidden because of cultural factors. They didn't go, or weren't taken by their parents, for a forensic examination. It's hard for a Mennonite woman to get married if she's had sexual relations. So, many parents preferred to keep quiet and say, 'Nothing happened in this house.'" One of the accused escaped soon after being arrested, so eight men stood trial. In August 2011, seven were sentenced to 25 years in prison for rape. The other one - who has since been conditionally released - got 12 years for supplying the drug used to debilitate the victims. A further two men were tried and convicted in connected trials. After one of the men died, eight remain incarcerated on the outskirts of the city of Santa Cruz. In that sprawling prison complex called Palmasola, 7,000 Bolivian men are locked up behind high concrete walls. Conjugal visits are allowed, and at least two of the Mennonite convicts have found partners and started families since they were incarcerated. All of the Manitoba men continue to deny they are rapists. So why would the women and girls lie? "Simply because they were obliged to accuse us by their parents," says Franz Dyck, one of those convicted, who is 31 now. "They even took them to a school to teach them Spanish so they could accuse us directly in court. "I think we were accused because we're poor - we couldn't defend ourselves. When I was taken prisoner in Manitoba I was a virgin. I told them all the allegations were lies but they locked me inside a container, without any evidence. They threatened me, and kept me for almost a week in the colony until I was taken to a police cell." It is not unusual for prisoners to deny they committed a crime. But what is rare about this case is that Mennonites from many different sections of the community - the most liberal and the most conservative, in Bolivia and in North America - continue to air doubts about the convictions of the Manitoba men. There are different narratives. Some say the accused men were unpopular in Manitoba, and the colony paid off the Bolivian judiciary to keep them in prison. Others believe the men were fall-guys - cover for a wider culture of familial sexual abuse. Many doubt the use of that powerful narcotic spray. Perez bats off the theories and he dismisses claims the men were forced to confess to rape under threat of torture. "That was their version," says the prosecutor. "But they wrote those confessions in their own language stating which houses they broke into and who they'd raped. And what they wrote coincided with the results of forensic examinations of the victims - those same girls and women were found to have been raped in the homes the men identified." Gladys Alba has no doubts about the case she tried. "What we did was right," says the judge. "Justice was done." Today in Manitoba, on the surface at least, life remains the same. At the end of gravel drives, in front of simple homes, milk churns await collection by the colony's dairy co-operative. Men and boys work out in the fields, women and girls spend their days cooking, washing, cleaning and making the clothes prescribed by the colony's leaders. Mennonites believe it is hard work that will open the gates of heaven for them. The rules in Bolivia's old colonies are harsh. Mobile phones are burnt if they are discovered and young people may be beaten savagely for transgressions like listening to music. Even so, wrong-doing can be forgiven. This is why Manitobans like Bernard Dyck, a farmer in his 50s, would like to see the men released from prison in Palmasola. "We would welcome them back with great pleasure," he says. "And if they need anything, we'd like to help them. Our ministers always say we have to forgive, even if someone's committed a crime, that's why they've sent people to find out if the men can be freed." Unsurprisingly, the lobbying by Manitoba's leaders is creating tension within the colony. Aganetha (not her real name) is very upset, her eyes watery behind steel-rimmed glasses. And she is frightened. "A lot of people support the men in Palmasola. And if we - the victims - talk, those men in prison will hear, and families will be threatened." Mobile phones might be banned for conservative Mennonites, but inside Bolivia and internationally, this is a community that is very connected, with stories appearing on WhatsApp quickly becoming common currency. Abraham, the father of teenaged girls who were raped, is also rattled by moves to free the men. "A little while ago the men were threatening people from jail, saying what they would do when they got out," Abraham says. "The authorities of the colony want them released, and I say no, because they're continuing to make threats." Critics claim conservative Mennonite colonies often fail to distinguish between a sin and a crime, so that in instances of sexual abuse, perpetrators are forgiven if they say they are sorry. Johann Fehr, one of Manitoba's ministers, denies this. "Rape is one of the biggest sins," he says. "And it is a crime - it is not something we can resolve within the colony." But ministers are not just pushing for the release of the men from Palmasola because they believe 10 years in prison is punishment enough. Johann Fehr says some of the victims' testimony may be false. "Some of those who've come here have mentioned that many of the girls who're now adults are willing to testify in favour of the men", says Manuel Baptista, the sentencing judge for the district of Santa Cruz, who has received a steady stream of those advocating on the men's behalf. "Their sentences could be revoked if it were proven scientifically or through new evidence that the men didn't commit those crimes. But that would have to happen through a new legal case." To date, he says, there have only been inquiries - no new judicial process has begun. But is he worried women living in a very patriarchal set-up might be coerced into changing their testimonies? "We can't assume women are being pressured. This question would be better put to the judge if a new case is opened." As it stands, the men serving 25 years cannot be considered for conditional release until they have served two-thirds of their sentence - that is 16 years and eight months. Forgiveness is at the heart of Mennonite religious belief. But for some of the women of Manitoba, the colony's determination to free the men jailed a decade ago, may already represent a profound test of faith. Norwegian police have documented 151 cases of sexual abuse, including child rape, in one small community of 2,000 people, north of the Arctic circle. The offences occurred over decades - between the 1950s and 2017 - but were only recently uncovered. How could such serious sex crimes go unchecked for so long? The community of 2,000 people with 151 cases of sex crime | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-48265703 | 2019-05-16 00:09:39+00:00 | 1,557,979,779 | 1,567,540,531 | religion and belief | religious belief |
27,218 | bbc--2019-05-28--Is the world becoming more gay-friendly | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | bbc | Is the world becoming more gay-friendly? | When Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex unions, hundreds of gay people marked the occasion by registering to marry. It marked a significant change on the island, where the majority of people only relatively recently became supportive of same-sex relationships. In many other places there has also been a shift - often a rapid one - towards more liberal attitudes. For example, in 2007, one in five South Koreans said homosexuality should be accepted, -but, by 2013, that figure had doubled. Attitudes among the public also appear to have softened in other places including Argentina, Chile, the US, Australia, India and many in Western Europe. But these changes do not always mean full equality. In Taiwan, for example, the government stopped short of granting full adoption rights. Elsewhere, some nations are bringing in stricter anti-gay laws and same-sex relationships remain illegal in about 69 countries. On Friday, Kenya's High Court upheld a law banning gay sex. In some countries, opposition towards gay relationships is deeply entrenched and may be growing. For example, in Ghana, where gay sex can be punished with a prison sentence, attitudes have become even less accepting. In 2013, a poll suggested 96% of Ghanaians believe society should not accept homosexuality. Elsewhere, official punishments for gay sex may provide insights into how residents, or at least their leaders, view homosexuality. For example, Brunei recently made sex between men punishable with death through stoning, although it has since backtracked on this. Another issue is that while laws and perceived attitudes may appear to have become more relaxed in some countries, the reality may be very different for the LGBT community there. For example, while Brazil's Supreme Court has recently voted in favour of making homophobia and transphobia crimes illegal, it did so in response to a large number of killings of LGBT people. So, why does support for gay and lesbian people vary so much around the world? Studies suggest the reasons are often linked to three factors - economic development, democracy and religion. One theory is that a nation's economy shapes the attitudes of its people - including how they feel about LGBT rights. Often, poorer nations tend to be less supportive, partly because cultural values tend to focus more on basic survival. When people are concerned about things like clean water, food, shelter and safety, they can become more reliant on others. This dependency tends to promote strong group loyalty - increasing support for its norms, including "traditional" heterosexual family structures. People living in richer nations, by contrast, tend to have a lot more security. As a result, they are more likely to have freedom to make the decisions that suit them, and to believe in self-expression. Not everyone in richer countries is more tolerant of gay relationships, but the data we have indicates they tend to be more supportive. Democracy is also thought to play a role. In democracies, principles like equality, fairness, and the right to protest are more likely to form part of the actions of government and residents. As a result, people who are sometimes seen as different, like gay and lesbian individuals, may be more likely to gain acceptance. But people can need time to adapt to democracy. Compared with longer-term democracies, former communist nations such as Slovenia and Russia appear to have been slower to develop more tolerant attitudes. Another factor is the role of religion. Western Europe, with its relatively low levels of religious belief, has been at the forefront of legalising same-sex marriage. Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Spain and Sweden were among the first countries to do so. Some Middle Eastern and African nations, where Islam or conservative Protestant religious faiths are most commonly practised, have some of the least tolerant attitudes. Gay sex is illegal in almost half of the countries in Africa and Asia, with between 60% and 98% of people there saying that religion is "always important". This is much higher than in Europe, where gay sex is legal in all countries. But while richer, more democratic and less religious nations tend to be more tolerant, there are many exceptions. China, for example, has low levels of religious beliefs, but polls suggest its people are a lot less supportive of gay rights than their Taiwanese neighbours. Nations have always differed in terms of economic development, democracy and religion. So, why have attitudes and policies changed so much over the last 20 years? One suggestion is that attitudes change as older generations pass away and are replaced by younger, more liberal people. Another is that people of all different age groups may change their views and some research does suggest this has been the case. In the US and many other nations, popular culture and the media appear to have played a role in the rapid liberalisation of attitudes. From the 1990s onwards, some highly likeable gay and lesbian television characters - such as Will from Will and Grace - and TV personalities like Ellen DeGeneres began to appear. Popular culture makes it possible for people who would not necessarily know an openly gay individual to know one in a virtual sense. Real life contact is also important, as it's more difficult to dislike a gay or lesbian person who is a friend or family member. In the US, 22% of people in 1993 said they had a close friend or family member who was gay or lesbian. By 2013, 65% said that they did. In this way the "coming out" movement, which encourages people to self-disclose their sexual or gender identity, has been highly successful. More like this Nevertheless, it cannot be assumed that all countries will, sooner or later, introduce laws that are more gay-friendly. Some view being gay as a Western import, and may feel that the US and Europe are using economic power to impose their will on them. For example, in 2009 Uganda considered a bill which would have made gay sex punishable with death in some circumstances. In response, several nations threatened to cut their funding, and the World Bank postponed a $90m (£70.7m) loan. Similarly, Turkey has struggled to walk a thin line between supporting conservative Islamic views and maintaining policies that the EU would support. There is also an argument that Brunei's initial decision to introduce the death penalty for gay sex may be an attempt to appeal to Muslim tourists and investors. Elsewhere, political candidates may back harsh laws as a way to generate publicity and gain public support. Attitudes and policies in many nations have clearly been shifting. But the suggestion that more will follow in their footsteps is not a foregone conclusion. This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from an expert working for an outside organisation. Amy Adamczyk is Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Programs of Doctoral Study in Sociology and Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48337639 | 2019-05-28 23:19:01+00:00 | 1,559,099,941 | 1,567,539,987 | religion and belief | religious belief |
27,237 | bbc--2019-05-28--Pakistan vet charged with blasphemy over medicine wrapped in religious text | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | bbc | Pakistan vet charged with blasphemy over medicine 'wrapped in religious text' | A Hindu veterinary doctor in south-east Pakistan has been charged under the country's strict blasphemy laws after allegedly selling medicine wrapped in paper bearing Islamic religious text. An angry crowd set fire to his clinic near Mirpur Khas, Sindh province, and other Hindu-owned shops were looted. The vet said his use of the paper, apparently torn from an Islamic studies school textbook, was a mistake. If he is convicted he could be sentenced to life in prison. Pakistan's blasphemy laws carry harsh penalties for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say they target a disproportionate number of people from religious minorities. According to reports, the vet had used pages from the school textbook to wrap up medicines for a customer with sick livestock. But the customer saw Islamic religious content on the pages and went to a local cleric who informed police. Maulana Hafeez-ur-Rehman, a local leader of the religious political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami, told BBC Urdu that the doctor had done it deliberately. According to police, the vet has insisted that his use of the paper was a mistake. He has since been charged with insulting religious beliefs and defiling the Koran and faces life in prison. Four shops, including the vet's clinic and a medical store, were ransacked and then set alight, local journalists reported. Mirpur Khas police officer Javed Iqbal told the BBC that those involved in the attacks would be arrested. He said they had "neither love for Islam nor for their neighbours". Islam is Pakistan's national religion and public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong. Correspondents say hardline politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base. Hundreds of Pakistani citizens have been charged with blasphemy over the past few decades and some cases have triggered an international outcry. Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours. She spent years on death row until her conviction was overturned in 2018 by the Supreme Court. She has since left the country. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48438333 | 2019-05-28 16:00:43+00:00 | 1,559,073,643 | 1,567,539,987 | religion and belief | religious belief |
27,247 | bbc--2019-05-28--The preachers getting rich from poor Americans | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | bbc | The preachers getting rich from poor Americans | Televangelist Todd Coontz has a well-worn routine: he dresses in a suit, pulls out a Bible and urges viewers to pledge a very specific amount of money. "Don't delay, don't delay," he urges, calmly but emphatically. It sounds simple, absurdly so, but Coontz knows his audience extremely well. He broadcasts on Christian cable channels, often late into the night, drawing in viewers who lack financial literacy and are desperate for change. "I understand the laws that govern insurance, stocks and bonds and all that is involved with Wall Street," he once said, looking directly into the camera. "God has called me… as a financial deliverer." Crucially, he always refers to the money as a "seed" - a $273 seed, a $333 seed, a "turnaround" seed, depending on the broadcast. If viewers "plant" one, the amount will come back to them, multiplied, he says. It is an investment in their faith and their future. In 2011, one of those desperate viewers was Larry Fardette, then based in California. Larry watched a lot of similar televangelists, known as prosperity preachers, who explicitly link wealth and religion. But he found Coontz particularly compelling. He assured quick returns. He seemed like a results man. The Fardette family was going through a tough time. Larry's daughter was seriously ill and he had health problems of his own. His construction business was struggling, and to make matters worse both his van and his car broke down irreparably within the same week. When a local junkyard offered him $600 for the van, he thumbed the bills thoughtfully and remembered Coontz's rousing speech. Maybe he should invest the sum as a "seed"? He instantly recalled the specific number that Coontz had repeated again and again: $273. It was a figure the preacher often used. "God gave me the single greatest miracle of my lifetime in one day, and the numbers two, seven and three were involved," he once said. It is also - perhaps not coincidentally - the number of Coontz's $1.38m condo in South Carolina, paid for by his church, Rockwealth, according to local TV channel WSOC-TV. Larry has now come to realise there was no foundation to Coontz's promises that donated cash would multiply, but at the time the stirring speeches gave him hope. He did not see any other way out. He sent off two cheques: one for $273 and another for $333, as requested. Then he waited for his miracle. Televangelists are not as talked about today as they were in the 1980s and 1990s, when many rose to fame and fortune through mushrooming cable channels. But they have never gone away. Even after numerous press exposés, the rogue elements have often bounced back. Some have got even richer. Many have taken their appeals on to social media. A number of those making the most persistent pleas for money tap into something called the prosperity gospel, which hinges on a belief that your health and wealth are controlled by God, and God is willing you to be prosperous. Believers are encouraged to show their faith through payments, which they understand will be repaid - many times over - either in the form of wealth or healing. For followers, it is a way to make sense of sickness and poverty. It can feel empowering and inspiring amid despair. The hard-up donors are often not oblivious to the preachers' personal wealth - though they may not know the extent of it - but they take the riches as a sign of a direct connection with God. If seed payments have worked for them, maybe they can work for you too? And if the seeds never flourish? Some are told their faith is not strong enough, or they have hidden sin. In Larry's case, he often interpreted small pieces of good fortune - a gift of groceries from a neighbour, or the promise of a few extra hours of work for his wife, Darcy - as evidence of fruition. He estimates he gave about $20,000 to these operators over the years. A little here, a little there. A few years ago, he started tallying it all up. The list is like a who's who of all the established players, including those who have made headlines for their lavish lifestyles - those such as Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar, who have asked followers to fund their private jets. Larry's own life could not stand in greater contrast. These days he and Darcy live in the small town of Cullman, Alabama, about an hour's drive north of Birmingham. Their spartan living room is furnished with just a desk and four dining-room chairs. The monotony of the wall's bare magnolia paint is broken only by a couple of mounted crosses and a small, framed Biblical verse. "Be anxious for nothing," it reads (Philippians 4:6). "Life is not easy but we are blessed," says Larry, in a rasping, lived-in voice. "We have food in the refrigerator, we have two cats that love us. My wife's got part-time work in a store and I get disability benefits." Larry's painting and remodelling business fell apart when scoliosis started twisting his spine about eight years ago - roughly the same time he scrapped his van and car and made his donation to Todd Coontz. He and Darcy still lived then in his home state, California, and employed former drug users as workers. He was an ex-addict himself, and his Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous sessions had strengthened his religious beliefs. After deciding to "follow Christ's path", he became an avid viewer of religious channels and specifically "praisathons" - fundraising events with multiple guest speakers. He became, in his words, "hypnotised" by the hosts. He was not just a passive spectator, he felt like he knew them. Many of these pastors also ran prayer lines - where callers would speak one-on-one with an operator and they would pray together. If a request for money followed, Larry was happy to contribute - even if he did not have much to give. He was under the impression that the money was going to worthy projects at home and abroad, and he hoped that if he were ever in a desperate position, he would be helped too. In 2013, that moment came. His daughter's health, which had long been poor, had become critical. Larry had promised to help her financially, but his "seeds" had not flourished. He wrote a heart-wrenching, five-page letter to several ministries he had contributed to over the years, pleading for help. "We had been faithful to these ministries. They called us partners, friends, family," he explains today. "We thought they'd be there for us." In the letter, he detailed how his daughter's health insurance would not cover the extensive and costly treatment she needed. One doctor had suggested they waited for her organs to fail, as only then would he be able to intervene. "As a father, I am presently helpless," he wrote. "Would you please consider sponsorship to save our daughter's life?" The replies drifted in. Some were instant email responses, others came through the post after prompting. All were rejections. "They said things like, 'Our ministry mandate prevents us from helping you,'" he recalls. He remembers the reaction of one specific office manager, from a ministry that had publicised its funding of medical treatments in the US: "In a haughty voice, she took a deep breath and said: 'You know we get six or seven of these calls a week and if we help you, we are going to have to help everyone.'" By summer 2014, Larry and Darcy had exhausted all their funds. They had sold all their belongings to travel from California to Florida to be with their daughter, and ended up homeless. Wracked with guilt for having failed to provide the promised help to his daughter, Larry couldn't understand why he had been let down. It took another year for things to become clear. In August 2015, the couple were channel-hopping in a Jacksonville motel room, when they caught an episode of John Oliver's satirical news show, Last Week Tonight. "I never watched John Oliver. I had never even heard of the guy," says Larry. But his attention was immediately caught by a skit that ripped into money-grabbing televangelists. Larry and Darcy sat up in shock, recognising all the names. They say they felt as though God was lifting a veil. "We had been so ignorant," Larry says, shaking his head. The next morning they went to a local library to find out more online. In just a few clicks, they came across the Texas-based Trinity Foundation, which had assisted Last Week Tonight with its research. Larry called the phone number, slightly apprehensively, not sure whether a friendly voice would pick up. The man on the other end listened patiently as Larry reeled off the names of the preachers he had come to know. He told him they knew every single one of them. Not only that, they kept files on most of them, detailing what was known of their estimated fortunes. Stunned, Larry stayed on the line talking through his experiences, relieved to find someone who understood. In its early days, in the 1970s, the Trinity Foundation was a wild place. It was a home church but far from the twee set-up you might imagine. Here Bible classes were so fiery they could end in fist fights. The dominant figure was the foundation's extraordinary creator, Ole Anthony (pronounced Oh-lee). At 6ft 4in, with penetrating blue eyes, he was a former teenage delinquent who had dabbled in arson and taken heroin - and had gone on to become an Air Force intelligence officer, a failed Republican election candidate and the owner of a PR firm, all before the age of 33. Then he underwent a sudden religious conversion, renounced wealth and devoted his life to Christ. A friend, John Bloom, later wrote that Ole had assumed old business colleagues would join his Bible study groups. "But Ole was a little too 'out there' for most three-piece-suit North Dallas Protestants," Bloom explained. He was also based in a "fleabag office" in a rough part of town. Consequently, he mostly attracted troubled characters with nowhere else to go. It was during these sessions that Ole started to note a common thread. When people were on the verge of homelessness in the heart of the Bible belt, a surprising number offered the last of their cash to televangelists who promised them financial salvation. Ole, who always had a have-a-go approach to problem-solving, felt an urge to step in. First, he tried approaching the ministries on behalf of the penniless donors, thinking he could explain the circumstances and get the money refunded. However, like Larry, he found no-one willing to talk. So he took it to a Christian broadcasting association - but it didn't want to get involved. Then he approached local district attorneys, who explained that many preachers were protected by the First Amendment (guaranteeing freedom of religion and free speech), so there was nothing they could do. So he turned back to the media, this time major networks and publications, which said investigations would be too time-consuming. Ole was faced with a multibillion-dollar industry built, as he saw it, on exploiting the poor - and it was completely untouchable. And this is how a community church became an investigations office. The Trinity Foundation felt compelled to tackle the prosperity preachers because no-one else would. It is hard to imagine brawls at the foundation these days. Most of its members are at retirement age - Ole himself is 80, and in failing health - and the operation has moved from its "fleabag" office to two adjacent houses in a sleepy part of east Dallas. On one side is the gentrifying Junius Heights neighbourhood, on the other rows of slightly run-down bungalows. Every day there is an early-morning Bible study session, a group dinner at 5pm, and more theology in the evening, including prayers with guitar-led hymns. The mixed bunch of devotees now includes a Mexican economist and a veteran of Desert Storm. "Our members have taken over a whole block," says Ole incredulously, as he smokes a pipe on the front porch. Their semi-communal way of living has led to allegations that they are a cult, but he dismisses this as nonsense. "A lot of people don't like me, you know," he says, more than once. Ole's dogged work has steered the foundation into an unusual niche, forming a bridge between the Christian world and the media. Though journalists originally pushed him away, they later found his foundation could provide the springboard for their investigations. Gradually it morphed into a watchdog, maintaining detailed files on wealthy evangelists. "We have done a lot of weird things," Ole concedes, between hacking coughs. Over the years, they have gained a reputation for their gung-ho approach - diving into dumpsters outside ministry offices, in search of potentially incriminating paperwork, and going undercover. Collaborating with ABC News in the early 1990s, Ole posed as a small-scale pastor trying to learn how big-money ministries work. Accompanied by a producer with hidden cameras, he went to a mailing company working for televangelist Robert Tilton and was told how posting gimmicky gifts to potential donors had boosted returns. It was a well-known technique - sending things such as "vial of holy water" or even dollar bills to prompt people to send a financial gift back - but it was rare to hear someone admitting it. When the TV reports aired on Diane Sawyer's Primetime Live show in 1991, Tilton denied wrongdoing and attempted to sue the network - but he failed and his TV shows were eventually cancelled. A couple of years later, the Federal Communications Commission reportedly came close to introducing a "truth-in-advertising" clause for religious solicitations. This would have meant that any claims of boosting finances or curing disease would have to be verifiable, and Ole took various trips to Washington to lobby for it. Ultimately the idea was dropped, which Ole puts down to the fact that the Republicans won the House of Representatives in 1994, with the help of votes from the religious right. "We've tried a lot of things, but we haven't been very successful," he says, ruefully. He doesn't think much will ever change, but asked if this makes him frustrated or angry, he laughs. "Why would I make myself angry? That is all there is in this world, injustice." Pete Evans - a bespectacled believer with a gentle, apologetic manner - is now the foundation's lead investigator. One of his specialities is tracking the movements of private jets, aiming to discover when pastors are using them recreationally, instead of for church business. Pete took Larry's first phone call. He remembers being moved by it, and starting a crowdfunding page for him. It raised about $2,000. "Less than what we had hoped for, but enough to tide them over," he wrote on the website at the time. Pete says that just over a decade ago there was great excitement within the foundation, when the US Senate's Finance Committee began to question whether evangelists were taking advantage of their tax-exempt status to break Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines. While other tax-exempt organisations - notably charities - must at least fill in a basic form, known as the 990, churches don't have to. This means they are not required to detail their top employees' earnings or list how much is spent on philanthropic projects. Their inner workings can be entirely unknown. But in 2007 the Senate committee appeared to think that some ministries were abusing this privilege and violating an IRS rule that church earnings may not "unreasonably benefit" an individual. The Trinity Foundation shared all its research with the committee, and attended meetings with its officials. The group - led by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley - decided to focus on six well-known figures: Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and Paula White - who is now President Trump's spiritual adviser. All six denied wrongdoing. Four failed to co-operate satisfactorily, according to the committee (White, Copeland, Dollar and Long). Larry had donated to three of them. "We really thought it was going to come to something," says Pete. Yet by 2011, the investigation had lost steam. Senator Grassley drew no specific conclusions. Instead he asked an evangelical group - the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) - to study ways to spur "self-reform" among ministries. "The whole thing frittered away," says Pete. He believes the 2008 economic crash played a part; the financial world suddenly had much bigger issues to deal with. "But we were extremely disappointed. After years of hanging on, it felt like they just punted the ball." The ECFA refused a BBC request for an interview, but said it stood by past statements on its website. In 2009, it told Senator Grassley that filing full tax returns would be an "intrusion on the most intimate recesses of church administration". The Senate committee has shown no sign of taking up the subject again, and no government agency has taken a strong interest in it. Paid-for television channels also fall outside the remit of the national regulator, the Federal Communications Commission - unlike in the UK, where Ofcom might step in. Meanwhile, an anonymous source at the IRS told the BBC that the service feels its hands are often tied. "We can't knock on doors because then it is 'government overreach'," he said. "And if you think someone is going to thank you for closing down their church..." But, although it is rare, sometimes a pastor does come within the IRS's sights. In 2013, one of Todd Coontz's neighbours called a local TV channel to complain that he was taking up too many spaces in the car park outside his luxury South Carolina apartment block. "He was not a known name around here," says Kim Holt, who runs the investigations unit at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina. "But the caller then started mentioning Coontz's church and the 'seed' giving. And that's when we got interested." The channel got in touch with the Trinity Foundation, which provided background on Coontz and the prosperity gospel. The foundation also shared recordings of his TV appearances - it keeps an archive of televangelist broadcasts, taking notes on the programmes to monitor new techniques. "There is a peculiar thing about people turning the TV on in the middle of the night," says Pete, adding that this is when many pastors broadcast their pleas for seed donations. "They are lonely or hurting. They might have medical condition or be unemployed." When WSOC-TV's report on Coontz aired, it went far beyond the parking dispute, detailing his personal wealth and casting doubt on the legitimacy of his fundraising tactics. Todd Coontz is not in the same league as some of the other prosperity preachers. He does not have a megachurch, a private airfield or even his own jet. He preaches at other people's live events, rather than holding them under his own name. But his lifestyle is certainly opulent. He has posted photos on Facebook of his stays in hotel rooms overlooking Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. He has spent tens of thousands on jewellery and diamonds. He also has, or at least had, a fleet of luxury cars, including three BMWs, two Ferraris, a Maserati and a Land Rover, plus a speed boat. Meanwhile, he has continued to target his operations at those on the breadline. Under the title Dr Todd Coontz, he has written a series of books: Please Don't Repo My Car, Supernatural Debt Calculation, There Is Life After Debt. In the same year as the TV report aired, a federal probe led by the IRS criminal investigation unit also began. "That certainly does not seem like a coincidence," says Pete. "I think someone saw the report and thought, 'This is crazy. We can't let this go.' It was such a public display of the misuse of donor money." The IRS did not delve into his "seed" operations or his tax-exempt church, Rockwealth, but into his taxes for various personal side projects. He was making large profits from freelancing as a speaker for other ministries and his two for-profit businesses, selling his books, CDs and DVDs. For these, he had needed to file accurate tax returns. During a four-year investigation, prosecutors dug up all sorts of irregularities, ruling that Coontz had been underreporting his income and exploiting expenses claims. He had developed various ploys, such as flying economy but sending fake first-class invoices to the ministries he was freelancing for, so he could pocket the difference. He would also claim expenses twice, once from his own ministry and once from his client. He claimed for thousands of dollars spent on clothes (suits are not a permitted business expense) and for 400 cinema tickets, which the IRS also considered unreasonable. On 26 January 2019, Coontz was sentenced to five years in prison for failing to pay taxes and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. He was also ordered to pay $755,669 in restitution. He reported to jail in early April, but was freed by the judges, pending appeal. Coontz did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but he has previously denied wrongdoing. On his website, he also claims to have given more than $1m to charity. His Twitter account is still posting daily (with no reference to his jail sentence) and he has taken to preaching - via the Periscope app - from the front seat of his Maserati. "Are you calling to sow your $219 seed today?" was the immediate response when the BBC called Rockwealth's hotline. The operator was not able to share the significance of that figure and would not answer questions about how many people had called to pledge. "Not so many today, but there are several of us answering calls," she said. It is not clear whether the switchboard was serving only Rockwealth or other churches too. The Trinity Foundation has recently filed a long report to the IRS, calling for Rockwealth to lose its status as a tax-exempt church. As always, it feels like a shot in the dark and it does not expect to hear back. Both Ole and Pete says the work they do often falls flat - and not through a lack of effort at their end. They once helped a woman get her $1,000 donation back from a ministry, only for her to donate it all over again. "She called us afterwards, asking to get it back again," recalls Pete, saying they had to decline the second time. "My feeling is she was addicted. She just got hooked back on to the TV and believing what they said." Ole remains disappointed that the authorities still allow the vulnerable to fall into these traps. "We hoped for change," says Ole. "But it didn't work. I guess they didn't want change." As for Larry and Darcy, they are also still donating, despite their meagre income, but only to their local church. "Plant your investment of your time, talent and money into the local community and you are going to find people who need help," says Larry, adding that he knows his neighbourhood pastor personally. Their daughter is alive, but, after Larry was unable to pay for her medical treatment, a rift arose between them and they now rarely talk. The couple say they want to share their story with others to make them think twice about where their money could be going. "We found out the hard way. These are money-making industries," says Larry vehemently. Darcy, sitting on one of the dining room chairs in the middle of the empty room, nods in agreement. "You have got to see some of the houses they live in," she adds, pursing her lips together. "Must be nice." | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-47675301 | 2019-05-28 23:17:10+00:00 | 1,559,099,830 | 1,567,539,987 | religion and belief | religious belief |
28,637 | bbc--2019-07-04--China Muslims Xinjiang schools used to separate children from families | 2019-07-04T00:00:00 | bbc | China Muslims: Xinjiang schools used to separate children from families | China is deliberately separating Muslim children from their families, faith and language in its far western region of Xinjiang, according to new research. At the same time as hundreds of thousands of adults are being detained in giant camps, a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools is under way. Based on publicly available documents, and backed up by dozens of interviews with family members overseas, the BBC has gathered some of the most comprehensive evidence to date about what is happening to children in the region. Records show that in one township alone more than 400 children have lost not just one but both parents to some form of internment, either in the camps or in prison. Formal assessments are carried out to determine whether the children are in need of "centralised care". Alongside the efforts to transform the identity of Xinjiang's adults, the evidence points to a parallel campaign to systematically remove children from their roots. China's tight surveillance and control in Xinjiang, where foreign journalists are followed 24 hours a day, make it impossible to gather testimony there. But it can be found in Turkey. In a large hall in Istanbul, dozens of people queue to tell their stories, many of them clutching photographs of children, all now missing back home in Xinjiang. "I don't know who is looking after them," one mother says, pointing to a picture of her three young daughters, "there is no contact at all." Another mother, holding a photo of three sons and a daughter, wipes away her tears. "I heard that they've been taken to an orphanage," she says. In 60 separate interviews, in wave after wave of anxious, grief-ridden testimony, parents and other relatives give details of the disappearance in Xinjiang of more than 100 children. They are all Uighurs - members of Xinjiang's largest, predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has long had ties of language and faith to Turkey. Thousands have come to study or to do business, to visit family, or to escape China's birth control limits and the increasing religious repression. But over the past three years, they have found themselves trapped after China began detaining hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other minorities in giant camps. The Chinese authorities say the Uighurs are being educated in "vocational training centres" in order to combat violent religious extremism. But evidence shows that many are being detained for simply expressing their faith - praying or wearing a veil - or for having overseas connections to places like Turkey. For these Uighurs, going back means almost certain detention. Phone contact has been severed - even speaking to relatives overseas is now too dangerous for those in Xinjiang. With his wife detained back home, one father tells me he fears some of his eight children may now be in the care of the Chinese state. "I think they've been taken to child education camps," he says. New research commissioned by the BBC sheds light on what is really happening to these children and many thousands of others. Dr Adrian Zenz is a German researcher widely credited with exposing the full extent of China's mass detentions of adult Muslims in Xinjiang. Based on publicly available official documents, his report paints a picture of an unprecedented school expansion drive in Xinjiang. Campuses have been enlarged, new dormitories built and capacity increased on a massive scale. Significantly, the state has been growing its ability to care full-time for large numbers of children at precisely the same time as it has been building the detention camps. And it appears to be targeted at precisely the same ethnic groups. In just one year, 2017, the total number of children enrolled in kindergartens in Xinjiang increased by more than half a million. And Uighur and other Muslim minority children, government figures show, made up more than 90% of that increase. As a result, Xinjiang's pre-school enrolment level has gone from below the national average to the highest in China by far. In the south of Xinjiang alone, an area with the highest concentration of Uighur populations, the authorities have spent an eye watering $1.2bn on the building and upgrading of kindergartens. Mr Zenz's analysis suggests that this construction boom has included the addition of large amounts of dormitory space. Xinjiang's education expansion is driven, it appears, by the same ethos as underlies the mass incarceration of adults. And it is clearly affecting almost all Uighur and other minority children, whether their parents are in the camps or not. In 2018 work began on a site for two new boarding schools in Xinjiang's southern city of Yecheng (known as Kargilik in Uighur). Dragging the slider reveals the pace of construction - the two middle schools, separated by a shared sports field, are each three times larger than the national average and were built in little more than a year. In April last year, the county authorities relocated 2,000 children from the surrounding villages into yet another giant boarding middle school, Yecheng County Number 4. Government propaganda extols the virtues of boarding schools as helping to "maintain social stability and peace" with the "school taking the place of the parents." And Mr Zenz suggests there is a deeper purpose. "Boarding schools provide the ideal context for a sustained cultural re-engineering of minority societies," he argues. Just as with the camps, his research shows that there is now a concerted drive to all but eliminate the use of Uighur and other local languages from school premises. Individual school regulations outline strict, points-based punishments for both students and teachers if they speak anything other than Chinese while in school. And this aligns with other official statements claiming that Xinjiang has already achieved full Chinese language teaching in all of its schools. Speaking to the BBC, Xu Guixiang, a senior official with Xinjiang's Propaganda Department, denies that the state is having to care for large numbers of children left parentless as a result. "If all family members have been sent to vocational training then that family must have a severe problem," he says, laughing. "I've never seen such a case." But perhaps the most significant part of Mr Zenz's work is his evidence that shows that the children of detainees are indeed being channelled into the boarding school system in large numbers. There are the detailed forms used by local authorities to log the situations of children with parents in vocational training or in prison, and to determine whether they need centralised care. Mr Zenz found one government document that details various subsidies available to "needy groups", including those families where "both a husband and a wife are in vocational training". And a directive issued to education bureaus by the city of Kashgar that mandates them to look after the needs of students with parents in the camps as a matter of urgency. Schools should "strengthen psychological counselling", the directive says, and "strengthen students' thought education" - a phrase that finds echoes in the camps holding their parents. It is clear that the effect of the mass internments on children is now viewed as a significant societal issue, and that some effort is going into dealing with it, although it is not something the authorities are keen to publicise. Some of the relevant government documents appear to have been deliberately hidden from search engines by using obscure symbols in place of the term "vocational training". That said, in some instances the adult detention camps have kindergartens built close by, and, when visiting, Chinese state media reporters have extolled their virtues. These boarding schools, they say, allow minority children to learn "better life habits" and better personal hygiene than they would at home. Some children have begun referring to their teachers as "mummy". We telephoned a number of local Education Bureaus in Xinjiang to try to find out about the official policy in such cases. Most refused to speak to us, but some gave brief insights into the system. We asked one official what happens to the children of those parents who have been taken to the camps. "They're in boarding schools," she replied. "We provide accommodation, food and clothes… and we've been told by the senior level that we must look after them well." In the hall in Istanbul, as the stories of broken families come tumbling out, there is raw despair and deep resentment too. "Thousands of innocent children are being separated from their parents and we are giving our testimonies constantly," one mother tells me. "Why does the world keep silent when knowing these facts?" Back in Xinjiang, the research shows that all children now find themselves in schools that are secured with "hard isolation closed management measures." Many of the schools bristle with full-coverage surveillance systems, perimeter alarms and 10,000 Volt electric fences, with some school security spending surpassing that of the camps. The policy was issued in early 2017, at a time when the detentions began to be dramatically stepped up. Was the state, Mr Zenz wonders, seeking to pre-empt any possibility on the part of Uighur parents to forcibly recover their children? "I think the evidence for systematically keeping parents and children apart is a clear indication that Xinjiang's government is attempting to raise a new generation cut off from original roots, religious beliefs and their own language," he tells me. "I believe the evidence points to what we must call cultural genocide." | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48825090 | 2019-07-04 21:01:08+00:00 | 1,562,288,468 | 1,567,536,901 | religion and belief | religious belief |
29,590 | bbc--2019-08-06--What happens to a body donated to science | 2019-08-06T00:00:00 | bbc | What happens to a body donated to science? | A man who donated his mother's body to what he thought was Alzheimer's research learned later it was used to test explosives. So what does happen when your body is donated to medical science? Last week new details of a lawsuit emerged against The Biological Resource Centre in Arizona following an FBI raid in 2014 in which gruesome remains of hundreds of discarded body parts were discovered. The now closed centre is accused of illegally selling body parts against the donors wishes. Newly unreleased court documents revealed that families of those whose bodies had been donated to the centre said they believed their relatives remains would be used for medical and scientific research. Jim Stauffer is one of the multiple plaintiffs suing the centre. He told Phoenix station ABC 15 he believed his mother's donated body would be used to study Alzheimer's, a disease she had, but he later found out it was used by the military to examine the effects of explosives. He says on the paperwork he was given by the centre he specifically ticked 'no' when asked if he consented to the body being used to test explosives. So how does the body donation business operate in the US and what expectations do people have about these facilities? While organ donation is regulated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, body donation remains an unregulated industry. Buying and selling bodies is a felony but what is permissible is charging a "reasonable" amount to "process" a body, this includes the removal, storage transportation, or disposing of it. What constitutes a "reasonable" amount is also open to interpretation. Facilities are largely able to set up their own internal practices and policies. There is also no known national or global register to account for how many bodies are donated for medical research each year. But it's estimated thousands of people in the US donate bodies for education or research, believing their actions are charitable and the bodies will be used for medical science. University body donation centres will mostly use cadavers to teach medical students and many such as The University of California are committed to operating a transparent programme. Others like the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility, known as "The Body Farm", operate more specific practices like teaching forensic teams how bodies decompose. Brandi Schmitt, executive director of anatomical services at the University of California, told the BBC that what happens to a donated body depends on the kind of centre it goes to. "Anyone considering donation for education and research should ensure they know the purpose of the organisations to which they are donating. "Whether it is an academic institution, a state anatomy board, a private company, etc. and what they are giving their gift in support of." Schmitt says the regulations that currently exist are not sufficient enough to protect donors and those working in medical science. "The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) was written by the Uniform Law Commission and is a state-level law that may be modified by the state. "It governs how to and who can make, amend and revoke an anatomical gift as well as the general type of gift use. Such as transplant and clinical therapy and education and research. "It does not address consent disclosures, specific uses, transfers, tracking, most aspects of final disposition or profit model." "The lack of more specific regulation and the variability has led to where we are currently with some tragic abuses of a donor or family's intent to make a positive impact through their gift. "Existing regulatory codes should be enforced, and I believe its beyond time for additional regulation including a clear authorisation and consent process so donors and families can make an informed choice," she says. In addition to the UAGA there are also other guidelines on how bodies should be handled after donation, such as those from the American Association of Anatomists. It says: "Body Donation Programs should clearly describe the use of cadavers as it relates to institutional and educational needs." The American Association of Tissue Banks is an accrediting organisation in the industry although accreditation is not mandatory. The Biological Research Centre in Arizona was not thought to be accredited and also operated as a for-profit business. It offered free transportation services to pick up bodies and free cremation making it appealing to low income families. Its owner Stephen Gore pleaded guilty in 2015 but was sentenced to serve probation. A number of families are now suing him and the company for mishandling bodies and not abiding by the promises made in their consent forms. "People considering donation may be in a vulnerable state and it's wrong to exploit their grief or intent," Schmitt says. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) license and inspect organisations where bodies are donated for medical research. There are about 19 institutions around the UK which accept body donations, with people usually choosing the nearest one to their home or to an area they are originally from. People are referred to an institution through the HTA's website or by their GP, solicitor or local authority. In other countries, religious beliefs may impact upon decisions to donate a body for medical research. For example in some African countries even organ donation is a taboo, and desecration of the body is considered contrary to some religious teachings. In Qatar a hospital where human body parts are imported for cutting-edge medical science research has been operating for 12 years. Aspetar opened in 2007 and created the Visiting Surgeons Programme as a postgraduate experience for doctors from all over the world. Surgeons there do not use replica body parts but "specimens". In a highly bureaucratic process that involves the joint work of six government ministries, real human body parts (mostly shoulders, knees, ankles and torsos) are imported to Aspetar, with most of the supply coming from the United States. Although the gruesome details at the Biological Resource Centre in Arizona has drawn attention to the body donation industry, the practice itself is considered invaluable in understanding the human body. One of the most notable cases is that of Susan Potter. In 2015 the elderly woman from Denver donated her body to Dr Vic Spitzer from the University of Colorado for his Visible Human Project, a programme that transforms human cadavers into virtual specimens. Susan's body was frozen and cut into 27,000 hair thin slices. Each section was photographed and Potter is now known as an "immortal corpse" as the images are virtually stacked and rendered into a full 3D image of her body. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49198405 | 2019-08-06 18:40:26+00:00 | 1,565,131,226 | 1,567,534,741 | religion and belief | religious belief |
30,282 | bbc--2019-08-29--US hospital forced Catholic nurse to assist with abortion | 2019-08-29T00:00:00 | bbc | US hospital 'forced' Catholic nurse to assist with abortion | The US government has accused a hospital in Vermont of violating the civil rights of a nurse by forcing her to help carry out an abortion. The nurse, who has not been named, said she told the hospital that she could not take part in pregnancy terminations because of her religious beliefs. Health workers are protected under federal law from discrimination based on their religious or moral beliefs. The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMC) denies the allegations. According to a complaint filed by the nurse's lawyers, she was at first misled about the nature of the procedure to believe it was related to a miscarriage. When she was told it was an abortion, she asked if another member of staff could assist but her request was refused. She reluctantly took part in the procedure and "has been haunted by nightmares ever since", the complaint says. The incident took place in 2017 and the nurse, who is a Catholic, no longer works at the hospital. On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services warned UVMC that it had 30 days to comply with civil rights law or it could face funding cuts. "This should never happen in America," the director of the department's civil rights office, Roger Severino, told reporters. The US government agency issued a notice of violation against the hospital for "discriminating against healthcare personnel who have religious or moral objections to abortion". This is the first action of its kind since the department created a conscience and religious freedom division last year. The Trump administration has supported religious freedom measures. In a statement, the hospital said the allegations "were not supported by the facts". "We do not discriminate against any employees for exercising their rights to opt out of procedures to which they object," it said. It added: "The University of Vermont Medical Center has robust, formal protections that safeguard both our employees' religious, ethical and cultural beliefs, and our patients' rights to access safe and legal abortion." | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49515372 | 2019-08-29 17:43:09+00:00 | 1,567,114,989 | 1,567,543,580 | religion and belief | religious belief |
30,324 | bbc--2019-08-31--Mat Dan I became an accidental celebrity 6000 miles from home | 2019-08-31T00:00:00 | bbc | Mat Dan: 'I became an accidental celebrity 6,000 miles from home' | As soon as Mohammed Kareef Daniel Abdullah steps out of his front door in Malaysia's capital, it doesn't take long before heads start turning and for his nickname to be shouted. "People say 'Look, look it's Mat Dan!'" his mother says, adding that only some muster the courage to ask for a selfie. Whether it's starring in his own primetime travel programme, hosting his breakfast radio show or appearing on billboards advertising tours to Mecca, Mat Dan is big news in Malaysia. It's not the usual path for an Englishman born Daniel Tyler. Growing up in the middle-class town of Cheltenham in the English Cotswolds, Dan's upbringing was nothing out of the ordinary. He wasn't the biggest fan of school but excelled at cricket, representing Gloucestershire at youth level. But by his mid-teens, cricket had taken a back seat as Dan discovered music and partying. He dropped out of college and could usually be found in the pub or working in a clothes shop. In 2008, Dan had saved enough money for a backpacking trip to South-East Asia with some friends, including myself. Although he came back to the UK after just a couple of months, he decided to return to the region later that year. Little did he know that the decision to return would change his life forever. Dan wound up on the tiny island of Pulau Kapas on Malaysia's east coast. Rather than just spending his time travelling with Western backpackers, Dan decided to immerse himself among locals on the island. It didn't take long for him to start picking up the local language - what he thought was bahasa Malay, the main language of Malaysia. But on a trip to Kuala Lumpur, a shop assistant couldn't understand him. The penny then dropped that he had actually been learning a local dialect called Terengganu - spoken by about a million natives of Terengganu state. He was initially disheartened. "I was like: 'I'm screwed if I go anywhere else,'" he says. But his accidental mastery of this Malay dialect ended up being the making of him. A buzz had already started to build around Dan in Terengganu state as word spread of a young Englishman who had embraced the local language and way of life. But when a student from Kuala Lumpur secretly filmed Dan speaking Terengganu, the video clocked up hundreds of thousands of views across Malaysia on YouTube. A TV crew from the capital came knocking and asked if he wanted to try his hand in front of the camera. After realising he had a knack for presenting, Dan was offered his own primetime travel series: Haramain Backpackers - Trans Siberian. Once the programme aired, Dan's life changed almost overnight. He is now recognised everywhere he goes and has 838,000 followers on Instagram. After a second series, Dan started branching out. He bagged his own cooking show despite not being able to cook. He began hosting a radio show on Manis FM and is now a regular fixture on Malaysian chat shows. "Every shop, every meal, every road crossed you hear an echo of shouts 'Hey Mat Dan, Mat Dan!', which would almost always end with a series of selfies with strangers," says his friend Daniel Beames, who visited him in late 2017. While initially revelling in his friend's new-found fame, Daniel said he started to find it tiring after a few days. "All the attention would be very time consuming and not necessarily ideal when trying to get things done," he said. Tun Faisal, district officer for Marang in Terengganu state, said it wasn't just Dan's use of Terengganese slang that set him apart from other foreigners fluent in Malay. "His understanding of both the Malay language and culture makes him a unique personality in Malaysia," Faisal says. "I think his greatest success is that he has linked himself closely with Terengganu, and whenever people see him, they see Terengganu." While in Malaysia, Dan also converted to Islam and met his Muslim wife Nurnadifa. He won't take on jobs that conflict with his religious beliefs, for example, if he was asked to emcee an event sponsored by an alcohol brand or if an acting job required a romantic scene with another woman. While most of the attention is positive, he has encountered criticism from what he calls Malaysia's "keyboard warriors". "A lot of people say they know hundreds of foreign workers who come over here and speak Malay in two or three months and they don't turn into a celebrity," Dan says. "They say: 'What's the difference between Mat Dan and a Bangladeshi worker who can speak Malay?'" Some of the criticism has come from religious conservatives. While most of his followers in the Muslim-majority country have welcomed his conversion to Islam, some have taken issue with it, or cast doubt on it. "One even emailed my brother saying: 'Your brother's a Jew'"," Dan says. Dan respects his critics' right to an opinion. But those who doubt the sincerity of his religious beliefs? "They get blocked." Although Dan has settled in Malaysia, he makes annual trips back to the UK. While he relishes catching up with his family - who also regularly visit Malaysia - he sometimes feels alienated from the place he was raised. "I don't really feel at home," he says. Weekends centred on alcohol and gambling no longer fit into his way of life. He describes the awkwardness of once watching TV with some old friends when a news report casting Muslims in a negative light was aired. "It's kind of like if you're watching TV with your mum and there's a sex scene," he says. "Islam comes up on the news and there's a kind of awkward silence where nobody is saying anything," he says, adding that he will always have a soft spot for his childhood friends. It's not just Dan's way of life that has changed. Growing up with a broad West Country accent, almost a decade speaking Malay and Terengganu has resulted in Dan developing an international hybrid accent almost unrecognisable from before. "I called my nan a few years ago on her birthday and she put the phone down on me because she thought I was trying to sell her broadband," he recalls. "A few people are like 'Where are you from?' And I say I'm from here and they're like 'No you're not... why you speaking all Welsh?'" His mother, Nicola, says it has been "surreal" seeing her son turn into a star on the other side of the world. But despite the major changes in his life, "he's still the same Dan", she says. "I always thought if any of the boys were going to do something different it'd be Dan but I would have never thought he'd have done this," she laughs. "They've really embraced him out there and it's a privilege, really." Now settled with a one-year-old son, Zayne, Dan is having to take a step back from TV projects that are too time consuming. He's now a tourism ambassador for Terengganu, has a new clothing line on the way and is about to star in his first film. Last year he was awarded permanent residency by then-deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on live TV. "The [TV] work I do, I can't do it forever. It could drop off at any time," he says. "I'm not necessarily thinking about a retirement plan but something that has a bit more longevity." But whether he's on primetime TV or taking a backseat role, Dan sees Malaysia as his home. "I now see Malay as my first language," he says. "But, for me, it's not just the language. I've completely immersed myself in Malay culture, my whole way of life and demeanour, the way I speak, the way I act, the way I eat. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49466721 | 2019-08-31 23:18:00+00:00 | 1,567,307,880 | 1,569,416,855 | religion and belief | religious belief |
30,417 | bbc--2019-09-03--Mississippi wedding venue refuses interracial pair over owners Christian faith | 2019-09-03T00:00:00 | bbc | Mississippi wedding venue refuses interracial pair over owner's Christian faith | A US interracial couple was turned away by a wedding venue because the owner said their union went against her Christian beliefs, video shows. The footage was filmed at Boone's Camp Event Hall in Booneville, Mississippi, by the groom's sister who met the woman about the rejection. During the exchange the owner says the decision was because we "don't do gay weddings or mixed race". The video was first reported by website Deep South Voice, and quickly went viral on social media. LaKambria Welch said her brother and his partner were first told in an email the venue was not prepared to host the event. So Ms Welch went down in person to find out more. "First of all, we don't do gay weddings or mixed race," says a woman in a grey shirt, identified as the venue's owner by US media. Asked why not, she replied: "Because of our Christian race, I mean our Christian beliefs," adding: "We just don't participate. We just choose not to." When asked what passage of the Bible informs that belief, the owner adds: "I don't want to argue my faith." The exchange prompted the City of Booneville to release a statement condemning "these types of discriminatory policies". The Facebook page for Boone's Camp Event Hall was taken offline following the video's release, but later re-opened on Sunday to post a lengthy apology before being closed again. In the post the owner said she had been taught as a child that people were meant to stay "with your own race" but that after consulting with her pastor she now realised nothing in the bible prohibited interracial marriages. She continued: "To all of those offended, hurt or felt condemn [sic] by my statement I truly apologise to you for my ignorance in not knowing the truth about this. My intent was never of racism, but to stand firm on what I 'assumed' was right concerning marriage." In a statement provided to BBC News, the Boone's Camp Event Hall said "they are grateful that the bride forgave them" and that the couple has been re-invited to use the event space. Interracial marriage has been legal across the US since 1967 when the Supreme Court reached that decision in Loving v Virginia. In 2016, Mississippi passed a first of its kind law that protects "sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions", meaning businesses can legally refuse service to same-sex partners and transgender people. The law, which was meant to preserve religious freedom, does not mention race. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49571207 | 2019-09-03 21:29:34+00:00 | 1,567,560,574 | 1,569,331,569 | religion and belief | religious belief |
31,443 | bbc--2019-10-08--US top court divided as it ponders LGBT rights | 2019-10-08T00:00:00 | bbc | US top court divided as it ponders LGBT rights | The US Supreme Court appears divided over whether a civil rights law barring workplace discrimination applies to gay and transgender workers. The top court heard arguments regarding two cases of alleged discrimination against gay employees, and a third involving transgender discrimination. Protesters from both sides gathered outside the court as arguments began. The cases may be a landmark for LGBT rights in the US, four years after gay marriage became legal nationwide. The top court's liberal quartet indicated their agreement with the plaintiffs and the argument that LGBT workers should be covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Of the conservative justices, only Trump-appointed Neil Gorsuch appeared sympathetic to the plaintiffs - an early signal that he may cast the decisive vote. Decisions from the nine justices on America's highest court are due by next June. What are the cases? The first two cases have been consolidated as both address the purported discrimination of gay employees. Donald Zarda, a skydiving instructor from New York, and Gerald Bostock, a former child welfare services co-ordinator from Georgia, both say they were fired because of their sexual orientation. Mr Zarda, who died in a skydiving accident in 2014 , was dismissed after joking with a female client with whom he was tandem-diving not to worry about the close physical contact because he was "100% gay". The company maintained he was fired because he shared personal information with a client, not because he was gay, but a court in New York ruled in Mr Zarda's favour. Mr Bostock says he lost his job after joining a gay recreational softball league, thereby publicly revealing his sexual orientation. His employer, Clayton County, said his dismissal was the result of "conduct unbecoming of a county employee". Mr Bostock lost his discrimination case in a federal court in Atlanta. Michigan funeral home employee Aimee Stephens says she was fired for coming out as transgender. She had worked as Anthony Stephens for six years before writing a letter to colleagues saying she would return to work "as my true self, Aimee Australia Stephens, in appropriate business attire". Two weeks later, Ms Stephens was fired for insisting to work in women's clothes. In a court filing last year, the funeral home owner argued it wanted Ms Stephens to comply with a dress code "applicable to Stephens' biological sex". The US Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has supported the employers in each case. • Why are some places gay-friendly and not others? Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex as well as gender, race, colour, national origin and religion. The legal arguments hinge on whether "sex" may apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. So far, most federal appeals courts in the US have interpreted the law to exclude discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But two courts, in New York and Chicago, recently ruled that discrimination against LGBT people is a form of sex discrimination. Conservative groups argue that sexual orientation and gender identity may not be equated to the forms of discrimination already delineated in the Civil Rights Act. "Congress never intended sexual orientation or the personal feelings of transgender individuals to be included in the concept of sex discrimination," said Walker Wildmon, vice president for The American Family Association, in a statement. He added that religious individuals should be allowed "to operate their businesses according to their deeply held religious beliefs" - a defence broadly dismissed by LGBT advocates. "In 29 states, a person can be fired for their gender identity and sexual orientation," Human Rights Council press secretary Charlotte Clymer told the BBC. "It's not about religious freedom, it's about pushing LGBT people out of the public square." "The fact that you can get married on Sunday and fired on Monday for being LGBTQ, I believe, presents a pretty massive problem for our community and for society," she said. The Supreme Court justices appeared divided on Tuesday on whether Title VII protects gay, lesbian and transgender employees. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said that if the provision is found to cover LGBT individuals, the court would be seen as deciding "a major policy question" - taking the place of the legislature. Chief Justice John Roberts, sometimes seen as the ideological centre of the bench, was considered a possible swing vote on the issue. He asked on Tuesday whether, if the court were to rule that sexual orientation is covered by Title VII, exemptions would be granted for employers with strong religious beliefs. Of the conservative justices it was the Trump-appointed Mr Gorsuch who voiced sympathy for the fired workers, saying sex seemed to be a "contributing cause" for their dismissals. He also seemed amenable to the argument that "sex" in the Civil Rights Act could be applied to sexual orientation, whatever Congress had in mind during the law's writing in 1964. He later expressed concern, however, of judicial overstep. Echoing Mr Alito, Mr Gorsuch warned of "massive social upheaval" if the court were to rule in favour of LGBT workers, instead of allowing Congress to legislate on the subject. But liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked "at what point" a court could "continue to allow individuous discrimination". She continued: "We can't deny that homosexuals are being fired just for who they are." It is the first time the top US court has heard a case involving gay rights since 2018. Since then the balance of the court has tilted to a 5-4 conservative majority, including Trump appointees Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The closely-watched Mr Kavanaugh has so far said little to indicate his stance. Dozens of people demonstrated outside the Supreme Court building, holding signs that say: "Trans people belong", "We will fight back" and other slogans that underscore their message - gay and transgender rights should be protected in the workplace. The issue being considered by the court has important legal implications, as activists explain, saying no-one should be sacked for being gay. The matter also has political implications - evangelical Christians, many of whom helped Trump get elected, think the laws should not change and are hoping the court will agree. For Trump, the ruling will either provide a victory or a setback for his supporters. The progressive activists are naturally campaigning for a victory for their side. With that goal in mind, one activist is holding a sign: "Surrender Donald." | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49966287 | Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:47:12 GMT | 1,570,585,632 | 1,570,573,177 | religion and belief | religious belief |
32,823 | bbc--2019-11-18--Israel Folau criticised for 'appalling' Australia bushfire remarks | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | bbc | Israel Folau criticised for 'appalling' Australia bushfire remarks | Rugby player Israel Folau has drawn anger for linking Australia's bushfire crisis to the nation's same-sex marriage and abortion laws. Folau, who was sacked by Australia in May for making anti-gay remarks on social media, described the fires as a "little taste of God's judgement". Six people have died since last month in blazes raging in eastern Australia. "He is a free citizen, he can say whatever he likes but that doesn't mean he can't have regard to the grievance [and] offence this would have caused to the people whose homes have burnt down," Mr Morrison told reporters on Monday. • Heatwave is forecast to spark new Australia fires • Is climate change to blame for Australia's fires? Folau, who is Christian, gave a sermon in his Sydney church on Sunday in which he said Australia's decision to pass abortion and same-sex marriage laws had gone against "God's word", adding the nation needed to "repent". "Look how rapid, these bushfires, these droughts, all these things have come, in a short period of time. You think it's a coincidence or not?," he said. His comments sparked outrage from many Australians online, who noted the widespread devastation of the fires. He was also criticised by high-profile local figures who had previously supported him. "Israel, button up," said broadcaster Alan Jones on his radio show on Monday. "These comments don't help." Rugby Australia (RA) sacked the former Wallabies player in May after he said on social media that "hell awaits" gay people. The 30-year-old fullback has been widely condemned for those comments and others targeting transgender people, but he has also received vocal support from Christian groups. Folau is suing RA over his dismissal, claiming his contract was unlawfully terminated due to his religious beliefs. Rugby Australia has stood by its decision to sack Folau, saying he breached a players' code of conduct. He was previously one of the nation's highest-paid athletes. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-50455162 | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 01:57:39 GMT | 1,574,060,259 | 1,574,104,021 | religion and belief | religious belief |
34,242 | bbc--2019-12-21--Junaid Hafeez: Academic sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan | 2019-12-21T00:00:00 | bbc | Junaid Hafeez: Academic sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan | A university lecturer in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Junaid Hafeez, 33, was arrested in March 2013 and accused of posting derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad on social media. Allegations of blasphemy are taken very seriously in Pakistan, and even an accusation is often enough to make someone a target for hardliners. Mr Hafeez's first lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in 2014 after agreeing to take on the case. The lecturer has also spent years in solitary confinement, after repeated attacks by other prisoners. The sentence was delivered by a court in the Central Jail in Multan, where Mr Hafeez was being held. Mr Hafeez had studied a Master's degree in the US on a Fulbright Scholarship, specialising in American literature, photography and theatre. After returning to Pakistan he took up a lecturer position at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) in Multan, where he worked until his arrest. Mr Hafeez's current counsel said the verdict was "most unfortunate", and told AFP news agency that they would appeal against the decision. Prosecution lawyers, meanwhile, distributed sweets to their colleagues, who chanted "Allahu akbar" and "death to blasphemers". Amnesty International said the verdict was "a gross miscarriage of justice" and described it as "extremely disappointing and surprising". Pakistan's blasphemy laws carry strict sentences, including death, for anyone who insults Islam. The offences relating to religion were first codified by India's British rulers in 1860, and were expanded in 1927. Pakistan inherited these laws when it came into existence after the partition of India in 1947. These early laws made it a crime to disturb a religious assembly, trespass on burial grounds, insult religious beliefs or to intentionally destroy or defile a place or an object of worship. Under these laws, the maximum punishment ranged from one to 10 years in jail. But between 1980 and 1986, a number of clauses were added by the military government of General Zia-ul Haq. Gen Haq wanted to "Islamicise" them and also legally to separate the Ahmadi community, declared non-Muslim in 1973, from the main body of Pakistan's overwhelmingly Muslim population. The new clauses made it illegal to make derogatory remarks against Islamic personages, introduced life sentences for "wilful" desecration of the Koran, and later, introduced the death penalty or life imprisonment for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. About 40 people are currently on death row for blasphemy - although so far, no executions for blasphemy have been carried out. The blasphemy laws have been under the spotlight internationally after Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian who spent eight years on death row, was freed from prison last year, following a Supreme Court decision which overturned her conviction. Her release sparked riots, and she had to seek safety in another country. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50878432 | Sat, 21 Dec 2019 15:02:06 GMT | 1,576,958,526 | 1,576,973,286 | religion and belief | religious belief |
34,621 | bbc--2019-12-30--South Korea to pardon 1,800 conscientious objectors | 2019-12-30T00:00:00 | bbc | South Korea to pardon 1,800 conscientious objectors | South Korea will grant pardons to 1,879 men who refused to do military service for religious or personal reasons. It comes after a court last year recognised "conscience or religious beliefs" as a justifiable reason to turn down military service. All able-bodied men in South Korea are required to serve for up to 24 months by the time they are 28. Conscientious objectors faced 18 months in prison and often struggled to find employment. One objector who is on parole will be exempt from the remaining penalty. All the others have already been freed, and the pardon allows them to correct their criminal records. Rights groups say conscientious objectors face social stigma in Korea - and struggle to find employment after their jail sentence. An "alternative" non-military service - lasting three years and taking place in prisons or "correctional facilities" - is being introduced next year. Monday's announcement was the third round of special pardons since President Moon Jae-in was elected in 2017. More than 5,000 people were pardoned in total, including 267 who breached election law, and three political and labour activists, the justice ministry said. The government said the move would help convicts return to society. How does conscription work in Korea? South Korea shares a tense relationship - and one of the world's most heavily-fortified borders - with North Korea, and conscription is seen as key to the country's defence. Able-bodied Korean men are required to serve in the army for 21 months, the navy for 23 months, or the air force for 24 months. Male conscription has been law for decades, and conscientious objectors have been arrested and subject to punishment. They face 18 months in jail. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that pop group BTS would not be exempt - despite fans calling for special treatment. In 2018, a landmark court ruling recognised the need for an alternative service - that did not involve the use of firearms or other weapons - for those with faith-based objections. After the ruling, charges against hundreds of men, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to serve, were dropped. The government released from prison hundreds of men who were already serving jail time and had exhausted all their appeals. Last week, parliament passed a new law that allows conscientious objectors to do alternative service - but it was criticised by rights group Amnesty International. "Confining people to work in a prison - and for almost twice as long as the typical military service - does not respect their right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief," said Arnold Fang, their east Asia researcher. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50943442 | Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:15:16 GMT | 1,577,711,716 | 1,577,707,675 | religion and belief | religious belief |
36,517 | bbcuk--2019-02-08--Charles Darwin school musical dropped after complaints | 2019-02-08T00:00:00 | bbcuk | Charles Darwin school musical dropped after complaints | A school has axed a musical on evolution over its suggestive lyrics and portrayal of Christian views. Darwin Rocks, about the scientist Charles Darwin, was due to be performed by about 90 pupils at Hartford Manor Primary School, Cheshire, next month. The move follows six "expressions of concern" from parents, the school said. The musical's publishers Musicline said it was written by a Christian, adding "we can't ever recall having courted controversy before". According to its website, the production is a "light-hearted look" at the work of Darwin, whose theory of evolution, published in 1859, shocked Victorian society by suggesting animals and humans shared a common ancestry. Head teacher Simon Kidwell told the BBC that the school, in Hartford near Northwich, received six "expressions of concern" over lyrics that refer to "bump and grind" - a sexually suggestive dance move. He said three of those parents also believed a bishop was "mocked" in a separate scene. "There were concerns about caricature," he said, adding the complainants, who include a science teacher from another school, felt its representation of Christian views on science "wasn't accurate". One parent said they did not want their daughter to think her ambition to be an engineer contradicted Christian beliefs, Mr Kidwell said. He added the school board was not involved in the decision to drop the production and denied newspaper suggestions a local vicar who is on the board had influenced the move. The school teaches evolution as part of the syllabus and no parents have withdrawn their children from those lessons, Mr Kidwell said. Mike Smith, managing director at Musicline, said the firm "asked Steve Titford - a practising Christian - and the writer of Shakespeare Rocks to write a factual musical about Charles Darwin's life and beliefs". He said it had been "received with enthusiasm" and been performed in schools around the world since 2017. "You can't please all the people all the time, but having been in the school musical business for over 25 years, we can't ever recall having courted controversy before, " Mr Smith added. The traditional (and often lazy) depiction of faith v science is old hat. In Britain and the US, there are multiple experts who see no conflict with holding religious beliefs alongside their strong grasp of science. Theistic evolutionists include Francis Collins - the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project and the current director of the National Institutes of Health in the US. David Wilkinson, the astrophysicist and principal of St John's College, Durham, is also a Methodist lay minister - and often contributes to Thought for the Day. It's not a surprise there has been some objection to the "mockery" of Christians, who are often depicted as anti-intellectual and anti-science. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47171142 | 2019-02-08 14:18:37+00:00 | 1,549,653,517 | 1,567,549,230 | religion and belief | religious belief |
37,130 | bbcuk--2019-02-21--Religion cannot stop LGBT education says Ofsted boss | 2019-02-21T00:00:00 | bbcuk | 'Religion cannot stop LGBT education', says Ofsted boss | All children must learn about same sex couples regardless of their religious background, the head of Ofsted says. Hundreds of parents protested outside a Birmingham school over it teaching pupils about same sex couples and gender identity. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told the BBC it was crucial children were exposed to differences in society. She said it was important children knew "there are families that have two mummies or two daddies". Parents of Muslim and Christian faith have held demonstrations outside Parkfield Community School in the Alum Rock area of the city, where children are taught about same sex couples through story books. Protesters have claimed the lessons, part of the "No Outsiders" programme, contradict their faith. They argued assistant head Andrew Moffat, who started the lessons and is gay, has been "promoting personal beliefs and convictions about universal acceptability of homosexuality as being normal and morally correct". But Mrs Spielman said the lessons were "about making sure they [children] know just enough to know that some people prefer not to get married to somebody of the opposite sex and that sometimes there are families that have two mummies or two daddies". "It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill." In light of the protests, Mrs Spielman said there needed to be a "careful exploration of the middle ground" but lessons covering LGBT topics were important. One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, accused the school of "planting ideas" in children's heads. Her daughter attends Parkfield School and she said she was too young to be taught "what goes on in someone's bedroom". "It's something that we would like to teach our children ourselves," she said. "It kind of feels like they're forcing it upon us." She denied being homophobic but said "it's just not what we're about and we don't agree with it". Mr Moffat told the BBC he had been receiving threats and "nasty emails" from parents who disagreed with the programme. Mrs Spielman argued the lessons were less about "endless sex education" and more about understanding differences in society. "The essence of democracy is that we don't all get our way," she said. "We accept majority decision which means there will always be things that some of us don't like, but that is the very essence of it - accepting that we can't have 100% of what we want." Solutions, she said, would be found in "sane, rational discussion, not protest". However, the BBC understands more protests were being planned and some parents have said they would write to the government demanding a change in equality legislation. The change, they hoped, would enable schools not to teach subjects that were not in line with religious beliefs. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47282724 | 2019-02-21 01:19:27+00:00 | 1,550,729,967 | 1,567,547,809 | religion and belief | religious belief |
42,633 | bbcuk--2019-08-15--Ashers gay cake row referred to European Court | 2019-08-15T00:00:00 | bbcuk | Ashers 'gay cake' row referred to European Court | A case involving a Christian bakery, which refused to make a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage, has been referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Gareth Lee tried but failed to order the £36.50 cake at Ashers bakery in Belfast in May 2014. The company declined the order as it was "at odds" with its beliefs. Last year, the firm won its appeal at the UK Supreme Court, which ruled its actions were not discriminatory. Mr Lee's latest legal bid will argue that the Supreme Court "failed to give appropriate weight" to him under the European Convention of Human Rights. The high-profile dispute began in 2014 when the bakery refused to make a cake with the slogan Support Gay Marriage. Mr Lee, a gay rights activist, sued the company for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs. But the bakery has always insisted its objection was to the message on the cake, not the customer. Ashers lost the initial case which was taken against it and its subsequent appeal, but in October 2018 the firm won an appeal at the Supreme Court. In a statement, Mr Lee's solicitor said the latest legal bid "does not directly implicate the owners of Ashers bakery or challenge their right to privately hold religious/political views". "Instead the case will be against the United Kingdom, a member state of the European Court," the statement read. It added: "The latest hearings will attempt to challenge that ruling at the highest human rights court in Europe, citing the Supreme Court failed to give appropriate weight to Mr Lee's rights under the European Convention of Human Rights. "The Supreme Court ruling blurred the line, creates legal uncertainty for all of us in Northern Ireland, and the ECHR is the appropriate place to clarify this issue." Meanwhile, Mr Lee said he would fight for the rights of business owners to hold their own religious beliefs. "I have my own beliefs. But that's not what my case has ever been about," he said. "This is about limited companies being somehow able to pick and choose which customers they will serve. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49350891 | 2019-08-15 06:30:20+00:00 | 1,565,865,020 | 1,567,534,158 | religion and belief | religious belief |
48,824 | bigleaguepolitics--2019-12-24--BASED: City Commissioner Defends Association with Proud Boys After Liberal Smear Campaign | 2019-12-24T00:00:00 | bigleaguepolitics | BASED: City Commissioner Defends Association with Proud Boys After Liberal Smear Campaign | A city commissioner in Michigan is under fire from the fake news media and the liberal mob for his association with the patriotic Proud Boys group, but he is refusing to back down amidst the heat. Fennville city commissioner Morgan Bolles defended his association with the Proud Boys during a heated city council meeting last week, claiming the organization’s reputation as a white supremacist hate group is based on a pack of lies. Bolles was appointed to the seat because he was one of two individuals who applied for the position after former commissioner Danielle Brien resigned from her post in November. The rest of the council appointed him by unanimous fashion, and he was sworn into the position officially on Dec. 2. Trending: Female Southern Baptist Minister Urges Faith Leaders to ‘Repent’ for ‘Sins of Nationalism’ and ‘White Supremacy’ Bolles was also criticized for wearing a shirt that said “Socialism is for f*gs,” with the last vowel in the word replaced with a fig leaf, and for having a past criminal record. He maintains that although he is imperfect, he will do his best to serve the public in his role in city government. take our poll - story continues below “I am by no means a perfect person and I make mistakes,” Bolles said. “The definition of one’s character is how they recover from those mistakes, though. I’ve grown a lot since then. I only wish to be allowed the opportunity to serve my community and give back.” The fake news media criticized Bolles for defending the Proud Boys’ ethos to “venerate the house wife.” He explained that the sentiment is meant to promote the traditional family against attacks from feminists and other enemies of Western Civilization. ″… That’s not a demand that women stay at home, but the ones that do want to stay home, we should praise them for wanting to stay home — take care of our children — not going to a babysitter or anything like that,” Bolles said. “I’ve never held hate for anyone, because of their race, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs,” Bolles added. “I care about people. I care about our community. Moving forward, I hope to prove that I am deserving of this seat and I promise to do my best to serve the city of Fennville and all of its people fairly and equally.” During the contentious public meeting, Bolles had support from patriotic individuals in attendance. “The first thing I want to say is how proud I am of my boy over there,” said Kyle Smith, a Fennville resident who was among the Proud Boys at the meeting. “This is targeted harassment, this is a joke.” “As far as not being very (politically correct), the president of the United States isn’t very (politically correct), he’s said worse than Morgan has and he’s the president,” a public commentator said at the meeting in support of Bolles. Bolles’ full speech at the meeting can be seen here: | Shane Trejo | https://bigleaguepolitics.com/based-city-commissioner-defends-association-with-proud-boys-after-liberal-smear-campaign/ | Tue, 24 Dec 2019 14:38:51 +0000 | 1,577,216,331 | 1,577,235,096 | religion and belief | religious belief |
49,033 | bipartisanreport--2019-01-09--Link Between Religious Nuts Brain Damage Announced By Scientists RESULTS | 2019-01-09T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Link Between Religious Nuts & Brain Damage Announced By Scientists (RESULTS) | Why do people blindly and fervently follow Donald Trump? There may be a link between brain damage and the cult of fundamentalism. People have wondered whether there was a specific spot in the brain, the God spot, where spirituality originated. A new study in The Neuropsychologia journal discovered something interesting happening in the brain around religious fundamentalism. Spiritual experiences involved multiple areas of the brain, and this is a budding field of science. Still, the Biological and Cognitive Underpinnings of Religious Fundamentalism study discovered lesions located in a specific part of the brain actually increased religious fundamentalism. The study’s corresponding author Jordan Grafman at Northwestern University said: The study examined male 119 Vietnam combat veteran brains with lesions caused by penetrating traumatic brain injuries. If the site of the lesions was in the front part of the brain, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the vets had a greater interest in fundamentalism than veterans without the lesions. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with fear and risk. It is one of the latest evolved parts of the human brain and is located on the lower edge of the prefrontal cortex, which is located directly behind the forehead. Then, the researchers compared their finding to 30 Vietnam veterans without brain lesions. Grafman emphasized that this study was limited: Then, the scientist discussed additional variables that have an impact upon religious beliefs: ‘We need to understand how distinct religious beliefs are from moral, legal, political, and economic beliefs in their representations in the brain, the nature of conversion from one belief system to another, the difference between belief and agency, and the nature of the depth of knowledge that individuals use to access and report their beliefs.’ Grafman talked about how “beliefs have sculpted our behaviors:” ‘Beliefs have sculpted our behaviors for thousands of years and helped shape the development and sophistication of our brains. Such beliefs systems are dependent upon other aspects of our cognitive and social processes and those interactions would be important to understand. For example, how does openness in your personality affect how your form and act upon your beliefs? What about genetic predisposition and its effect upon belief systems?’ This study just touched the tip of the iceberg of this expanding area of study. Grafman continued: ‘While religious and other beliefs can be studied selectively and independently from other cognitive and social processes, their dependence upon, and interaction with, other brain functions will be an important area of research in the coming decades. As they say, “the devil is in the details.”‘ Wanting Zhong, Irene Cristofori, Joseph Bulbulia, and Frank Krueger also coauthored the study. | Gloria Christie | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/01/09/link-between-religious-nuts-brain-damage-announced-by-scientists-results/ | 2019-01-09 19:27:03+00:00 | 1,547,080,023 | 1,567,553,236 | religion and belief | religious belief |
49,147 | bipartisanreport--2019-01-15--Federal Judge Publicly Attacks Trump Administration In Defense Of Women | 2019-01-15T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Federal Judge Publicly Attacks Trump Administration In Defense Of Women | In October 2017, the Trump administration rolled back the birth control mandate under the Affordable Care Act, and moved to expand the rights of employers to deny women insurance coverage for contraception. The Trump administration then decided they would put the religious rights of employers above the rights of women to have their healthcare needs met. This hasn’t been met without challenges though. On Monday, a second federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked the Trump administration from implementing a rule allowing employers to decline to offer contraception on religious or moral grounds. ‘U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia imposed a nationwide injunction Monday which has wider effect than a similar ruling issued Sunday by a federal judge in California. ‘The policy was set to go into effect nationwide Monday. But U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. blocked the Trump administration’s bid to greatly expand the number of employers that could claim the exemption from the health care law.’ Judge Gilliam Jr. put the rule on hold for 13 states and the District of Columbia, which challenged the rule in court. In Judge Beetlestone’s ruling, she said that states would be harmed by the Trump administration’s policy because women who lost contraceptive coverage would seek state-funded services. Judge Gilliam, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2014 to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California wrote that the challengers “have raised serious questions going to the merits, on their claim that the Religious Exemption and the Moral Exemption are inconsistent with the Women’s Health Amendment.” The states have argued that the new policy “cannot be reconciled with the text and purpose of the ACA — which seeks to promote access to women’s healthcare, not limit it.” Gilliam was clear that if he did not block Trump’s policy tens of thousands of women would lose coverage, and under the ACA, the Women’s Health Amendment requires employer-provided health insurance to include coverage for free or low-cost birth control. In 2014, the Supreme Court decided on behalf of Hobby Lobby that privately held companies with religious objections could refuse to offer contraceptive coverage. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that those companies “have the right to exercise their religious beliefs even if it means that their beliefs will impose certain restrictions on their employees.” For now, Trump’s new policy has been halted from taking effect in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia. | Melanie Davidson | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/01/14/federal-judge-publicly-attacks-trump-administration-in-defense-of-women/ | 2019-01-15 03:16:55+00:00 | 1,547,540,215 | 1,567,552,342 | religion and belief | religious belief |
49,260 | bipartisanreport--2019-01-20--Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Spoke At The Womens March And It Was Fierce | 2019-01-20T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Spoke At The Women’s March And It Was Fierce | The young and popular new Democrat from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has Republicans running scared and women around the country standing up to cheer for the woman who speaks on equality for all people, regardless of race, gender, nationality, age, or religious beliefs. During the Women’s March on Saturday, the new Democratic representative gave a speech that brought the house down. ‘Justice is about the water we drink. Justice is about the water we drink. Justice is about the air we breathe. Justice is about how easy it is to vote. Justice is about if we can stay with our children after we have them for a just amount of time. Mothers, fathers, and all parents.’ The Women’s March has faced criticism in recent days due to an organizer, Tamika Mallory, who has refused to condemn Louis Farrakhan, a man who has fought for many years for the rights of Muslim women but has also made some incredibly anti-Semitic remarks. Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged women’s feelings about Mallory’s refusal, especially in the age of Trump. ‘I think that concerns of anti-Semitism with the current administration in the White House are absolutely valid and we need to make sure that we are protecting the Jewish community and all those that feel vulnerable in this moment.’ Perhaps critics of the march should also remember that it doesn’t belong to Mallory, Farrakhan, nor any of its organizers. The march and all it stands for belongs to every woman who has stood together in solidarity across history to fight for the rights of women: Jewish women, Christian women, Muslim women, white women, black women, young women, elderly women, and every other woman who has ever felt marginalized in this country. Twitter stood largely in support of Ocasio-Cortez and her fight for justice. Read some of their comments below: | Carissa House-Dunphy | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/01/19/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-spoke-at-the-womens-march-and-it-was-fierce/ | 2019-01-20 03:02:41+00:00 | 1,547,971,361 | 1,567,551,616 | religion and belief | religious belief |
50,379 | bipartisanreport--2019-04-01--SCOTUS Drops Planned Parenthood Ruling That Has Trump Exploding | 2019-04-01T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | SCOTUS Drops Planned Parenthood Ruling That Has Trump Exploding | As a result of the ultra-conservatives easing their way inside of the Republican party in an invasion, they have tipped the scales on the party’s whole complexion. Add to that, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made it his life’s mission to fill the courts with conservative judges. That leaves a flock of grey-haired men deciding what women can do with their uteruses. Conservative religious groups opposing abortion have accepted Trump’s cruelty, non-Christian behavior, and reported sexual abuse. In that attempt, they have traded their souls for the ability to impose their religious beliefs upon all American women — exactly what our forefathers were attempting to escape. Anti-abortion rights group Center for Medical Progress filed a lawsuit to block Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against the group, which filmed its employees and released a highly edited video. Planned Parenthood claimed the Center for Medical Progress violated a number of state laws. The group hit back referring to California’s “anti-SLAPP” statute (strategic lawsuits against public participation), according to CNN. The Supreme Court’s ruling to not hear the Center for Medical Progress suit effectively blocked it and let the federal appeals court ruling stand. This all began in early 2015 when the Center secretly taped the nonprofit’s employees discussing the issue of selling fetal tissue, then released a highly biased video. Planned Parenthood officials have consistently maintained that the organization does not make money from tissue donations to medical research. It only collects enough to cover its costs of the transfer. Planned Parenthood sued the Center for Medical Progress in early 2016. The Republican legislators decided to attack Planned Parenthood and repeatedly tried to block funding to the nonprofit. CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law Steve Vladeck called it a “messy dispute:” Vladeck continued stating the Supreme Court was “leaving that ruling (the anti-SLAPP statute) intact:” Planned Parenthood claimed that the Center for Medical Progress committed “wire and mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing.” Its suit asked for “damages court order barring the group from entering Planned Parenthood facilities under false pretenses and covertly recording the group’s officials and business.” Dr. Leana Wenn joined Planned Parenthood after longtime director Cecile Richards (2006 to 2018) retired. Wenn has been fighting Donald Trump’s attempts to curb Planned Parenthood’s services. In just one example: ‘(She has) fought to protect women and families from the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on basic health care protections. In March 2018, the City of Baltimore sued the Trump administration for cutting teen pregnancy prevention funds, which resulted in a federal judge ordering the restoration of $5 million in grant funding to Baltimore’s teen pregnancy prevention programs. She has fought Trump administration changes to the Title X program to protect funding for 23 health clinics in Baltimore providing reproductive health care for low-income women.’ | Gloria Christie | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/04/01/scotus-drops-planned-parenthood-ruling-that-has-trump-exploding/ | 2019-04-01 21:19:06+00:00 | 1,554,167,946 | 1,567,544,450 | religion and belief | religious belief |
50,629 | bipartisanreport--2019-04-16--Pete Buttigieg Responds To Pences Remarks About Him VIDEO | 2019-04-16T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Pete Buttigieg Responds To Pence’s Remarks About Him (VIDEO) | Heading into the 2020 presidential elections, the Trump team has a whole host of issues to face — including, thanks to the advocacy of Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg, their antagonism towards LGBTQ Americans. This week on CNN’s New Day, he further clarified his stance on Vice President Mike Pence’s relationship to the whole issue, tearing apart Pence’s present positions in the process and offering a vision of an appropriate path forward. Buttigieg — who is gay — has been going back-and-forth with Pence on this issue via public commentary for some time now. Pence has long established himself as on the side of religion-driven discrimination against LGBTQ people, which is not exactly reassuring considering he’s supposed to be representing the entirety of the United States and not just old straight White Christian guys. Pence, of course, doesn’t see an issue with his stance, putting responsibility for any turmoil squarely on Buttigieg’s shoulders, recently telling CNN: The South Bend mayor responded to that idea this Tuesday, explaining how quite simply, the vice president is wrong. He told the hosts of CNN’s New Day: ‘The vice president is entitled to his religious beliefs. My problem is when those religious beliefs are used as an excuse to harm other people. That was a huge issue for us in Indiana when he advanced a discriminatory bill in 2015 under the guise of religious freedom that said it was lawful to discriminate, provided you invoked religion as your excuse. And I just believe that’s wrong. This isn’t about him as a human being. This is about policies that hurt people, policies that hurt children.’ Buttigieg offered another example among the many available of the vice president’s established fondness for harassment of the LGBTQ community, having even thought that the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy around gayness in the U.S. Armed Forces was too lenient on the community. The increasingly popular mayor asserted that Pence should address the actual substance of the issue at hand instead of wrongfully complaining about Buttigieg supposedly going after him personally: ‘If you listen closely to what he said, you’ll notice that to this day, he has not brought himself to say that it shouldn’t be legal to discriminate against people in this country because they’re LGBT… He could’ve cleared that up!.. Maybe he will evolve to believing that it shouldn’t be lawful to discriminate against people for being gay, and if he makes that development, I would welcome that.’ One of the times Pence might have come closest to denouncing LGBTQ discrimination came in 2015, when he was pressured into signing superseding legislation addressing that “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” that Buttigieg mentioned. The secondary legislation specifically denied proponents the chance to use the law as a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but at the time, all he could muster was the assertion that the original legislation should “not create a license to discriminate or to deny services to any individual as its critics have alleged.” That might as well just be an acknowledgement of political expediency, however, and not one of the need to protect LGBTQ rights. | Caleb Newton | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/04/16/pete-buttigieg-responds-to-pences-remarks-about-him-video/ | 2019-04-16 19:07:45+00:00 | 1,555,456,065 | 1,567,542,797 | religion and belief | religious belief |
50,940 | bipartisanreport--2019-05-07--Michael Cohen Just Outed Jerry Falwell Jr As A Total Pervert | 2019-05-07T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Michael Cohen Just Outed Jerry Falwell Jr. As A Total Pervert | Anyone who’s ever watched Jerry Falwell, Jr. twist his way around slimy explanations for his continued support of a serial adulterer and conman like Donald Trump has wondered how he reconciles that support with his professed religious beliefs. On Tuesday, there was an answer to that question. Comedian Tom Arnold taped phone conversations between himself and Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen. Slowly, he’s released them to the press, including one to The Wall Street Journal in which Cohen seemed to walk back his earlier guilty pleas in court. This time, the recorded conversation was much more surprising. ‘Months before evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s game-changing presidential endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor, Cohen said in a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters. ‘Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy “personal” photographs — the sort that would typically be kept “between husband and wife,” Cohen said in the taped conversation.’ There is no indication of what the “racy photo” might show, but Cohen says his handling of that photo gained Trump the evangelical support he needed at a crucial point in the election. Although most of the photos were destroyed, Cohen claims that he is still in possession of one of them. ‘According to a source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwells’ behalf. ‘The Falwells, through a lawyer, declined to comment for this article.’ When Trump announced his presidential bid, Cohen leveraged the work he had done for the Falwells in keeping the photos from the public eye to garner his endorsement for Trump. Although Cohen doesn’t indicate that he used the one remaining photo in his possession as leverage, it’s difficult to imagine that it didn’t loom large in Falwell, Jr.’s mind. Featured image via Flickr by IowaPolitics.com under a Creative Commons license | Carissa House-Dunphy | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/05/07/michael-cohen-just-outed-jerry-falwell-jr-as-a-total-pervert/ | 2019-05-07 23:36:15+00:00 | 1,557,286,575 | 1,567,540,954 | religion and belief | religious belief |
51,060 | bipartisanreport--2019-05-28--Supreme Court Defies Conservatives Rules Defiantly Against GOP | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Supreme Court Defies Conservatives – Rules Defiantly Against GOP | Despite the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, this week, they handed down an important decision in favor of the rights of transgender students. Without comment, they left a lower court ruling in place that allowed for Pennsylvania’s Boyertown Area School District public school students to in most cases, use the bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with their gender identity. The district argued, quite simply, that it “believes that transgender students should have the right to use school bathroom and locker facilities on the same basis as non-transgender students.” The case against that policy had alleged that it constituted federally prohibited invasions of privacy and sexual harassment, which multiple courts all the way up to the highest in the country have now seemingly indicated is a ludicrous argument — although to be sure, there’s no national legal precedent set in the absence of an explanation from the Supreme Court. They declined to get involved in a similar major case back in 2017 and have still issued no comprehensive ruling on the issue of transgender rights surrounding access to gendered facilities in the United States. The Obama administration had demanded that school districts across the country accommodate transgender students in the facilities corresponding to their gender identities, which the Boyertown Area district has been doing on a case-by-case basis. The Trump administration has rolled back that Obama era guidance to public schools. The Boyertown Area’s policy getting upheld comes as the Trump administration continues to seek to roll back other protections for LGBTQ people across the United States. The perhaps most infamous example is their plan to block transgender people from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in part based on the lie that providing for them would present an outlandish burden to the military, which in reality, spends more on Viagra. After multiple blocks in lower courts, the Supreme Court allowed that policy to go into effect while lower level litigation played out. There are more challenges to LGBTQ rights that the Trump team has launched; for instance, they’ve recently been reported to be planning on making it easier for adoption organizations to reject same-sex couples. The Obama administration demanded such agencies to accommodate such couples if they wanted to receive any federal funding, but as of last week, the Trump administration was considering adding an exemption for religious organizations. The Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Civil Rights has also announced that it’s dumping a policy prohibiting doctors from discriminating against transgender patients and has “expanded health care workers’ legal right to refuse to perform services that violate their religious beliefs,” as Axios explains it. The attacks on LGBTQ rights fit into a much broader picture of the Trump administration going after minorities through means like their repeated attempts to roll back asylum provisions for undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump himself went so far that he told border patrol agents to explicitly break the law and turn asylum seekers around back into Central America, which their superiors had to then come in and reiterate remained illegal no matter what the president says. | Caleb Newton | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/05/28/supreme-court-defies-conservatives-rules-defiantly-against-gop/ | 2019-05-28 15:08:52+00:00 | 1,559,070,532 | 1,567,539,958 | religion and belief | religious belief |
51,064 | bipartisanreport--2019-05-28--Trump Blindsided By Tuesday Legal Power Move That Has Liberals Cheering | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Trump Blindsided By Tuesday Legal Power Move That Has Liberals Cheering | The Trump administration keeps trying to roll back protections for minorities across the United States — and they keep facing steep challenges in court. This week, a coalition of civil rights groups filed suit against them for a new rule they unveiled meant to protect the supposed rights of healthcare providers to refuse service based on their own religious beliefs. This could culminate in issues like transgender individuals getting denied medical care in addition to women’s reproductive health services getting again undercut on top of so many other issues. The groups behind the latest lawsuit challenging this provision include Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The criminal complaint her organization has helped file ahead of the rule’s set effective date of July 22 further bluntly asserts that the provision “endangers patients’ health in the name of advancing the religious beliefs of those who are entrusted with caring for them — a result sharply at odds with the stated mission of the Department of Health and Human Services.” Others to have already sued include a coalition led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and the city of San Francisco, which historically has led the way in advancing LGBTQ rights, having hosted the first same-sex marriages in the entire country. President Donald Trump personally announced the rule at an event for this year’s National Day of Prayer, so it’s not as though the other side of this issue is thinly staffed. The Trump administration has already unveiled a number of other measures against LGBTQ people in the United States, including perhaps most prominently their ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, which the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to go into effect. There’s more too, like their recently revealed plans to allow for religious adoption organizations across the entire country to refuse to work with same-sex couples, a step that lower-level Republicans have attempted before. Their attempt to drag healthcare into their wide-ranging torrent against minority rights, women’s rights and beyond comes as Republicans across the country do the same with their apparent green light that direction from the White House. In a number of states, Republican-majority legislatures have passed strict bans on abortion, including in Alabama, where Governor Kay Ivey recently signed one of the most restrictive such bills into law in the entire country. It makes providing an abortion a crime that would culminate in as much as 99 years in prison for health care providers and goes into effect within months, coming alongside similar measures in states like Georgia and Mississippi, where a court has already ruled against their plan. Other cases are underway against the similar plans that are unfolding elsewhere, while some states like Illinois have gotten explicitly pro-abortion legislation rolling in response. | Caleb Newton | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/05/28/trump-blindsided-by-tuesday-legal-power-move-that-has-liberals-cheering/ | 2019-05-28 21:31:02+00:00 | 1,559,093,462 | 1,567,539,958 | religion and belief | religious belief |
52,389 | bipartisanreport--2019-11-06--Federal Judge Makes Wednesday Ruling Against Trump To Protect Women | 2019-11-06T00:00:00 | bipartisanreport | Federal Judge Makes Wednesday Ruling Against Trump To Protect Women | One of Donald Trump’s primary groups of followers has always been the conservative right. Some refer to POTUS as “Jesus” or “the chosen one,” even though many Christians would say to do so is sacrilege. With the impeachment inquiry looming large, it appears the president will do anything to capture and retain their 2020 votes. The commander-in-chief’s title might be more suited to as “the litigator king.” A New York federal judge struck down one of Trump’s religious rules. That rule made it possible for health care providers to refuse to treat women for services they say “conflict with their religious belief,” according to The Denver Post. It appeared that Trump has been going around just making up rules that please his tried-and-true followers. District Judge Paul Engelmayer said there were multiple grounds for him to invalidate this last Trump rule. It allows practitioners to object to providing abortions and birth control to women, along with any other service that they felt were in conflict with their moral and religious beliefs. The administration said that this rule was an important protector of an individual’s religious beliefs. They cited abortion as one of the issues that went against Trump’s proponents’ beliefs. Engelmayer explained that the president violated the Constitution’s spending clause. It did so by letting the White House cut funds that have already been approved through the congressional process. Many states, Planned Parenthood, and others joined in a lawsuit suing the Trump administration’s latest rule, which would have been effective November 22, if it had not been denied. The judge continued, saying three of the lawsuit had been consolidated. They included 19 states, Washington D.C., and three local governments. Trump’s people argued that this rule would let others discriminate “in the name of religious freedom. Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Alexa Kolbi-Moinas released a statement that read: Roger Severino with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said when the rule was just announced. This has not been Trump’s first attack on the existing laws. Trump rules have approached a woman’s rights as subject to the state. Those against aborton and birth control have been at the top of their lists. His administration has included: One of the plaintiffs was President of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association. Its president Clare Coleman claimed that said the group was “heartened by today’s ruling.” The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order. | Gloria Christie | https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/11/06/federal-judge-makes-wednesday-ruling-against-trump-to-protect-women/ | Wed, 06 Nov 2019 20:16:42 +0000 | 1,573,089,402 | 1,573,081,653 | religion and belief | religious belief |
54,692 | birminghammail--2019-01-18--The shock rise in Birmingham child abuse connected to witchcraft and demonic possession | 2019-01-18T00:00:00 | birminghammail | The shock rise in Birmingham child abuse connected to witchcraft and demonic possession | Child abuse connected with religious beliefs such as witchcraft and demonic possession is on the rise in the West Midlands, shocking new figures reveal. The latest government statistics have shown that social services identified around 280 potential abuse cases in the West Midlands linked to faith or belief in 2017/18. Some 106 of those were identified in Birmingham alone. These include cases where the abuser believes a child is a witch, has been possessed by a spirit, demons or the devil, or has brought bad fortune into the home in other ways. They can also include cases where fear of the supernatural is used to make children comply with being trafficked for domestic slavery or sexual exploitation. The 280 cases seen in the West Midlands last year is up by 27% compared to 2016/17, when around 220 cases were identified - and experts warn that the true scale of abuse is likely far greater. Nationally, the number of potential abuse cases has risen from 1,460 in 2016/17 to 1,630 last year. Dr Charlotte Baker of Lancaster University has worked on these issues alongside the UN, the Witchcraft and Human Rights Information Network and the UK National Working Group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith and Belief. She said: “I was shocked when these figures were published. “To discover all these cases right on our doorstep really brought it home to me how widespread an issue we face. “We believe that the figures are likely to considerably underestimate the true number of children being abused, as victims and families are reluctant to speak to children’s social services, who record this data. “This kind of abuse is often hidden within communities and in families, so a major focus must be on providing social workers and child safeguarding practitioners with training in identifying, assessing and intervening in families where children are at risk of witchcraft accusation and abuse. “Being accused can damage or destroy family life and relationships, and have a lasting impact on a child’s development and life experience.” Abuse linked to faith or belief can be physical, emotional or sexual, and the consequences can be profound and long-lasting. In some instances the abuse can even lead to death, as in the case of Victoria Climbie - an 11-year-old who was murdered in 2000 by her aunt and her aunt's boyfriend, who believed she was possessed by an evil spirit Child abuse linked to faith or belief is not confined to one faith, nationality, ethnic group or community. Cases have been recorded worldwide across various religions, including Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Not all with the belief go on to harm children. The number of known cases suggests that only a small minority of people who believe in witchcraft or spirit possession go on to abuse children. | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/shock-rise-birmingham-child-abuse-15693229 | 2019-01-18 05:30:00+00:00 | 1,547,807,400 | 1,567,551,816 | religion and belief | religious belief |
56,852 | birminghammail--2019-02-15--BBC adds abortion resource to Action Line site after huge backlash | 2019-02-15T00:00:00 | birminghammail | BBC adds abortion resource to Action Line site after huge backlash | The BBC has backtracked on a decision not to include information about abortion on its BBC Action Line website after a huge public backlash. Healthcare bodies slammed the BBC yesterday (Feb 14) over its decision to treat abortion as a "contentious" issue and limit access to resources on its website. At the time a BBC spokesperson issued a statement which said: “Abortion is a controversial subject across the UK, but there’s no reason why the BBC cannot link to advice sites which provide information on it. "BBC Action line advice around Call The Midwife links to a number of sources of pregnancy advice and information, including the NHS website which includes information about abortion.” However, when Birmingham Live checked the website it couldn't find any mention of abortion and had to search the NHS website to find information - none of which was included on the BBC Action Line links. Now after a hoard of audience complaints, the BBC has added a link on the website which signposts to the NHS information page on abortion. In a response to the complaints the BBC has said: "The BBC’s off-air Action Line service is for people across the UK who may be affected by issues raised in BBC programmes. It provides details of organisations willing to offer further information, advice or support. ‘Call the Midwife’ covers many issues arising in pregnancy and childbirth and so the Action Line information available online for this series lists a range of sources of advice and information about a wide range of issues relating to pregnancy. "There is no reason why the BBC cannot link to advice sites which include information about abortion and our Action Line has provided links to the websites for NHS services where there is NHS information about it. "There continues to be debate about abortion in the UK. The Abortion Act 1967 reformed the law relating to abortion but does not apply in Northern Ireland, where the framework for abortion therefore differs from other parts of UK. "Given these differences we have added a direct link to the relevant NHS page which has information on abortion for England, Scotland and Wales. "As with some other widely debated issues, the Action Line does not link to all organisations." The row came after Call the Midwife featured a character dying from a "backstreet" abortion but when women visited the BBC Action Line website for information and advice after the programme, they couldn't find any. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) contacted the BBC Action Line to raise the issue and received a response confirming they'd chosen not to include information on abortion because they considered it to be a "contentious" issue, and they didn't want to be seen as "supporting one side". In response, healthcare bodies such as the Royal College of Midwives and BPAS published a letter to the broadcaster asking that they "amend the current policy as a matter of urgency". The letter said: "Abortion has been legal, in certain circumstances, in Great Britain for over 50 years, and 98% of terminations are funded by the NHS. "Abortion is the most common gynaecological procedure in the UK, and one in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime. Polling demonstrates that the vast majority of the public support a woman’s right to choose, including those with a religious belief. "Abortion is not a 'contentious issue'– it is a routine part of NHS-funded healthcare, provided by doctors, nurses, and midwives every day in hospitals and clinics across the country. "The BBC Action Line response states that including links to information about abortion could imply the BBC 'supported one side or another.' However, in barring information the BBC is in effect 'supporting one side' by treating abortion as different to all the other medical procedures and conditions the BBC choses to include. "This is highly stigmatising for the healthcare professionals we represent and the women we care for." The organisations praised Call the Midwife for its sensitive and courageous coverage of abortions and wanted to make it clear that their concern lies "solely with the BBC Action Line website". Following the letter being published yesterday, people flooded to social media to criticise the BBC's decision. One person wrote: "I’m so disappointed in the BBC for this. Contentious or not, abortion is a vital part of reproductive care. Some religious groups oppose blood transfusions but I can’t imagine information about those will be omitted." Another said: "This is disappointing BBC. Abortion is healthcare. You should be giving out resources and information—particularly on safe abortions when Call The Midwife depicts unsafe ones—to your viewers. Why are our abortion stories suitable for entertainment, but not real life healthcare?" "This is a ludicrous decision by the BBC," added another. | Katie Brooks | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/bbc-adds-abortion-resource-action-15839806 | 2019-02-15 20:23:14+00:00 | 1,550,280,194 | 1,567,548,369 | religion and belief | religious belief |
58,123 | birminghammail--2019-03-14--Parkfield School - No Outsiders LGBT lessons will NOT resume until solution found | 2019-03-14T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Parkfield School - No Outsiders LGBT lessons will NOT resume 'until solution found' | No Outsiders lessons - including some featuring gay, lesbian and bisexual characters - will NOT resume at a Birmingham school until peace talks with protest parents "reach a resolution". The lessons celebrating difference and equality were due to resume after Easter, despite heated protests outside the gates of Parkfield Community School in Saltley. But now school chiefs have decided to suspend the lessons while teachers and parents work together "over the coming days and weeks" to find a solution. They say they hope the children who have been taken out of school to take part in protests will now return to classes. In a statement, a school spokesman said: "Until a resolution has been reached, No Outsiders lessons will not be taught at Parkfield and we hope that children will not be removed from school to take part in protests." Increasingly heated protests have been held outside the primary school, led by parents who claimed elements of the No Outsiders programme were unsuitable for young children. Some of the protesters say the lessons unnecessarily "promote homosexuality" and "tell children it is OK to be gay"- messages which they say are at odds with given their religious beliefs. Today (THURS), a huge protest was planned outside the school gates once more but, after school announced No Outsiders has been temporarily pulled, it was postponed overnight. A spokesman for Parkfield Parents Community Group said: "We, the representatives of Parkfield Parents Group, have had a positive meeting with the Department of Education to discuss serious concerns we have with the 'No Outsiders' programme and its implementation at Parkfield School. "We made our position clear, that the No Outsiders programme cannot continue to be taught at Parkfield School and that a new programme needs be negotiated, with which parents are happy and meets the legal requirements of the Equality Act 2010. "The school have agreed that, 'Until a resolution has been reached, No Outsiders lessons will not be taught at Parkfield'. "In view of this development, we have decided to postpone the protest for Thursday 14th March 2019. "We will await further developments early next week when we expect detailed proposals to be tabled. "We will then review our actions with respect to protests and school-wide withdrawal of children. "We have advised and notified parents that the protest scheduled for Thursday 14th March 2019 is not taking place and that we are keeping future protests under review in view of developments. "We welcome these developments and reiterate that the school needs to work with parents in a spirit of partnership and co-operation - and not against them in educating their children." The stance against "promoting homosexuality" has sparked a backlash from equality campaigners and LGBT activists across the country. The full Parkfield Community School statement, posted on its website, reads: "Nothing is more important than ensuring our children's education continues uninterrupted. "Yesterday (Tuesday), both parents and the trust held constructive discussions with the Regional Schools Commissioner and, as a result of these discussions, we are eager to continue to work together with parents, over the coming days and weeks, to find a solution that will support the children in our school to continue their education in a harmonious environment. "Until a resolution has been reached, No Outsiders lessons will not be taught at Parkfield and we hope that children will not be removed from school to take part in protests." The decision comes just days after Ofsted ruled the No Outsiders lessons were age-appropriate for youngsters at the primary school. Senior Ofsted inspector Peter Humphries, who led an inspection visit last month, said a 'very small but vocal minority' of parents were opposed to the No Outsiders lessons: "Their view is that the PSHE education and equalities curriculum focuses disproportionately on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues and that this work is not taught in an age-appropriate manner. "Inspectors found no evidence that this is the case." A disturbing video of a rally of protestors outside the school, featuring young pupils joining in chants of 'shame, shame, shame', went viral last week, triggering national debate about the rights of parents over educational content. The No Outsiders programme was started by the school's gay assistant head teacher Andrew Moffat. Mr Moffat MBE had been piloting the programme, which is run alongside sex and relationship education (SRE) lessons. Its ethos promotes LGBT equality and challenges homophobia in primary schools. Books about same sex marriage including Mommy, Mama and Me and King & King were just a couple of the books being read to children. Mr Moffat has come under personal attack over the programme, amid claims from some of the mostly Muslim parents that No Outsiders is inappropriate for their children. The teacher, currently shortlisted for a world’s best teacher award , resigned from another primary school – Chilwell Croft academy, also in Birmingham – after a similar dispute with Muslim and Christian parents. "We bring our children here so they can later work as a solicitor or a teacher, not to be taught about being gay or a lesbian.” Razina Mahmood, 40, added: “This is nothing but indoctrination of our children. “You are using our children as an experiment.” Local MP Liam Byrne (Hodge Hill) has been heavily involved in the discussions and the quest for a peaceful resolution to the issue. Last week he said he was working with faith groups and Stonewall, the LGBT rights campaign group which has produced guidance for schools, to try to end the protests. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, who is gay himself, weighed into the issue on Twitter, stating: "The education of our children is a vital part of ensuring that each generation is more tolerant than the last. "The language used by protestors outside the Parkfield Community School towards the LGBT+ community in recent days is unacceptable. "Our diversity is a great asset for the West Midlands and we must not let intolerance win out." | Ashley Preece, Jane Haynes | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/parkfield-no-outsiders-lessons-not-15971007 | 2019-03-14 09:06:39+00:00 | 1,552,568,799 | 1,567,546,210 | religion and belief | religious belief |
58,950 | birminghammail--2019-03-22--Five Birmingham mosques attacked as security increased for Friday prayers - what we know 24 hours on | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Five Birmingham mosques attacked as security increased for Friday prayers - what we know 24 hours on | Police are continuining to investigate a series of mosque attacks in Birmingham which left five religious buildings vandalised. Security at mosques in Birmingham will be heightened for Friday prayers, West Midlands Police has confirmed. Windows of five mosques - four in Aston and one in Erdington - were smashed as counter-terrorism officers continue to investigate. The Witton Islamic Centre was one of five religious centres which had their glass windows and doors knocked out in a series of attacks early this morning. The Faizul Islam Masjid on the nearby Broadway was also attacked, followed by the Jamia Masjid Ghousia on nearby Albert Road. Mosques on Birchfield Road and Slade Road and Erdington were also targeted. There have been no reports of any arrests in connection with the series of attacks on mosques . We await to see whether West Midlands Police will stage any kind of appeal or give more information later today. West Midlands Police Chief Constable Dave Thompson said: “Since the tragic events in Christchurch, New Zealand, officers and staff from West Midlands Police have been working closely with our faith partners across the region to offer reassurance and support at mosques, churches and places of prayer. “At the moment we don’t know the motive for last night’s attacks. “What I can say is that the force and the Counter Terrorism Unit are working side-by-side to find whoever is responsible. “At difficult times like this, it is incredibly important that everyone unites against those who seek to create discord, uncertainty and fear in our communities.” Deputy Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Louisa Rolfe, said: "I would like to urge the public: if you know about these incidents, if someone has boasted about it; if you’ve got any information, please come forward, contact police. "We are speaking to all faith leaders about the support we can offer. "We can provide a review of security at any place of worship. "This is the first incident since February 1 that has affected any place of worship across the West Midlands. "They should feel safe and secure in their places of worship. "They have the full support of West Midlands Police and our Counter Terrorism Unit. "We’ve got patrol plans ready around places of worship and we will be stepping that up to make sure people feel safe and secure for Friday prayers tomorrow. "There is nothing to suggest that there is a greater threat in Birmingham than anywhere else at the moment. "There will, of course, be a heightened vigilance from police and our communities because of what’s happened." Birmingham City Council community safety boss Coun John Cotton has said the “thugs” responsible for the mosque attacks “do not speak for Birmingham and will not divide us”. He later added: "Like all right-thinking Brummies, I condemn what has happened and these people do not speak for Birmingham. "This is a city built on tolerance and mutual respect. "We need to stand together on this, we’re not going to be divided by a few extremists who want to send their messages of hate out and tear down what is great and cohesive city. "We’ve got to remember that this is a city home to many diverse communities and we all work really well together." A door and two windows were smashed in at the Masjid on the Broadway in the early hours. Adil Parker, from the Birmingham Council of Mosques, said: "We are appalled but not shocked. "It’s not been a week since what’s happened in New Zealand and we always expected some bigot to show themselves up. "In 2019, we can’t be expected to live in fear.” Abu Bakr, 22, a worshipper and caretaker, said: “It’s sad, we haven’t even got over the New Zealand attacks. Rather then separating us, it’s bringing us together.” A local dad, who lives in Aston and regularly attends Witton Islamic Centre, told BirminghamLive how his children are “absolutely scared” following attacks at local mosques. He said: "I normally come down here at five o’clock in the morning to prey and, as soon as we arrived, we realised our mosque has been vandalised and the windows broken. "We live in a very tight community here. We get on really good with each other. "It’s a shame somebody will do something like this. "Places of worship are for everyone, that doesn’t mean they’re just for Muslims, they’re for for Christians, Sikhs, it’s a house of God. "There should be some kind of respect and a borderline, you don’t pass that borderline. "Already so much has happened, 50 lives lost in New Zealand, and it’s really upset me, for my children. "That goes for Christians, Sikhs, we’re all in this. "My children are absolutely scared and they shouldn’t be. "We live in Great Britain, it should be great for everyone. "We live in such a beautiful country, in a mixed culture community. "And, having something like this, it’s just breaking us up." Another local resident has taken time to speak to BirminghamLive, calling on Birmingham and Aston to “stay united”. "It’s terrible. I’ve lived in Aston all my life, for 40 years I’ve had businesses here. "It’s a small community, united, and we will stay united. "Islam is a religion of peace, harmony and we need to unite together. "I’ve never seen anything like this before, no. What we’ve got to do is stay calm, let police do their job and stick together, that’s the only way to do it. "Carry on with your activities, don’t let these people deter you. "We’re all still grieving, whether you’re Muslim or non-Muslim. We’re all appalled by it. "Everyone is concerned that it could worsen but we live in hope that it will get better. Everyone’s hurt." We’ve now heard from senior politicians including home secretary Sajid Javid, who have all condemned the Birmingham mosque attacks. He tweeted: "Deeply concerning and distressing to see number of mosques have been vandalised in Birmingham overnight. "West Midlands Police are investigating motive but let me be clear - hateful behaviour has absolutely no place in our society and will never be accepted.” Home Secretary Sajid Javid has written a personal message to BirminghamLive to share with the city’s residents about the mosque attacks. Writing on Thursday March 21 he said: “These acts of vandalism are deeply distressing and I send my full support to the Muslims affected in Birmingham. “West Midlands Police are investigating the motive and I’m confident they will bring the perpetrators to justice. “Let me be clear – hateful behaviour has absolutely no place in society and will never be accepted. “These places of worship are at the heart of the community and play a vital role in making Britain the strong and vibrant country we live in. “Earlier this week I announced we will be doubling next year’s Places of Worship protective security scheme fund to £1.6m – and investing £5m in security training at places of worship such as mosques. “We will also be consulting communities on what more could and should be done to ensure they feel safe.” Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood was in Birmingham yesterday to visit mosques that had been targeted. She said: “The attacks on mosques across Birmingham are both frightening and heartbreaking; and while those affected will feel both anger and sadness, I would urge all residents to remain calm. The actions of those responsible shows people at their worst, but the response from people across our city shows people at their best - compassionate, caring and unified. “This afternoon, I will be joining people from our local communities to visit each of the places affected by today’s attacks. I have spoken with the Chief Constable, and ask anyone who thinks they may have any information to call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. “Events such as these underscore how much work there remains to be done to confront the normalisation of hate speech and Islamophobia in our political discourse, in our media and across our society. “We all have a role to play, just as we all have an interest in making sure every community is capable of living together respectfully. “This is the message coming out of my home city of Birmingham today, and one that we must continue to push, even in the face of terrible attacks such as today.” They said: "WIC was unfortunately attacked yesterday in the early hours of the morning. "The perpetrator used a sledge hammer to smash the front windows of the mosque. "WIC strongly condemns the actions of the perpetrator and are working closely with West Midlands Police and local authorities. "The risk from Islamaphobia has been on the rise for many years now. "This form of hate has fallen under the radar in many aspects, including some parts of the media and our Intelligence and security services. "The tragic events from last week’s attacks in Christchurch have caused great concern amongst the Muslim community." It adds: "For those that may be worried about attending prayers at the mosque, there will be an increased Police presence to reassure the community. "The general message to the community is to stay calm but vigilant. "We all have a responsibility to report hate crime or suspicious activity by contacting the police in confidence on the Counter Terrorism hotline 0800 789321. "And we seek God’s help and protection in all matters." The UK’s lead commissioner for counter extremism, Sara Khan, has called for communities to stand up against hate and fear. Ms Khan, who leads the Commission for Counter Extremism, said: “It’s really worrying that mosques in Birmingham have been attacked. West Midlands Police and the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit are investigating and the motive behind them is yet to be established. “I was in Birmingham just last week meeting faith leaders at a Mosque, headteachers, the council and community activists. I heard deep concerns about the impact of extremism in the city. But I was inspired by a powerful commitment to tackle hatred and intolerance. “It is unacceptable that Mosques, or any other places of worship are being targeted. We are rightly proud of our freedom to practise our religious beliefs in Britain. Now is the time for us all to stand up against those who seek to sow division, uncertainty and fear in our communities.” Chilling footage of a sledgehammer being thrown through a mosque window has emerged. CCTV shows the shadowy figure appearing outside the front of the Witton Islamic Centre in Aston at around 1.20am today. A sledgehammer is then thrown through the window, sending smashed glass everywhere. To see the video, click here | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/five-birmingham-mosques-attacked-security-16011256 | 2019-03-22 06:49:55+00:00 | 1,553,251,795 | 1,567,545,174 | religion and belief | religious belief |
66,784 | birminghammail--2019-10-03--This is 2019 not 150 BC - fallout as doctor refuses to call a transgender woman she | 2019-10-03T00:00:00 | birminghammail | 'This is 2019, not 150 BC' - fallout as doctor refuses to call a transgender woman 'she' | The case of Christian doctor who refused to call a transgender woman "she" because of his religion has sparked fierce debate in his home region. David Mackereth claimed he was sacked after saying he would not "call any 6ft tall bearded man madam" during an "abstract discussion" with his manager. The 56-year-old, from Dudley, West Midlands, alleged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) discriminated against his religious beliefs, costing him his job as a disability claim assessor - but lost his employment tribunal unanimously. That news sparked fierce debate on the Black Country Live Facebook page with some arguing the doctor should be allowed to continue while others said people's personal choices must be honoured. David Dale said: "He's not much of a Christian, is he? Would his mate Jesus act like that? No, as usual, the Old Testament is dragged out and used as a defence. Well, it's not. This is 2019, not 150BC. "If someone identifies as a woman, man, or a Cauliflower, it has no effect on him, me, or anyone reading this. Relax and remember it's not your issue. Leave them alone and concentrate on yourself." Luke O'Sullivan added: "If you're employed in a job that requires you to employ certain behaviours or use certain language because that's what your employer wants, abide by it or do one - that's how the private sector works." Kerrie Ann Blakemore said: "I think they made the right decision. Glad they sacked him." However, Ross Oakley said the world "has gone mad". Donna Brittle added: "What an absolute joke, you won't be able to say anything soon without it being offensive. It states he was a bearded man so if he wants to be called Madam, have a shave and a few operations that will warrent the request to be called madam." Sam Harding said: "A qualified doctor to lose his job because he hurt someone's feelings? We need all the doctors we can get. This story has been blown totally out of proportion." The tribunal concluded the "lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals". Publishing its conclusions, the tribunal panel said: "In our unanimous judgment there was no contravention of part 5 of the Equality Act 2010 and the claimant was not subjected to discrimination. Those complaints are dismissed." Dr Mackereth has said he will appeal. In his witness statement to tribunal hearings in July, Dr Mackereth said that transgender individuals "may find my views to be offensive". The 56-year-old doctor, who was trained to assess eligibility for Employment Support Allowance or the capability element of Universal Credit, also said there was no deliberate desire on his part to offend people. But the tribunal "found that his beliefs were likely to cause offence and have the effect of violating a transgender person's dignity or creating a proscribed environment, or subjecting a transgender person to less favourable treatment". As well as claiming religious discrimination, Dr Mackereth said no effort was made to accommodate his beliefs, such as referring transgender clients at Birmingham's Five Ways assessment centre to another doctor. | [email protected] (Charlotte Regen) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/this-2019-not-150-bc-17027053 | 2019-10-03 15:33:37+00:00 | 1,570,131,217 | 1,570,221,696 | religion and belief | religious belief |
67,171 | birminghammail--2019-10-14--'Volatile' protester Shakeel Afsar 'confronted head teacher in her office over LGBT teaching' | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | birminghammail | 'Volatile' protester Shakeel Afsar 'confronted head teacher in her office over LGBT teaching' | The head teacher of Anderton Park School claimed leading protester Shakeel Afsar confronted her in her office in a "volatile and aggressive" state and demanded she stop sharing LGBT equality messages with pupils. Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson was giving evidence on the first day of a High Court hearing to decide if a temporary exclusion zone around the school in Sparkhill needs to be made permanent to stop noisy protests at the gates. During a gruelling two-and-a-half hours of cross examination, Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson spoke of staff being "too intimidated" to hold a parents' evening and nursery children forced to miss playtime to avoid hearing the noisy protests. She also said she had rejected calls for a mass meeting with parents amid fears it would end up "like the Jeremy Kyle Show". In her testimony, she told the court: "Yes, we say it is okay to be gay, because it is. “There is a tension of course when some people believe homosexuality is sinful. “But it is not sinful in British law.” Mr Justice Warby, sitting at the High Court in Birmingham, heard the first of an estimated four days of evidence in connection with an application by Birmingham City Council for a permanent exclusion zone to be established around the school to curb protests. The council is seeking to ban three lead protesters, Shakeel Afsar, Rosina Afsar and Amir Ahmed, and 'persons unknown' from holding protests within the designated exclusion zone, or inciting others to protest there, or handing out leaflets or other material inside the zone connected to the school's teaching. The order would also restrict messages and negative messages about the school's teaching and staff on social media. The school has been at the centre of a campaign by mostly Muslim parents demanding the school stops sharing LGBT equality messages with young pupils, led by protesters who say the messages conflict with their 'religious beliefs and family values'. The city council launched court action in a bid to protect the school from further protests after a 300-strong gathering at the gates in May. During that gathering, a visiting imam was videoed claiming there were ‘paedophiles’ in the school. The defendants later issued a retraction stating they did not support that claim, and that it was language used in the heat of the moment that was not appropriate. An emergency interim order was granted in May, and later extended in June, which sought to halt any more gatherings in sight and sound of the primary school that could disrupt pupils, or intimidate staff. Before the hearing today (Monday October 14) around 15 supporters of the defendants, some with tape over their mouths, some carrying leaflets saying "Gagged", held a silent protest outside the court. Opening the case for the council inside a packed court room, Mr Jonathan Manning QC said: "This case is not about preventing lawful and legitimate protest and freedom of speech - but unacceptable behaviour. "It is our case that the behaviour since (the interim order was granted in May) makes it necessary to introduce a final order.” He said: "All kinds of hurtful allegations about what the school is teaching, in an inflammatory way” have been shared, and “attempts to disturb school life, from outside the exclusion zone, have continued," said Mr Manning. This has included "hurtful, harmful and totally untrue" allegations about paedophilia. Mr Manning said the noisy protests meant the school nursery children have not been able to use a playground when they are being held, and noise can be heard inside the school. “It is clear to us that but for the interim order being in place the intention of the defendants was to continue to protest in the original place (at the school gates),” he said. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson, giving evidence, said she met with parent Rosina Afsar and "about 15-20 friends" in early February for what she felt was a ‘very constructive’ meeting, where she answered legitimate concerns about what was being taught. She reassured them that children were not being told about sex of any kind. Soon after, the headteacher said, she met Rosina again - who she described as a ’very good mum’ - accompanied by her brother Shakeel. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson said: “He slammed his hands down on my desk. The first thing he said was he ‘demanded’ what I should do. He was volatile and aggressive, with little eye contact - he would shout and then apologise quietly then shout. “I had never been in a meeting like it in 22 years of teaching.” There were calls for a mass meeting with parents to discuss what messages about LGBT equality were being shared with children. She rejected those calls because she feared it would become ‘“like the Jeremy Kyle Show”. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson said: “When I was deputy head we had a big meeting (with parents) to discuss our teaching of puberty and growing up, menstruation and so on. It became very aggressive. "There were attempts by some men to separate men and women, women were sent to sit at the back of the hall, a couple of people at the front were very vocal. “There was shouting and braying and we had to abandon the meeting. “I was not prepared to risk a repeat - it was such a sensitive issue.” Instead, she said, she held a series of one to one meetings, workshops and informal gatherings with parents to discuss their concerns and dispel any inaccurate information about what was being taught. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson said she was not, as claimed, seeking to "smash heteronormative society" or "promoting homosexuality." The messages shared at the school, using picture books but also through conversation, included that it is okay to be gay - "because it is," she told the court. She would say some children have two mummies or two daddies, and clarified that she would also say it is okay to wear what you like. Homosexuality "is not sinful in British law" Added Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson: “A dad came in my office and said to me that if his son wore a dress he would laugh at him. I explained that we would not, and could not, laugh at him at school. That is the difference.” She added: “We are saying some children have two mummies - that is not promoting homosexuality." She was asked by the defendants' barrister Mr Ramby de Mello: “Did you consider the content of some story books (And Tango Makes Three, Princess Boy and others) would arouse objections from the majority of parents at the school and would offend their core values?” The head replied: “There is a tension for some Muslims but not from many Muslims in the community or among my staff (over half of the staff are Muslim). “I have letters from Muslims who do not agree with the protesters. “There is a tension of course when some people believe homosexuality is sinful. “But it is not sinful in British law.” Parents claimed the head called one parent “homophobic” and parents were left ‘very upset’ following a meeting in February, said Mr de Mello. The tensions escalated in the weeks after. Mrs Afsar was later banned from the school for allegedly intimidating staff. She was seen gathering mums after dropping her own daughter off at nursery and spreading distressing messages, the court was told. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson also confirmed she had given permission for members of an LGBT group, SEEDS, to tie ribbons and banners to the school gates one weekend. “I thought it sounded a lovely thing to do. They were putting up hearts and messages saying love not hate,” said Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson. The group were confronted while putting up the banners and messages and pelted with eggs, with their presence branded "incendiary." "I did not see it as “incendiary” - there are gay people living all over Birmingham including on Dennis Road and it seemed a lovely thing to do," she added. Mr Ramby de Mello quizzed the head about messages she has shared on the social media channel Twitter, asking her to explain if and why she retweeted messages from a tweeter identified as “queer and Muslim”. Tweet exchanges with prominent local gay people Khakan Qureshi, Andrew Moffat, assistant head at Parkfield School in Alum Rock, and others are raised, and she is also asked about sharing platforms (at events) with people who Mr de Mello refers to as LGBT ‘supporters’. Mrs Hewitt-Clarkson tells the court: “I am really uncomfortable (at the suggestion) that me having photos taken or speaking with gay people is somehow problematic.” In a further tweet from her twitter account, highlighted by Mr de Mello, she suggested protesters “are inciting hatred towards LGBT people.” She told the court: “I have seen they (the defendants) are not actually interested in consultation. I have seen signs saying Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. There are many things I’ve heard, many posted by the defendants, that I believe incite hatred.” Among other incidents raised during the first day of evidence was a police witness statement that included reference to an incident in which a protestor called a PC 'Islamophobic’ and used racially aggravated language, calling him ‘bacon breath’ - though the police officer was later subject to a complaint by the protester that was upheld, said Mr de Mello. The court was also told that following an incident outside the school in which Jess Phillips MP was involved in an argument with protestor Mr Afsar that a PC “asked if she had a lift home as he was genuinely concerned for her safety, such was the nature of the confrontation.” | [email protected] (Jane Haynes) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/volatile-protester-confronted-head-teacher-17084909 | Mon, 14 Oct 2019 18:21:31 +0000 | 1,571,091,691 | 1,571,094,761 | religion and belief | religious belief |
70,190 | bonginoreport--2019-12-25--Jesus Was Not a Socialist | 2019-12-25T00:00:00 | bonginoreport | Jesus Was Not a Socialist | “Regardless of your religious beliefs, Larry Reed proves it takes a wild leap of imagination to view Jesus as a Progressive Socialist. This is a critically important issue because secular Progressives would like to control the moral high ground by capturing religion to support their elitist, statist ideology, which would allow them to do even more damage to genuine human flourishing.” — John A. Allison, Former President and CEO, Cato Institute, Former Chairman and CEO, BB&T Corporation On June 16, 1992, London's Daily Telegraph reported this astonishingly bold remark by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind."1 Perhaps we should cut Gorbachev some slack here. A man who climbed his way to the top of a stridently atheist empire with a sorry track record on human rights was probably not a Bible scholar. But surely he knew that if socialism is nothing more than the seeking of "a better life for mankind," then Jesus could hardly have been its first advocate; he would, in fact, be just one of several billion of them. You don't have to be a Christian to appreciate the errors in the Gorbachev canard. You can be a person of any faith or no faith at all. You just have to appreciate facts, history, and logic. You can even be a socialist — but one with open eyes — and realize that Jesus wasn't in your camp. Let's first define the term socialism, which the Gorbachev comment only obfuscates. Socialism isn't happy thoughts, nebulous fantasies, mere good intentions, or children sharing their Halloween candy with one another. In a modern political, economic, and social context, socialism isn't voluntary like the Girl Scouts. Its central characteristic is the concentration of power to forcibly achieve one or more (or usually all) of these purposes: central planning of the economy, government ownership of property, and the redistribution of wealth. No amount of "we do it all for you" or "it's for your own good" or "we're helping people" rhetoric can erase that. What makes socialism socialism is the fact that you can't opt out, a point eloquently made here by David Boaz of the Cato Institute: Government, whether big or small, is the only entity in society that possesses a legal monopoly over the use of force. The more force it initiates against people, the more it subordinates the choices of the ruled to the whims of their rulers — that is, the more socialist it becomes. A reader may object to this description by insisting that to "socialize" something is to simply "share" it and "help people" in the process, but that's baby talk. It's how you do it that defines the system. Do it through the use of force, and it's socialism. Do it through persuasion, free will, and respect for property rights, and it's something else entirely. So was Jesus really a socialist? More to the main focus of this essay, did he call for the state to redistribute income to either punish the rich or to help the poor? I first heard "Jesus was a socialist" and "Jesus was a redistributionist" some forty years ago. I was puzzled. I had always understood Jesus's message to be that the most important decision a person would make in his earthly lifetime was to accept or reject him as savior. That decision was clearly to be a very personal one — an individual and voluntary choice. He constantly stressed inner, spiritual renewal as far more critical to well-being than material things. I wondered, "How could the same Jesus advocate the use of force to take stuff from some and give it to others?" I just couldn't imagine him supporting a fine or a jail sentence for people who don't want to fork over their money for food-stamp programs. "Wait a minute!" you say. "Didn't Jesus answer, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's when the Pharisees tried to trick him into denouncing a Roman-imposed tax?" Yes indeed, he did say that. It's found first in the Gospel of Matthew, 22:15–22, and later in the Gospel of Mark, 12:13–17. But notice that everything depends on just what truly did belong to Caesar and what didn't, which is actually a rather powerful endorsement of property rights. Jesus said nothing like "It belongs to Caesar if Caesar simply says it does, no matter how much he wants, how he gets it, or how he chooses to spend it." The fact is, one can scour the Scriptures with a fine-tooth comb and find nary a word from Jesus that endorses the forcible redistribution of wealth by political authorities. None, period. "But didn't Jesus say he came to uphold the law?" you ask. Yes, in Matthew 5:17–20 he declares, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."3 In Luke 24:44, he clarifies this when he says, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." He was not saying, "Whatever laws the government passes, I'm all for." He was speaking specifically of the Mosaic law (primarily the Ten Commandments) and the prophecies of his own coming. Consider the eighth of the Ten Commandments: "You shall not steal." Note the period after the word "steal." This admonition does not read, "You shall not steal unless the other guy has more than you do" or "You shall not steal unless you're absolutely positive you can spend it better than the guy who earned it." Nor does it say, "You shall not steal, but it's OK to hire someone else, like a politician, to do it for you." In case people were still tempted to steal, the tenth commandment is aimed at nipping in the bud one of the principal motives for stealing (and for redistribution): "You shall not covet." In other words, if it's not yours, keep your fingers off of it. In Luke 12:13–15, Jesus is confronted with a redistribution request. A man with a grievance approaches him and demands, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replies thusly: "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." Wow! He could have equalized the wealth between two men with a wave of his hand, but he chose to denounce envy instead. "What about the story of the Good Samaritan? Doesn't that make a case for government welfare programs or redistribution?" you inquire. The answer is an emphatic "No!" Consider the details of the story, as recorded in Luke 10:29–37: A traveler comes upon a man at the side of a road. The man had been beaten and robbed and left half-dead. What did the traveler do? He helped the man himself, on the spot, with his own resources. He did not say, "Write a letter to the emperor" or "Go see your social worker" and walk on. If he had done that, he would more likely be known today as the "Good-for-nothing Samaritan" — if he were remembered at all. The Good Samaritan story makes a case for helping a needy person voluntarily out of love and compassion. There's no suggestion that the Samaritan "owed" anything to the man in need or that it was the duty of a distant politician to help out with other people's money. Moreover, Jesus never called for equality of material wealth, let alone the use of political force to accomplish it, even in situations of dire need. In his book, Biblical Economics, theologian R. C. Sproul, Jr., notes that Jesus "wants the poor to be helped" but not at gunpoint, which is essentially what government force is all about: To Sproul's comment I would add this addendum: sometimes a person becomes wealthy wholly or in part because of his political connections. He secures special favors or subsidies from government or uses government to disable his competitors. No consistently logical thinker who favors liberty and property rights, whether he's Christian or not, supports such practices. They are forms of theft, and their source is political power — the very debilitating thing that progressives and socialists advocate more of. Legitimate wealth is derived voluntarily. It comes from the creation of value and mutually beneficial, voluntary exchange. It does not spring from political power that redistributes in reverse, taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Economic entrepreneurs are a boon to society; political entrepreneurs are another animal entirely. We all benefit when a Steve Jobs invents an iPhone; but when the Cowboy Poetry Festival in Nevada gets a federal grant because of Senator Harry Reid, or when Goldman Sachs gets a bailout at taxpayer expense, millions of us get hurt and have to pay for it. What about the reference in the book of Acts to the early Christians selling their worldly goods and sharing communally in the proceeds? That sounds like a progressive utopia. On closer inspection, however, it turns out that those early Christians did not sell everything they had and were not commanded or expected to do so. They continued to meet in their own private homes, for example. In his contributing chapter to the 2014 book For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty, Art Lindsley of the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics writes, It may disappoint progressives to learn that Jesus's words and deeds repeatedly upheld such critically important, capitalist virtues as contract, profit, and private property. For example, consider his parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30; see one of the recommended readings below). Of several men in the story, the one who takes his money and buries it is reprimanded while the one who invests and generates the largest return is applauded and rewarded. Though not central to the story, good lessons in supply and demand, as well as the sanctity of contract, are apparent in Jesus's parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16). A landowner offers a wage to attract workers for a day of urgent work picking grapes. Near the end of the day, he realizes he has to quickly hire more and to get them, he offers for an hour of work what he previously had offered to pay the first workers for the whole day. When one of those who worked all day complained, the landowner answered, "I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" The well-known "Golden Rule" comes from the lips of Jesus himself, in Matthew 7:12. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." In Matthew 19:19, Jesus says, "love your neighbor as yourself." Nowhere does he even remotely suggest that we should dislike a neighbor because of his wealth or seek to take that wealth from him. If you don't want your property confiscated (and most people don't), then clearly you're not supposed to confiscate somebody else's. Christian doctrine cautions against greed. So does present-day economist Thomas Sowell: "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money." Using the power of government to grab another person's property isn't exactly altruistic. Jesus never even implied that accumulating wealth through peaceful commerce was in any way wrong; he simply implored people to not allow wealth to rule them or corrupt their character. That's why his greatest apostle, Paul, didn't say money was evil in the famous reference in 1 Timothy 6:10. Here's what Paul actually said: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." Indeed, progressives themselves have not selflessly abandoned money, for it is other people's money, especially that of "the rich," that they're always clamoring for. In Matthew 19:23, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven." A redistributionist might say, "Eureka! There it is! He doesn't like rich people" and then stretch the remark beyond recognition to justify one rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul scheme after another. But this admonition is entirely consistent with everything else Jesus says. It's not a call to envy the rich, to take from the rich, or to give "free" cell phones to the poor. It's a call to character. It's an observation that some people let their wealth rule them, rather than the other way around. It's a warning about temptations (which come in many forms, not just material wealth). Haven't we all noticed that among the rich, as is equally true among the poor, you have both good and bad people? Haven't we all seen some rich celebrities corrupted by their fame and fortune, while others among the rich live perfectly upstanding lives? Haven't we all seen some poor people who allow their poverty to demoralize and enervate them, while others among the poor view it as an incentive to improve themselves and their communities? When the first version of this essay appeared in January 2015, several "progressive" friends raised Romans 13:1–7 as evidence contrary to my thesis. (Similar sentiments are expressed in 1 Peter 2:13–20 and Titus 3:1–3.) In the Romans 13 passage, the apostle Paul urges submission to the governing authorities and warns against rebellion. He also says that if you owe taxes, pay your taxes. So a socialist or "progressive" of today might say this blesses all sorts of things including redistribution, a welfare state, or whatever the state wants to do either for you or to you. This is quite a leap. Here, as in all other parts of the Bible, context is important. Paul was speaking to early Christians in an environment seething with anti-Roman feeling. He undoubtedly did not want the growth of Christianity to be sidetracked by violence or other provocations against the Romans that would be brutally repressed. He was attempting to set the people's sights on what he regarded as higher things of greater immediate importance. But it's a larger error to extrapolate what Paul said to justify one particular view of the role of government, namely a "progressive" or "socialist" one. Suppose the "governing authorities" run a minimal state with Constitutional strictures and guarantees of personal liberties and private property. Suppose, furthermore, that the rules of that arrangement clearly advise the governed, "We protect you from aggressions against your rights and property but we don't otherwise give you free stuff. You're entitled to your liberties; to engage in private, voluntary charity and commerce, to deal with each other peacefully; to live as you choose so long as you each do no harm to another. But we in government will not rob Peter to pay Paul." There is nothing in Romans 13:1–7 that says these "governing authorities" are owed any less respect than if they were welfare-state redistributionists. So clearly, the verses of Romans 13:1–7 assert the legitimacy of government per se but do not ordain what today's "progressives" and socialists demand. The Bible, in fact, is full of stories about people who bravely and righteously resisted the overreach of governments. Does anyone really believe that if Jesus had been preaching just before the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, he would have declared, "Pharaoh demands that you stay, so unpack those bags and get back to work?" Norman Horn, a chemical engineer, research scientist, and founder of LibertarianChristians.com, notes that both the Old and New Testaments provide numerous instances of laudatory disobedience to the state: At the risk of belaboring the point, I share these insightful comments from a conversation with my colleague Jeffrey Tucker of the Foundation for Economic Education: The empirical evidence today is overwhelming that, as Montesquieu observed two centuries ago, "Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free."7 Nations possessing the most economic freedom (and the smallest governments) have higher rates of long-term economic growth and are more prosperous than those that engage in socialistic and redistributive practices. The countries with the lowest levels of economic freedom also have the lowest standards of living. Free countries and their people are the greatest charitable givers, whereas, on net balance, socialist ones are decisively on the receiving end. Why is this relevant? Because you can't redistribute anything to anybody if it's not created by somebody in the first place, and the evidence strongly suggests that the only lasting thing that socialist and redistributive arrangements do for poor people is give them lots of company. In Jesus's teachings and in many other parts of the New Testament, Christians — indeed, all people — are advised to be of "generous spirit," to care for one's family, to help the poor, to assist widows and orphans, to exhibit kindness and to maintain the highest character. How all that gets translated into the dirty business of coercive, vote-buying, politically driven redistribution schemes is a problem for prevaricators with agendas. It's not a problem for scholars of what the Bible actually says and doesn't say. Search your conscience. Consider the evidence. Be mindful of facts. Ask yourself: When it comes to helping the poor, would Jesus prefer that you give your money freely to the Salvation Army or at gunpoint to the welfare department? Jesus was no dummy. He was not interested in the public professions of charitableness in which the legalistic and hypocritical Pharisees were fond of engaging. He dismissed their self-serving, cheap talk. He knew it was often insincere, rarely indicative of how they conducted their personal affairs, and always a dead end with plenty of snares and delusions along the way. It would hardly make sense for him to champion the poor by supporting policies that undermine the process of wealth creation necessary to help them. In the final analysis, he would never endorse a scheme that doesn't work and is rooted in envy or theft. In spite of the attempts of many modern-day progressives to make him into a welfare-state redistributionist, Jesus was nothing of the sort. 3. All Bible citations are from the New International Version (NIV). 4. R. C. Sproul, Jr. , Biblical Economics: A Commonsense Guide to Our Daily Bread (Bristol, TN: Draught Horse Press, 2002), p. 138. 5. Anne Bradley and Art Lindsley, eds., For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2014), p. 110. 6. Norman Horn, "New Testament Theology of the State, Part 2," LibertarianChristians.com, Nov. 28, 2008, http://libertarianchristians.com/2008/11/28/new-testament-theology-2/ 7. Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws (1748). | Matt Palumbo | https://fee.org/resources/rendering-unto-caesar-was-jesus-a-socialist/ | Wed, 25 Dec 2019 01:14:37 +0000 | 1,577,254,477 | 1,577,278,350 | religion and belief | religious belief |
70,568 | breaking911--2019-11-04--HATE CRIME ATTACK THWARTED: Known White Supremacist Richard Holzer Arrested In Plot To Blow Up Color | 2019-11-04T00:00:00 | breaking911 | HATE CRIME ATTACK THWARTED: Known White Supremacist Richard Holzer Arrested In Plot To Blow Up Colorado Synagogue | A Colorado man has been charged with a federal hate crime for plotting to blow up the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. Richard Holzer, 27, of Pueblo, Colorado, was charged by criminal complaint with intentionally attempting to obstruct persons in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs, through force and the attempted use of explosives and fire, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 247. According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Holzer planned to destroy Temple Emanuel, a synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After visiting Temple Emanuel and observing Jewish congregants, Holzer, who self-identifies as a skinhead and a white supremacist, told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to do something that would tell Jewish people in the community that they are not welcome in Pueblo, and they should leave or they will die. The affidavit states that during a meeting with the undercover agents, Holzer repeatedly expressed his hatred of Jewish people and his support for RAHOWA, shorthand for a racial holy war. Holzer went on to suggest using explosive devices to destroy the Synagogue and “get that place off the map.” The affidavit notes that Holzer’s actions meet the federal definition of domestic terrorism in that his actions involve criminal acts dangerous to human life that are intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. Holzer allegedly met with undercover agents posing as fellow white supremacists to discuss a plan to attack Temple Emanuel, then visited the Synagogue together. The affidavit alleges that Holzer then made additional trips on his own to inspect the Synagogue and coordinated with undercover agents to obtain explosives. On the evening of Nov. 1, 2019, Holzer allegedly met with undercover agents, who provided Holzer with inert explosive devices that had been fabricated by the FBI, including two pipe bombs and 14 sticks of dynamite. According to the affidavit, Holzer planned to detonate the explosives several hours later, in the early hours of Saturday morning, Nov. 2, 2019. Assistant United States Attorney Julia Martinez and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorney Erin Creegan of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The FBI conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Pueblo Police Department and Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office. | ---- | https://breaking911.com/hate-crime-attack-thwarted-known-white-supremacist-richard-holzer-arrested-in-plot-to-blow-up-colorado-synagogue/ | Mon, 04 Nov 2019 19:47:00 +0000 | 1,572,914,820 | 1,572,908,411 | religion and belief | religious belief |
71,444 | breitbart--2019-07-02--India Ruling Party Fires Female Leader for Urging Hindus to Gang Rape Muslim Women | 2019-07-02T00:00:00 | breitbart | India: Ruling Party Fires Female Leader for Urging Hindus to 'Gang Rape' Muslim Women | In a June 21 assessment rejected by New Delhi, the U.S. Department of State (DOS), echoing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), blasted Hindu-majority India, the most populous democracy in the world, for inciting hatred against religious minorities, namely Muslims and Christians. The DOS reports— focused on international religious freedom — found that attacks against Muslim minorities plagued India throughout 2018. Recent incidents captured by news reports show that sectarian violence pitting Hindus against Muslims have continued into this year. On Monday the Tribune in India reported that in a now-deleted Facebook post, Gaur, the top leader of BJP’s women’s wing (Mahila Morcha) in India’s Uttar Pradesh province, declared: She went on to stress that Muslim women should have their “honor looted.” “If we need to protect India,” then Hindu men must rape Muslim women, she continued, adding, “There is no other way.” It remains unclear exactly when the BJP leader wrote the post on Facebook. Responding to Gaur’s post, Vijaya Rahatkar, the national president of BJP Mahila Morcha, said that such “hateful comments” would not be tolerated, adding that the party has expelled Gaur: A press release posted on Twitter by Rahatkar revealed that the BJP fired Gaur on June 27. “The press release acknowledged that Gaur repeatedly posted inappropriate content on social media,” the Tribune noted. “While this would not be the first time BJP leaders have been accused of propagating hate online or offline, the fact that a [BJP women’s wing] leader was instigating rape and gruesome sexual violence shocked many on social media,” the Wire added. Last month, the U.S. government condemned India for failing to take action to protect Muslims and other religious minorities amid an increase in violence at the hands of radical Hindu nationalists. New Delhi has denied the allegations. The State Department report, which covered activity in 2018, revealed: There were reports by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that the government sometimes failed to act on mob attacks on religious minorities, marginalized communities, and critics of the government. Some senior officials of the Hindu-majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made inflammatory speeches against minority communities. Mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, especially Muslims, continued throughout the year amid rumors that victims had traded or killed cows for beef. Hindus honor the cow as representative of the divine. “There were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism, and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice their religious beliefs and proselytize,” the State report added. A joint report by two human rights groups accused the BJP of stoking anti-Muslim violence since it came to power in 2014, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported late last month. The Mumbai-based Center for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) and the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) based in the U.K. learned from official statistics that India experienced “more than 700 outbreaks of communal violence last year that killed 86 and injured 2,321 people,” SCMP added. “The actual number, however, could be higher as many cases go unreported,” the news outlet acknowledged. While the sectarian violence has targeted religious minorities, including Christians and Sikhs, Muslims “have borne the brunt of these hate crimes, such as lynching, threats, attacks on places of worship and forced conversion,” SCMP reported. Echoing the U.S. government and independent reports, human rights group Amnesty International also denounced India last month for rising Islamophobia. Last month, video footage purportedly showed a mob in India beating a Muslim man to death after forcing him to perform Hindu chants. Social media users described the incident as a “lynching.” On Monday, a fight over parking a scooter evolved into sectarian violence in India’s Old Delhi region “as groups of Hindu and Muslim residents accused each other of stone pelting and violence on Sunday night,” the Hindustan Times reported. Open Doors has deemed India one of the worst places for Christian persecution in recent years, particularly after the BJP took power. The NGO described PM Modi’s re-election in May as an “absolute tragedy” for Christian minorities in India. Citing a 2011 national census, the State Department estimates out of India’s total population of 1.3 billion, “Hindus constitute 79.8 percent of the population, Muslims 14.2 percent, Christians 2.3 percent, and Sikhs 1.7 percent.” | Edwin Mora | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/JUzWF_JFGQU/ | 2019-07-02 19:00:17+00:00 | 1,562,108,417 | 1,567,537,161 | religion and belief | religious belief |
71,757 | breitbart--2019-08-13--Kansas Archbishop Abortion Is Most Important Human Rights Effort of Our Time | 2019-08-13T00:00:00 | breitbart | Kansas Archbishop: Abortion Is ‘Most Important Human Rights Effort of Our Time’ | Pro-life work is especially critical now, the Kansas City archbishop said, “at a time of pro-life promise with the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court and a time when supporters of legalized abortion are incredibly motivated and energized.” “This is a moment of great opportunity as well as a moment of great peril for our culture and society,” said Naumann, who is the chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The archbishop acknowledged that the latest iteration of the clerical sex abuse crisis “has impaired the voice of the church in speaking to our culture about the great moral evils of our time” but added that this does not “absolve us of speaking boldly and strongly at the same time with humility.” “We must continue to teach the truth and speak it with love,” he said. In the past, Naumann has not shied away from calling on Catholics to live up to the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of human life. Last April, Naumann released a statement urging Congress to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The bill draws public attention to “the shameful reality that the United States is one of only seven nations worldwide that allows the barbaric practice of late-term abortion, when a child likely feels pain and might even live outside the womb with appropriate medical assistance,” he said. Abortions performed after the middle point of pregnancy not only kill a child but also “pose serious physical dangers to women,” he added. The vast majority of Americans strongly support a ban on late-term abortions, the archbishop noted, which is one more reason Congress should waste no time in passing the bill. “I also pray that consideration of this bill moves our country closer to recognizing all unborn babies as legal persons worthy of our love and respect,” he said. Not long before the presidential elections of 2016, Naumann slammed vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine for his support of abortion, calling him a “cafeteria Catholic” who picks and chooses from Church teaching according to its political expediency. Naumann said that it was “painful” to listen to Kaine repeat “the same tired and contorted reasoning to profess his personal opposition to abortion while justifying his commitment to keep it legal” in the last vice presidential debate. While boasting of his Catholic credentials, Kaine fell back on “all the usual made-for-modern-media sound bites,” the archbishop noted, such as it is “not proper to impose his religious beliefs upon all Americans” and he “trusts women to make good reproductive choices.” The archbishop called on voters to “be wary of candidates who assume to take upon themselves the role of defining what Catholics believe or should believe.” “Unfortunately, the vice-presidential debate revealed that the Catholic running for the second highest office in our land is an orthodox member of his party, fully embracing his party’s platform,” he continued, “but a cafeteria Catholic, picking and choosing the teachings of the Catholic Church that are politically convenient.” | Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/xhn7NMgsDGU/ | 2019-08-13 00:37:28+00:00 | 1,565,671,048 | 1,567,534,248 | religion and belief | religious belief |
72,267 | breitbart--2019-08-26--Dave Chappelle Calls Out Cancel Culture Worst Motherfkers Ive Ever Tried to Entertain | 2019-08-26T00:00:00 | breitbart | Dave Chappelle Calls Out Cancel Culture: 'Worst Motherf**kers I've Ever Tried to Entertain' | Footage from his latest Netflix stand-up special Sticks & Stones features Chappelle announcing to the audience at The Tabernacle in Atlanta that he’s ready to “try some impressions out.” “This is my impression of the Founding Fathers of America when the Constitution was being written”: “Hurry up and finish that Constitution nigger, I’m trying to get some sleep,” Chappelle says, to uproarious laughter from the crowd. “The next one’s a little harder,” Chappelle says, asking the audience to try “to guess who it is.” “Uh, Duh… Hey, der, if you do anything wrong in your life, and I find out about it, I’m going to try take everything away from. I don’t care what I find out. It could be today, tomorrow, fifteen, twenty years from now — If I find out, you’re fucking….duh…finished.” “Who is that?” he asked. “That’s you! That’s what the audience sounds like to me!” “That’s why I don’t be coming out doing comedy all the time because y’all niggas is the worst motherfuckers I’ve ever tried to entertain in my fucking life. Goddamn sick of it. This is the worst time ever to be a celebrity. You’re going to be finished, everybody’s doomed!” Chappelle said. That riff set up a cascade of piercing puns in which Chappelle explained what he called “celebrity hunting season.” He defended Kevin Hart — who stepped down from hosting the Oscars earlier this year after the cancel culture came for him, promoted years-old jokes some saw as homophobic — defending the deceased King of Pop (“Michael Jackson has been dead for ten years and this nigga has two new cases), embattled R&B icon R. Kelly, who’s facing more than a dozen sex crimes charges, and disgraced actor-comedian Louis C.K., whom Chappelle says was “a very good friend before he died in that terrible masturbation accident.” Chappelle also takes aim at actor Jussie Smollett (whose name the comic says with an aggressive French pronunciation). “African Americans, we were like oddly quiet. . . . The gay community started accusing the African American community of being homophobic for not supporting him,” Chappelle says of the actor who concocted a hoax hate crime in which he claimed to be brutally beaten by two MAGA hat-wearing fans of his FOX TV show at 2 a.m. on one of the coldest days on the year in Chicago. “What they didn’t understand is that we were supporting him with our silence. Because we understood that this niggas was clearly lying,” he joked. Elsewhere, Chappelle said he’s having a “MeToo headache.” From there Chappelle walked right into abortion: “Eight states including your state [Georgia] have passed the most stringent anti-abortion laws this nation has seen since Roe V Wade. I told you. I told you.” Of course, there was a punchline before soft political preaching to be had: “I’m not for abortion,” Chappelle said. “I’m not for it but I’m not against it either. It all depends on who I get pregnant.” “I don’t care what your religious beliefs are — if you have a dick, you need to shut the fuck up on this one,” Chappelle said. “This is theirs. The right to chose is their unequivocal right. Not only do I believe they that have a right to chose, I believe they shouldn’t have to consult anybody, except for a physician about how to exercise that right.” “And ladies,” Chappelle added, “to be fair to us, I also believe that if you decide to have the baby a man shouldn’t have to pay. That’s fair. If you can kill this motherfucker, I can at least abandon him. My money. My choice.” Dave Chappelle also mourned the twelve people killed when a gunman opened fire in a Virginia Beach municipal center in May. He told the crowd that he’s had to warn his son about how to survive a school shooting drill: “Son, fuck that drill. Somebody comes to your school and wants to shoot it up. I’m just going to be honest with you. You probably going to get shot, nigga. You got a famous dad. I talk a lot of shit. They gonna be gunning for you little buddy. Just stay low. Run in a zigzag pattern. And don’t try to save anybody son, do you understand me?” Chappelle said to thunderous laughter. Sticks & Stones is Chappelle’s latest Netflix stand-up special, purportedly part of the $60 million deal he signed with the streaming giant in 2017. Jerome Hudson is Breitbart News Entertainment Editor and author of the forthcoming book 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know, from HarperCollins. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson. | Jerome Hudson | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/tU1tJqkz_eY/ | 2019-08-26 22:23:50+00:00 | 1,566,872,630 | 1,567,533,330 | religion and belief | religious belief |
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