Category Archives: Global Politics
No, not never – Yes, you will! Japan will never stop whaling: fisheries chief | The Japan Times
Hayashi, who took the ministerial post overseeing the country’s whaling program in December, said criticism of the practice is “a cultural attack, a kind of prejudice against Japanese culture.”
via Japan will never stop whaling: fisheries chief | The Japan Times.
Someone’s Handing Out Leaflets in Eastern Ukraine Telling Jews to ‘Register’ – The Wire
According to the Times of Israel, Pushilin has gone on record to a Russian paper denying any involvement in the flyers, instead calling them a “provocation.” Olga Resnikova, a Jewish resident of the region who saw the leaflet told Ynet that “we do not know if the leaflet was spread by pro-Russian forces or someone else, but it did manage to create quite a fear.”
No matter where the flyer comes from, the very real issue of anti-Semitism in Ukraine following the change of power there has been a fraught one. Pro-Russian groups have taken pains to paint the new interim government in Kiev as in collusion with anti-Semitic nationalists. But a New York Times look into Jewish life in Ukraine following the change of power found that many in the country were more concerned about anti-Semitism coming from Russia than they were about nationalist backlash from the new Ukrainian government. It seems no matter the crisis, the worst bigots will always find a way to exploit it.
via Someone’s Handing Out Leaflets in Eastern Ukraine Telling Jews to ‘Register’ – The Wire.
IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security
{Boko Haram – just another criminal for-profit extremist militia? – seems so}
Nigeria’s extremist Islamist group Boko Haram are believed to be actively recruiting fighters across the border in Cameroon’s Far North Region, according to residents and local government officials.
More than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters and preachers (the latter presumed to have links with the group), have been arrested in Far North Region since 2012, but many have been released due to lack of evidence, according to a local security official.
via IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security.
Game of drones: Why Google and Facebook are going head-to-head for control of the skies – The Times of India
Both Facebook and Google have said that they are interested in using these craft to supply internet access to remote areas of the world, and although there’s a straightforward commercial interest for both companies (more internet means more customers after all), quite how ground-breaking and useful the technology they’re investing in is not yet fully understood.
Because they’re unmanned and remotely controlled, these aircraft are often thought of as drones, but really it makes more sense to think of them semi-permanent, atmospheric satellites. Unlike drones they’re not capable of nimble flight, of darting back and forth over a target; instead they’re more akin to massive, delicate gliders, taking off from regular airfields but then pretty much left to their own devices.
Although Titan Aerospace previously said it was not expecting to begin any commercial operations until 2015, it’s their aircraft that we’ve heard most about (far less is known about Ascenta), with their solar-powered Solara 50 and Solara 60 boasting wingspans greater than a Boeing 767 with solar-panels on the top of the craft keeping them aloft for five years at a time.
Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR
{Not supposed to happen unless, US says OK – part of every agreement to sell or supply them. So, US is saying OK or this it is simply not true and is spin to try and get it to happen. Interesting that the information is released just after Assad claims government will win in a year.}
“Moderate, well-organised fighters from the Hazm movement have for the first time received more than 20 TOW anti-tank missiles from a Western source,” the source said on condition of anonymity, and without specifying who had supplied the rockets.
via Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.
Watch: Christian groups decry Israeli restrictions ahead of Easter | Maan News Agency
“There is no more freedom for Christians in reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” Benayot added, stressing how the combination of checkpoints and police violence had deterred many Christians from coming during the holy week leading up to Easter.
Every year, millions of Christians — including tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians — converge upon the holy city to mark the holiest days of the Christian calendar.
In recent years, however, these celebrations have been marred by violence, and at times Israeli authorities have even banned Palestinian Christians from entering the city to celebrate their holidays, even while allowing foreign pilgrims in.
Benayot said that last year when he tried to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he was assaulted at a checkpoint Israeli forces had erected.
via Watch: Christian groups decry Israeli restrictions ahead of Easter | Maan News Agency.
WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 228 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 92 deaths.
via WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update.
Close to matching ebola outbreak – and have much better medical facilities – humans creating opportunities for outbreaks?
Continuing Detention of Tamil Women and a Girl Child under the Prevention of Terrorism Act | Groundviews
In 2009 the government announced that the LTTE has been wiped out from the country with the end of the armed conflict. However, in the past few weeks there have been a number of arrests, including of women under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) supposedly to investigate and counter a renaissance of the LTTE. Most of these arrests were in connection to the search for a man called Gopi who according to media reports quoting military and police spokespersons was killed along with his two associates on 11 April 2014 and that they been buried at state expenses on 12 April in Anuradhapura. Those arrested in connection to these men are still being kept at Boosa camp, in Colombo’s the 2nd and 4th floor of the Terrorism Investigation branch, and in the Vavuniya Terrorism Investigation Division (TID). In these TID and military joint operations men, women, the elderly and children have been arrested.
Israeli forces detain Hebron man after settlers invade his home | Maan News Agency
Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man on Saturday evening after he tried to defend his family from a home invasion by Jewish settlers in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a local activist group said.
Mofid Sharbati, 46, was detained by Israeli forces after a group of settlers entered his home on Shuhada street in central Hebron, coordinator for Youth against Settlements Issa Amro said.
His brother Zidan Sharbati was wounded during the incident, which began when Jewish settlers entered their homes and began beating the brothers as well as members of their families.
When the two attempted to respond, Israeli forces who were on the scene came to the aid of settlers and continued the assault, Amro said.
Israeli forces detained Mofid during the incident, while Zidan was evacuated from the scene by an ambulance and taken to Hebron Hospital, where doctors said his wounds were “moderate.”
via Israeli forces detain Hebron man after settlers invade his home | Maan News Agency.
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 
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