As Insurers Face Health Care Law Requirements, Customers Face Cancellations
Two months ago, Al and Jill Alcantara, both 63, of McKinney, got a letter from their health insurer saying their policy would not be renewed.
In the letter sent to the Alcantaras and other customers, Grand Prairie-based National Health Insurance Co. said it could no longer offer individual accident and health insurance policies. It blamed its decision on the company’s inability to meet requirements of the health care overhaul signed into law this year.
The cancellation highlights one way the new law is reshaping the health care landscape in North Texas and elsewhere. Some health economists say more small insurers may soon buckle under the weight of the law’s mandates.
The law’s biggest challenge for insurers is a requirement starting Jan. 1 that specifies “medical loss ratios” — the percentage of an insurer’s premiums spent on medical services for its customers. For individual plans, the new law requires that at least 80 percent of premiums go toward paying medical expenses; for large group coverage, the minimum rises to 85 percent.
Insurers that fail to meet the requirement will have to pay rebates to customers.
“The fact is that there are a number of plans who won’t be able to meet this requirement and will simply exit the market,” said Jared Wolfe, executive director for the Texas Association of Health Plans, an Austin-based group representing concerns of insurers.
But Ben Gonzalez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, said, “There is always some movement in and out of the market by smaller players. We do not see a specific trend at this point.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has the responsibility of writing the rules for what will qualify as a medical expense, said insurers like National Health may be acting prematurely.
“We have recently heard reports that some insurers are making decisions about participation in particular markets based on the effect of these requirements,” Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. secretary of health and human services, said in a statement. “It is premature for insurers to make business decisions about participation in particular markets based on rules that have yet to be published, or to apply for exemptions to rules that have not yet been drafted.”
Approval to cancel
On July 26, the Texas Department of Insurance gave National Health approval to stop offering individual accident and health insurance policies. National Health sent letters to the Alcantaras and other customers four days later.
“After careful consideration of the recent health care legislation, National Health Insurance Co. has determined that it will not be able to meet the requirements set forth by the [health care law] recently enacted by the United States federal government,” the company said in its letter. “With this knowledge, NHIC has decided to cease distributing and renewing its medical expense plans.”
National Health, which declined repeated requests for interviews, did not say in its letter which of the requirements in the 906-page law it has trouble meeting.
But Wolfe said the new medical-loss ratio requirements will be more of a hardship for smaller insurance companies like National Health than for larger companies.
“The individual market has much higher administrative costs than the large group market due to a number of factors, [such as] costs are spread across fewer lives, the cost of underwriting and the role of brokers,” Wolfe said.
A company the size of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas — the state’s largest insurer, with 3.8 million members, 400 hospitals and 40,000 physicians — can rely on name recognition to generate business. But smaller insurers have to heavily rely on insurance brokers, and the new medical loss requirements will hurt their commissions, Wolfe said.
And, as smaller insurance companies bow out under weight of the medical loss ratio requirements, larger insurers stand to increase their market share. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas says it sees an opportunity.
“Although we are actively evaluating all aspects of pending health reform definitions and regulations, including the implications of minimum medical loss ratio requirements, we believe that individual insurance is a valuable service and are committed to that market,” said spokeswoman Margaret Jarvis.
Financial pressures
The new law is adding to the pressures felt by companies like National Health, which has had financial troubles for at least three years, according to the insurer’s financial records kept with the Texas Department of Insurance.
Since December 2007, its assets have fallen 31 percent, from $36.7 million to $25.2 million in December 2009. Premiums from its accident and health division fell 27 percent during the same period, from $8.1 million to $5.9 million.
And since October 2009, the insurer has racked up penalties in several states for not filing health care cost reports or financial statements on time, according to records kept by the Department of Insurance.
The insurer plans to continue writing Medicare supplement policies and specified disease policies. But as a condition of stopping its individual health insurance business, National Health will not be allowed to re-enter that market until 2015.
For the Alcantaras, the loss of their insurance policy is major blow, but not a complete surprise.
They’ve been pleased with their high-deductible policy, which is tailored to cover Al’s Type 2 diabetes and gives them access to all the doctors they want. Their policy will be terminated Feb. 1.
“I honestly believed this would happen,” said Jill Alcantara, a critic of the new health law.
High-risk pool
The Alcantaras now plan to join the Texas High Risk Insurance Pool. The plans available range from a $2,500 deductible with $1,025 monthly premium to a $7,000 deductible with a $662 monthly premium. Jill Alcantara acknowledges that’s expensive.
“But that’s just what we’re going to have to do,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
Half of the Portuguese Live Off the State
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 6 — Half of Portugal’s 10 million citizens live off the State, including officers, pensioners, unemployed and those whose only revenue s from State subsidies, according to a report published today by Oporto’s daily paper ‘Jornal de Noticias’, quoted by the Efe agency. The 5 million Portuguese who depend on State money comprise 3.5 million pensioners, 352,000 unemployed who receive subsidies, 105,000 invalids and 390,000 who receive social insertion assistance that save them from poverty. This 50% of the population that survives thanks to the State represents the main item on the 2001 Financial Bill, which threatens to heat up political debate in the coming weeks. The government led by socialist Jose’ Socrates, in power since 2005 and who lost absolute majority last September, had to negotiate the austerity plan with the conservatives to slow down public debt and market distrust of the Portuguese economy, which is experiencing the worst crisis of the last 30 years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
9/11 ‘Mastermind’ Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Loses Three Stone in Guantanamo Bay as He Presents a Devout New Image
When he was first introduced to the world, the man alleged to have masterminded the New York terrorist attacks appeared untidy and overweight.
Now Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has presented a new picture of himself in a letter to relatives — three stone lighter and with a long grey-flecked beard.
The alleged terrorist kingpin who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 also shows himself as a devout man, as he is pictured holding a copy of the Koran and wearing a traditional headdress.
The new picture could also be interpreted as a homage to the leader of al Qaeda Osama Bin Laden, to whom he now bears a strong resemblance.
In a letter dated June 2009, the Guantanamo Bay detainee made an attempt to plea for absolution for his alleged crimes.
According to The New Yorker, he wrote in English: ‘All praise is due to Allah. I praise Him and seek His aid and His forgiveness and I seek refuge in Allah from our evil in ourselves and from our bad deeds.’
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Brain Imaging Monitors Effect of Movie Magic
CRASH! A deafening roar and the cinema screen explodes with light. The scene is certainly startling, but is this movie stirring up the right emotional reactions deep down? Rather than ask your opinion, it’s now possible to cut out the middleman and go straight to your brain for the verdict.
This new approach, known as neurocinematics, is beginning to make itself felt in movie-making and could one day help regulatory bodies implement appropriate age restrictions on films.
Neurocinematics is a term coined by Uri Hasson at Princeton University, who was among the first to investigate how the brain responds to movies using an fMRI brain scanner.
His team looked at the similarity in the brain responses of a group of viewers to different types of films. When volunteers watched a section of Alfred Hitchcock’s Bang! You’re Dead, for example, they found that about 65 per cent of the frontal cortex — the part of the brain involved in attention and perception — was responding in the same way in all the viewers. Only 18 per cent of the cortex showed a similar response when the participants watched more free-form footage, of sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm (Projections, DOI: 10.3167/proj.2008.020102). The level of correlation between people indicates how much control the director has over the audience’s experience, Hasson claims.
Not all film-makers will be aiming for the highest levels of correlation among the audience, however. “Greater correlation doesn’t mean the movie is better,” Hasson notes. Some film-makers aim for the opposite — to leave the movie open to interpretation.
Hasson’s team also analysed the effects of scrambling the order of individual scenes. The group looked at correlations in patterns of brain activity across a group of people watching either a regular version of a film or one composed of the same shots shuffled around.
A coherent scene structure was needed to achieve the highest correlation of activity between viewers in parts of the brain involved in extracting meaning (The Journal of Neuroscience, vol 28, p 2539). A similar technique could help a film editor work out how effective different edits are for an audience’s understanding of a film.
Phil Carlsen and Devon Hubbard at neuromarketing company MindSign in San Diego, California, are also using fMRI to see how active different parts of a viewer’s brain are during a screening (see diagram). Among other things, knowing which areas are activated when you see your leading lady or man could inform future casting decisions. “You can see which area of the brain is activated when you see Ben Stiller’s face,” says Carlsen.
He reckons his company can also identify what the brain of a captivated viewer looks like, depending on the aim of the scene. As a general rule, an “engaged” brain will have high levels of activity in areas involved in processing sound and images. And if a person is watching a good horror movie, for example, you’d expect to see more activity in the amygdala — the part of the brain that responds to threats. On the other hand, a scene which inspires compassion will activate the insula, says Carlsen. “If you look at a cute puppy we see activation of the insula,” he says. “But if that puppy’s head explodes, the amygdala’s activity increases and activity in the insula drops.”
Another key area is the ventromedial prefrontal cortex — part of the brain thought to be involved in self-awareness. “That’s a very specific area that we feel should ‘light up’ if the goal of your movie is to connect with people,” says Carlsen. He says this is because it is involved with linking what’s happening on the screen with your personal feelings.
Brain scans can also aid modern film technologies: Carlsen and Hubbard scanned volunteers’ brains while they watched scenes from the movie Avatar in either 2D or 3D. When the viewers used old-fashioned red and blue 3D glasses, their brain scans suggested they were less engaged in the film than when modern polarised glasses were used. 3D movie-makers seem to be on to a good thing though — 3D scenes increased general brain activation compared with 2D, says Carlsen.
Neurocinematics has the potential to revolutionise the way films are made, says Ron Wright of neuromarketing firm Sands Research. “It’s definitely impacting television production and commercials, so it is logical that it will pass into film.”
That may be a boon for directors of big-budget movies: “We can’t replace the film-maker, but we can measure the impact of what he did,” says Hasson.
MindSign is already in the business of improving movie scenes and trailers using neurocinematics. Remember the latest Harry Potter movie trailer? That might be because MindSign helped to develop the most brain-engaging version possible to tempt you to the cinema. The team showed potential trailers to a group of individuals to identify which version caused the greatest brain activity, and flagged scenes that were interpreted as dull by apparently disinterested brains…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: A Prayer for 5771
On August 28, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck confounded his colleagues in the media when he brought hundreds of thousands of Americans to the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC for a rally he called “Restoring Honor.”
While former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker, the rally was decidedly apolitical. The speakers said nothing controversial. The crowd was enthusiastic but not rowdy. US President Barack Obama was never even mentioned by name. In the event, the massive crowd gathered, prayed, celebrated American military heroes, listened to patriotic speeches and songs. Then the participants picked up their garbage and went home.
So what was it all about? Why do many people see it as a watershed event?
Although Beck called the rally “Restoring Honor,” it wasn’t really about restoring honor. It was about restoring something even more important. It was about restoring the American creed…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Cardinal: “I Cannot Say, ‘Don’t Embrace the Qur’an’“
(CNSNews.com) — Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Catholic archbishop emeritus of Washington, told CNSNews.com that if “someone sees the Gospel as the truth of God’s presence in our world, that person should embrace the Gospel.” He also said that if a person “sees the Qu’ran as proof of God’s presence in the world, then I cannot say, ‘Don’t embrace the Qu’ran.’“
McCarrick was a featured speaker at the National Press Club during a press conference sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), where a group of religious leaders denounced what they called “derision” and “bigotry” directed at American Muslims as a result of the proposed Ground Zero mosque and Islamic cultural center in Manhattan.
CNSNews.com asked McCarrick, “Americans believe there is a God given right to the free exercise of religion which is enshrined in the first amendment. Does a Muslim born and raised in Mecca have a God given right to convert to the Roman Catholic faith and freely exercise his religion there?”
“As an American, I believe that we all have a right to practice what God tells us is his message to us and if therefore, if someone — if someone sees the Gospel as the truth of God’s presence in our world, that person should embrace the Gospel,” McCarrick responded.
“If a person sees the Qu’ran as proof of God’s presence in the world, then I cannot say, ‘don’t embrace the Qu’ran’ so that I think we — we should always be willing to talk to people and we should always be willing to love them and we should always be willing to allow them that freedom of conscience which comes from God.”
McCarrick was also asked if the Obama administration needs to do more to ensure religious freedom in countries like Saudi Arabia, where a Muslim converting to another religion, known as “apostasy” is punishable by death, according to the State Department’s most recent report on Human Rights.
“A Muslim’s conversion to another religion is considered apostasy, punishable with physical abuse, imprisonment, and threats of execution unless the converted person recants,” the report says.
“Well, I think that it would be wonderful if by continuing conversations we could begin to see all the nations of the world come to that same appreciation which they accepted when they joined the United Nations,” said McCarrick.
Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, the President of Interfaith Alliance told CNSNews.com that a Muslim living in Saudi Arabia has the God given right to convert to the Roman Catholic faith.
“Absolutely, and in Islam as well as in Christianity or Judism or any other major religions, it depends on which books you read, which theologians you read as to what answer you get. I mean, I know I’m a Christian, a Christian pastor. I know people in my tradition who say that the first amendment never meant to separate the institutions of religion and the institutions of governing. I don’t agree with that,” he said.
“But that’s what they say. If you look in Islam, you will find scholars who say that religion is by nature a choice made in freedom and that a person ought to have the right to convert either to Islam or from Islam as that person pleases but you can also find in that community, people who argue that they don’t have the right to do that. So, we’re dealing not just with scripture and tradition but even more with interpretation of scripture and tradition.”
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
City Council Meetings to Begin With Muslim Prayers
In the wake of the battle over a mosque at Ground Zero, a move by the Hartford City Councilis sure to have its critics.
The Council announced Tuesday that it has invited local imams to perform Islamic invocations at the beginning of the Council meetings in September.
An e-mail from the Common Council called it “an act of solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters.”
The email even referenced the ongoing issue in New York. “One of the goals of the Council is to give a voice to the many diverse peoples of the City, which is especially important given the recent anti-Islam events throughout the country.”
“I feel it is very important that, as a Council, we project a culture of inclusiveness in the City of Hartford. Too often it is our differences that divide us. In my opinion, it is our combination of differences that makes us strong,” Winch said.
On Facebook, Council Minority Leader Luis Cotto wrote: “We start every single council meeting with a prayer. 99% of the prayers are Christian based, and in three years I recall one Rabbi coming through.”
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Court Sides With C.I.A. on Seizure of Terror Suspects
A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit involving the Central Intelligence Agency’s practice of seizing terrorism suspects and transferring them to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation. The ruling handed a major victory to the Obama administration in its effort to advance a sweeping view of executive secrecy power.
By a six-to-five vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reversing an earlier decision, dismissed a lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging flights for the C.I.A.’s “extraordinary rendition” program, as it is known. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case on behalf of five former prisoners who say they were tortured because of the program — and that Jeppesen was complicit in their treatment.
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Inquiry by BP Finds a ‘Sequence of Failures’ Involving Several Companies Led to Oil Spill
The oil giant BP said Wednesday in an internal report that multiple companies and work teams contributed to the Gulf of Mexico spill that fouled waters and shorelines for months.
In its 193-page report posted on its Web site Wednesday, BP described the incident as an accident that arose from a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces.
The report was generated by a BP team led by Mark Bly, the company’s head of safety and operations.
The report is far from the final word on possible causes of the explosion, as several divisions of the federal government, including the Justice Department, Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, are also investigating.
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LA Deputy Who Arrested Mel Gibson Sues Sheriff’s Dept.
The Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who arrested Mel Gibson for drunken driving four years ago sued his department, claiming he was punished for resisting his superior’s requests to omit the actor’s anti-Jewish remarks from the arrest report.
Deputy James Mee, who is Jewish, filed a lawsuit Tuesday, seeking damages for loss of income, medical expenses and mental suffering. Since the 2006 arrest, Mee said in the lawsuit he’s been overlooked for promotions and had his work held up to unfair scrutiny within the department.
“You go to work and you don’t know what to expect,” Mee told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m constantly in fear.”
Mee, 55, said he put Gibson’s slurs in the report — including his statement that “the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” — to show how drunk the actor was, the Times said. But a supervisor told him it was “not acceptable” because the anti-Semitic comments were not relevant to the drunken driving arrest, the paper said.
The deputy said he was told to remove the comments from the initial report and put them in a supplemental report that would not have been available to the public right away. The secondary report was to be marked “confidential” and locked in a safe, the lawsuit said.
“That makes it look like an afterthought,” he told the Times. “In front of a jury I would look like an idiot.”
Mee complied, and four pages of the report that contained the slurs was leaked to TMZ.com, which first reported on Mee’s lawsuit.
Mee was investigated in the leak, but no charges were filed. Several other deputies had access to the report but were not investigated, Mee’s attorneys said, claiming he was unfairly singled out.
“You know why he was suspected?” lawyer Yael Trock asked, according to the Times. “Because he’s Jewish.”
Another lawyer for Mee, Etan Lorant, told People, “My client simply wants to be left alone to do his job at the sheriff’s department.”
“He’s always wondering what they might do to punish him next,” said Lorant, whose client’s home, bank accounts and computer have been searched.
The sheriff’s department denied the charges in Mee’s lawsuit.
“The whole story is not being told in this lawsuit, and we look forward to telling it,” sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said, The Associated Press reported. “It has nothing to do with religious discrimination. We categorically deny those allegations.”
At the time of Gibson’s arrest on July 29, 2006, the Oscar-winning director was friendly with Sheriff Lee Baca and was a spokesman for a program run by the sheriff’s department and had filmed a public service announcement,” the lawsuit said.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Prescription for a Healthier Brain: Coffee and Cigarettes?
Discovering why even bad habits can protect the brain
Inspired by human studies showing that avid coffee drinkers and smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of Washington decided to see what java and cigarettes do to fruit flies. The tremors and other movement impairments of Parkinson’s are triggered by the death of dopamine-producing cells in the brain, so the investigators used flies that had been genetically engineered to have their dopamine cells die off as they age. When Leo Pallanck and his colleagues fed coffee and tobacco extracts to these flies, they found that the animals’ dopamine cells survived and their life span increased. The scientists ruled out caffeine and nicotine as the protective substances, but there are other promising compounds in coffee and tobacco, which the researchers intend to test in these short-lived creatures. “Flies are a great system for quickly trying to zero in on the chemicals that are responsible,” Pallanck says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Referendum: Now for the Most Important Vote of All
Daniel Hannan and Ruth Lea launch a cross-party campaign for a ballot on whether Britain should stay in the EU.
By Daniel Hannan
No one under the age of 54 has been asked about Britain’s relationship with the EU Photo: Reuters The decision to hold a referendum on the voting system has surely killed off, once and for all, any notion that plebiscites are alien to the British constitution. Referendums, once rare events, have become an unexceptional part of our democratic procedures. Before the election of Tony Blair, we had had only four such votes: one each in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and one across the UK on continued membership of the Common Market. Since 1997, however, there have been a further 39 local and regional ballots — not counting the hundreds of parish-wide polls called in 2007 to demand a national vote on Europe.
The question, these days, is not whether referendums are compatible with representative democracy, but what the next one will be about. If we are allowed a vote on how to elect our MPs, why not a vote on whether those MPs run the country? If we can have a referendum on whether to have a mayor in Hartlepool, what about one on whether the majority of our laws should be handed down from Brussels?…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Barroso: No Place for Racism in Europe
(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, SEPTEMBER 7 — In Europe there is no space for racism and xenophobia, according to a statement by EC president Jose’ Manuel Barroso made during his first speech on the state of the Union.
Applauded by the Euro-MPs, Barroso added that ‘On such delicate matters we all have to act with sensitivity and not reawaken the ghosts of the past”. After having pointed out that the construction of an area of freedom, security and justice is a “fundamental” objective for Europe, Barroso emphasised that “all citizens must respect the law and the governments must respect human rights, including those of the minorities”.
He then specified that “Racism and xenophobia have no place in Europe, and on such delicate matters, when a problem arises, we must all act with responsibility. I invite everyone not to reawaken the ghosts of the European past”.
Barroso believes that regular immigrants will find a Europe that respects and enforces human values. But at the same time it will act to fight the exploitation of illegal immigration. He announced that the Commission will present new proposals for the monitoring of external frontiers. As for measures to expel Rom people adopted in France, Barroso emphasised that any form of discrimination “is purely unacceptable”. But all citizens have “rights and duties” and we need “balance” between respect of the principle of free movement and that of security. Otherwise the Rom phenomenon will lend itself to “populist exploitation”. The Rom issue will be debated this afternoon in the European Parliament in the presence of EU commissioner for justice and human rights Viviane Reding. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Commission President Calls Plan to Stone Iranian Woman ‘Barbaric’
Strasbourg, 7 Sept. (AKI) — European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday he was “appalled” to learn of the sentencing to death by stoning of a 43-year-old Iranian woman and called it “barbaric beyond words.”
Barroso made the remarks in his first annual State of the Union address to the European parliament in Strasbourg, France.
The parliament is expected in the next few days to pass a resolution condemning the plight of Mohammadi Ashtiani and other women facing death by stoning.
The sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was put on hold in July after an international outcry over the brutality of the punishment, but her lawyer says her life still hangs by a thread.
Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and helping kill her husband and is detained in Iran’s northwestern city of Tabriz, where she has no access to her two children.
There are worries she could be executed as soon as Friday, when the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan comes to an end, her lawyer Javid Houtan Kian, told Adnkronos International from Tabriz.
France and Italy have urged Iran to show flexibility over Mohammadi Ashtiani but Iran on Tuesday dismissed European concerns and rejected talks over the case.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Mohammadi Ashtiani had been charged with murder and infidelity and the case shouldn’t’t be linked to human rights.
Speaking hours after Mehmanparast’s remarks, Barroso urged greater protection of the rights of the EU’s largest ethnic minority — the 12 million-strong Roma community.
“Governments must respect human rights, including those of minorities. Racism and xenophobia have no place in Europe,” said Baroso.
His remarks indirectly targeted the French government, which last month controversial deportations of many hundreds of Roma last month.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
European Union’s Countries Home to 2.4 Mln Turks
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 7 — Turks, with a population around 2.4 million, constitute the largest expatriate community living in the European Union (EU), as Anatolia news agency reports. According to the data released by EU’s statistics authority Eurostat, there are currently 31.9 million foreigners living in EU-member states. Turks top the list with a population of 2.4 million and such figure constitutes 8% of the total number of foreigners within the EU, Eurostat says. Turkish community is followed by Romanians, Moroccans, Poles, Italians, Albanians and the Portuguese. Germany hosts the largest foreigner community within the union and nearly 7.2 million of its population is comprised of expats, Eurostat says.
Spain, Britain, Italy and France follow Germany in the ranking, the authority adds. Moreover, Turkey is currently home to 103,800 foreigners and 45,300 of such figure are nationals of EU countries, according to Eurostat. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Europe is Becoming ‘Islamised’ Warns Vatican Official as He Urges Christians to Have More Children
European Christians should have more children to stop the continent becoming ‘Islamised’, a senior Vatican official has suggested.
Father Piero Gheddo said the low birth rate of indigenous Europeans combined with a huge wave of Muslim migrants with large families would ‘sooner or later’ see Europe dominated by Islam.
Italian Father Gheddo is a highly respected figure from the Vatican’s Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, a society of missionaries.
He blamed Christians for failing to live up to their own beliefs and creating a ‘religious vacuum’ which was being filled by Islam.
‘The challenge must be taken seriously,’ he said.
‘Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families — while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth.’
He added: ‘If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles.’
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
France: Revoked Nationality; Sarkozy, Not Extended to Polygamy
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 6 — The revocation of nationality in France will not be extended to naturalised French citizens convicted of polygamy. The announcement was made by the Elysee Palace after a meeting chaired by the head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy.
During the course of the meeting, the President said he hoped that the changes to the revocation of French nationality would be adopted “as soon as possible” for any person of foreign origin “that has voluntarily made an attempt on the life of a policeman, gendarme or other guardian of public authority”. Sarkozy dismissed the proposal from the Interior Minister, Brice Hortefeux, to revoke the nationality of naturalised French citizens convicted of polygamy. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Cartoonist Slams Islam Ahead of Merkel Speech
A Danish cartoonist who sparked protests around the world with a satire of Muslim violence has branded Islam a “reactionary” religion, just hours before Chancellor Angela Merkel presented him with an award defending freedom of speech.
Kurt Westergaard, who was in Germany to receive the M100 Media Prize 2010, made his remarks to the Thursday edition of the daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, according to an advanced publication.
“In my opinion you can’t compare Islam with Christianity. It isn’t a likeable religion, rather in all sorts of regards, a reactionary religion,” he said.
Westergaard, 75, has received death threats and even escaped a murder attempt because of a 2005 cartoon he drew for Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, portraying the Muslim prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
In his interview with the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Westergaard cited the persecution of homosexuals in Islamic countries, which he branded “barbaric.” He said, however, that he would “always argue that people have the right to practice this religion.”
And Merkel wasn’t deterred from making a speech defending press freedom and Westergaard on Wednesday night in Potsdam.
“[We] are talking here about the freedom of opinion and of the press. It’s about whether in a Western society with its values, he is allowed to publish his Muhammad cartoons in a newspaper or not,” Merkel said.
“It is irrelevant whether his caricatures are tasteless or not, whether he thinks they are necessary or helpful, or not. Is he allowed to do that? Yes, he can.”
At the same time Merkel slammed as “abhorrent” plans by US pastor Terry Jones’s Dove World Outreach Center in Florida to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by burning Korans.
The remarks come at a time of sharp focus on Islam and the integration of Muslim communities in Germany in the wake of Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin’s controversial remarks about immigration last week. Politicians including Merkel have condemned Sarrazin’s provocative comments about Muslims but also raised the importance of having a frank debate about integration.
Westergaard’s cartoon and 11 others like it sparked protests in Muslim countries around the world. In January a Somali man allegedly broke into Westergaard’s home and threatened to kill him with an axe and a knife. In 2009 two men were arrested in Chicago allegedly with plans to attack the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
Westergaard told reporters that his cartoon, depicting Muhammad with a turban with a lit fuse, would live on even if he was killed.
“Maybe they will try to kill me and maybe they will have success, but they cannot kill the cartoon,” Westergaard said before being awarded the prize.
Merkel meanwhile was criticised by Germany’s Central Muslim Council (ZMD) for attending the event.
The chancellor was honouring someone “who in our eyes kicked our Prophet, and therefore kicked all Muslims,” ZMD head Aiman Mazyek told the radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur.
He said giving Westergaard a prize in this “highly charged and heated time” was “highly problematic.”
But Merkel’s spokesman earlier Wednesday defended her decision to give the keynote speech.
“The chancellor is sending out to all people in Germany, Muslims or not, the message that press freedom, which will be the focus of her speech, is a precious commodity,” spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular briefing.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wroughton School ‘Failed to Spot Racism’ Before Attack
A school where a boy was attacked with a hammer failed to recognise a series of racist incidents prior to the assault, a serious case review has found.
Henry Webster, then 15, suffered three skull fractures in the attack by a group of Asian youths in 2007.
His mother Liz Webster said the review showed the school was at fault.
Mr Webster, now 18, was punched, kicked and hit with a claw hammer at Ridgeway School, in Wroughton, near Swindon.
Mrs Webster said: “This review has confirmed our belief that the Ridgeway School was responsible for the horrific, devastating assault on our son which has left him with permanent injuries.
“The criticism of the local authority is tantamount to a whitewash as it is so minimal and limited.”
‘Racist behaviour’
Before the attack, Mr Webster had agreed to fight a boy “one on one” due to peer pressure and to stop harassment he thought he and his friends were experiencing.
He has returned to part-time education, but still suffers from short-term memory loss.
The report summary, published by the Swindon Local Safeguarding Children Board, said: “The school, although it knew in advance, did not prepare for the arrival of a significant number of British Asian students in 2005.”
The review, which made 32 recommendations for action, also found there were some incidents between white and British Asian pupils which were not recognised as racist by the school.
The summary said there was some success in addressing the racist behaviour of some white pupils, but the approach was not extended throughout the school.
It said: “The school, by trying to deal with these incidents themselves, missed the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what was actually going on through external intervention.
“Other agencies did not challenge robustly the school’s approach or its procedures.”
Mrs Webster claimed the school’s race relations policy “was not worth the paper it was written on”.
She said: “There was no cohesive approach to dealing with matters of race.
‘Dreadful attack’
“Whilst Henry has been the primary victim, we are and always have been of the firm belief that this school also let down the young Asian pupils who were eventually prosecuted for this attack.
A spokesman from the school said the attack could not have been foreseen “They have been criminalised and demonised — had their integration been properly handled we are certain this attack would not have happened.”
Thirteen people, including teenagers, were convicted over the assault on the tennis courts at the school in 2008 and given custodial sentences.
Mr Webster’s family launched civil proceedings against the school, which affected the completion of the serious case review. They lost a battle for compensation at the High Court in February.
Ofsted has rated the school as outstanding since the attack.
A spokesman from Ridgeway School, in Wroughton, said: “We could not have foreseen or prevented the dreadful attack on Henry Webster.
“We are sorry that the family feel that they were not supported adequately following the attack.
He said the school had noted the report’s recommendations and looked to improve its practice.
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 5 Security Agents Killed in Two Attacks
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, SEPTEMBER 7 — Three policemen and two soldiers were killed yesterday in Algeria in two attacks carried out near Skikda and Tebessa, along the border with Tunisia. In the first attack, three town police officers were killed and two were seriously injured when a roadside bomb went off that was placed on the road to Bin El Ouidene, 500km east of Algiers. The bomb, writes the Algerian press, was remotely detonated when a car passed by in which the officers were travelling. After the explosion, a group of armed men opened fire and set the vehicle ablaze. In the second assault, which took place near Tebessa, two soldiers were killed in an attack, which took place in the same manner. An explosive was placed alongside one of the roads normally used by police. Numerous attacks, for which Al Qaida for the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility, have been carried out in Algeria during the month of Ramadan. On Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of an army convoy in the mountains of the Kabylie region, killing two soldiers and injuring another 20. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Copts Living as Slaves to Muslims in Egyptian Village
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — Since the Christmasj Eve Massacre on January 6,2010, when six Copts were killed and nine seriously injured by Muslims in a drive-by shooting outside a church in Nag Hammadi (AINA 1-7-2010), the Coptic Patriarchate in Cairo has become a Mecca for oppressed Copts from all over Egypt.
Nearly every Wednesday, when Coptic Pope Shenouda III gives his weekly sermon, Copts go to complain to the Pope and make known their grievances to other Copts who never come to hear about those cases due to media blackout. They hope to meet with human rights activists attending the sermon without fear of getting arrested by State Security for congregating under the prevailing emergency laws.
Coptic human rights activist Dr. Fawzy Hermina has called the large courtyard of the Patriarchate the “Coptic Hyde Park.”
Last week a group of nearly 50 Coptic men from the village of Azeem in Samalout, Minya province, came to expose “slavery-related” practices against Copts by certain radical Muslim families in their village. They called on human rights organizations for support. They met with activists from Coptic NGOs and appeared on US-based Coptic human rights channel Hope-Sat, which promised support through their lawyers in Egypt.
Bassem Shehata, 25, an IT graduate who attended the rally at the Patriarchate, said in an aired interview with Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub “We live in utter slavery. If Copts, some of whom are landowners, disobey orders of the big Muslim families, they are flogged.” Bassem said that last year his 14-year-old brother Shenouda was tied by members of a Muslim family to a pole, beaten and tortured in front of his father just because the father did not lend them his tractor. “Each time my father begged for mercy for his child, he was also beaten.” He said despite the family feeling “broken inside” his father refused to report the incident, fearing reprisals from the Muslim family.
Bassem said that young Christians work without pay on Muslim land. “I had to go because I was afraid they would harm my father.”
Protester Kamil Sami said “We came out in the open because we cannot take this injustice any longer.” He added they feel sorry for their families who have “inherited” the trait of giving up their rights.. “We feel obliged to help our families to change the circumstances under which they are living.”
Isaac Bebawy summarized the problem by saying the nearly 1000 Copts in the village of 3000 live in servitude to Muslim families, especially a large one called Al-Khawaimin, which includes the mayor, the village Shaikh, a large number of relatives and their friends. Copts are not allowed to sell their livestock on the market but have to sell it to Muslims in the village at a fraction of their fair price, and hire agricultural machinery only from village Muslims at the highest prices. “If Copts do not obey, they are subjected to harsh punishments,” he said. “These include threats of killings, abduction of girls, destruction of crops, burning of houses and beatings.”
Another protester, George Sidhom, said that Muslim often stop Christians from going to church services in the neighboring village.
After presenting a complaint at the Ministry of Interior in Cairo and meeting with Pope Shenouda’s secretary, the group returned to their village where they were approached for a “reconciliation.”
They presented their demands, which were published on Freecopts’ website, among which was freedom to sell their cattle, land and property to anyone, not to be prevented from going to the cattle market (they named a couple of people), not to have their land torched (they named two people), the freedom to hire agricultural machinery from any source, not to interfere with opening hours of Coptic small businesses, to stop subjecting Coptic school children and youth to harassment by Muslim families while moving about in the village or while going to religious services, pledging not to demand that Copts of any age go to work without pay (here they named 3 people and their families), and finally not to subject Copts of any age to harassment, threats or beating (they named 7 Muslims). They also wanted Security authorities present during reconciliation.
Muslim families refused their demands, especially selling cattle on the open market. “There were other freedom restricting conditions, surprisingly they wanted Copts not to walk together,” said Abdallah Bouchra to Freecopts. Besides these draconian conditions, Copts were threatened with more assaults after the Muslim Feast “Eid,” this week. “We know for sure that they will carry out their threats, since it is also certain that State Security colludes with them,” said Abdallah.
“To see that nowadays Muslims force Coptic men to work for free, that farmers have to sell their livestock and property only to certain Muslims at a fraction of their price, or prevent people from taking buses to go and pray in another village is slavery,” commented Wagih Yacoub. “It is something that the whole world needs to know is happening in our day and age in Egypt.”
| — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih | [Return to headlines] |
Une Soiree Au Caire, Sole’s Cosmopolitan Egypt
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 6 — That night, in Cairo, Dina had people over for dinner. A small cosmopolitan group has come together in the old village of the father-in-law, Georges bey Batrakani, the patriarch of a family that has spread out over the world as thieves in the night, at the advent of the Nasserist revolution.
In his most recent book, “Une soiree au Caire” (Seuil), Robert Sole’, a journalist and writer with Egyptian origins, once again discusses his great passion, Egypt. He defends the country’s cosmopolitan past and closely examines the changes the country has seen between the ‘60s and the years 2000.
Born in Cairo in 1946, Robert Sole’ arrived in Paris in 1964.
His new novel represents many aspects of his life. Like the author, Charles, the protagonist, is also a journalist who lives in France. After years of emotional and physical separation from Egypt, he decides to return to the country at least once a year to visit his family of Syrian-Lebanese origins. “For the first time”, he told ANSAmed over the telephone, “I have started to let out the things I have kept inside for many years”. The editor of the cultural supplement of Le Monde describes the virtues and vices of the Egyptian society using personal anecdotes and a healthy dose of irony and imagination.
“First of all a cosmopolitan” society, Sole’ explained, “where Syrian-Lebanese, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Italians lived side-by-side on all social levels”, underlining the absence of an American-style melting pot. “Everyone stayed proudly within his or her own community”. This cosmopolitism involved only a small part of the population however. Sole’ specifies: “Small oases, like in Cairo, Alexandria or the Isthmus of Suez” where the French culture dominated. “The English occupants who have kept the country under control for 70 years were not pleased with this domination”, the writer pointed out. Many people have created myths about those years. “It is true”, he admits, “that many kept looking at the past, idealising those golden years, even embellishing reality”. However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light in that era, Sole’ points out. Sole’ has written 18 novels and essays, including “Tarbouche” (Seuil, 1992) for which he received the Mediterranee award. In his novel, Sole’ shows the many sides of the Egyptian community through characters like Dina, the old aunt of Charles, or Yassa, the grandfather’s old Coptic driver who, in the words of Sole’, “embodies all common sense, wisdom, finesse and fatalism of this people”. The writer also uses the ironic and sharp dialogues of the guests who live in the family’s old house to reach this goal. The fact that Antoine Touta doesn’t like the modern Egypt with its smog, chaos and concrete doesn’t mean that it’s all negative. “Some things that have been introduced by Nasser are in fact in principle just” Sole’ replies, “like mass education and the nationalisation of the Suez Canal”. Still, Sole’ accepts the changes, including the ones he likes less (like the overbuilding or the demographic explosion, just to mention a few), but he does look favourably at the past.
Aware of the fact that history can’t be repeated, he concludes, “we would still all be in Egypt if this 100-year war (the Arab-Israeli conflict, editor’s note) had never been there”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mortar Shell Hits Near School 30 Minutes Before Class
No injuries reported at Sha’ar Hanegev kibbutz; building, only reinforced at the roof, sustains light damage; studies to continue as usual.
Talkbacks (37) A mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning landed near several childrens’ school buildings in a Sha’ar Hanegev regional council kibbutz, some 30 minutes prior to the students’ scheduled arrival.
One of the buildings sustained light damage, and no injuries were reported. The school building impacted by the mortar was reinforced only at the roof and not at the side walls, like other protected buildings in the area.
Security officials decided to let school continue as usual. Children will remain in the reinforced buildings and will not play in the exterior yard in the following hours.
Schools are operating on the eve of Rosh Hashana and Friday as usual.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Population Grows, But Arabs Grow More Than Jews
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 6 — Israel’s population is still growing but at a slower pace because of the trend in birth rates and the modest contribution of immigration, which is much lower than in the ‘90s. But there still is a gap between the increase in the Arab minority and the Jewish majority, in favour of the former. The figures were reported today by the National statistics office in light of the Jewish new year (Rosh Hashanah) that begins on Wednesday night with the advent of 5771. In total, the Israeli population, very young on the whole, amounted to 7,645,000 citizens, with 28% below the age of 15.
Jews amount to approximately 5,770,000, Arabs to almost 1,560,000, while another 330,000 people, mostly Slavs related to Russian Jews who migrated in the past from the former USSR , are labelled as ‘other’. The figure does not include approximately 220,000 migrant workers whose residence in the country is deemed temporary.
The population’s growth rate remains stable at a 1.8% yearly rate since 2003, compared to 3% and more achieved in the ‘90s.
The birth rate amounts to +1.7% between Jews and +2.4% between Arabs: a gap that is not closing despite the demographic contribution made by the families of ultra-Orthodox jews and nationalistic settlers, and which consequently does not cease to fuel long term worries on the Zionist nature of the State. In the meantime the number of Muslims in the Arab/Palestinian community increased by 2.8% in the last year compared to 1% for Christians and 1.7% for the Druze.
As for Aliyah, the “ascent” in Israel of the Jews of the Diaspora, the overall figure remains at a historical low, equal to that of the early 1980s, despite a 6% increase compared to the previous year: with a substantial stagnation in arrivals from the former USSR and not more than 14,572 entries (more or less evenly distributed between Russia, USA, Ukraine, France) registered in all of 2009.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Advertisement: Gulf Countries Beat 10 Bln Dollar Barrier
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 7 — Advertising expenditures for the various news channels in Gulf Countries increased in 2010 by 34%, equal to a total value of 2.86 billion dollars compared to 2.14 reported last year. Daily paper Al Hayat made the report citing statistics provided by the International Advertisement Company.
According to the statistics, news channels accounted for 57% of the total. Despite negative pressures linked to the global financial crisis and the probable repercussions on the sector, the International Advertisement Company expects that expenditure in Gulf Countries will amount to 10 billion dollars by the end of the year.
The overall value of advertisement expenditure in Gulf Countries during the first half of 2010 is equal to 5.05 billion dollars, with a 20% growth rate compared to the same period last year.
The sum total of advertisement expenditure in the six Gulf Countries during last year amounted to 9.2 billion dollars compared to 8.9 billion in 2008. However the International Advertisement Company believes that even though the total increased it remains modest when compared to the figures of years previous to the world crisis.
According to Khamis Almakhalla, a member of the world council of the International Advertisement Company, these figures represent a positive sign that hints at a return to levels seen 10 years ago.
Growth of the advertisement market in the area sees Bahrain in the lead with 40%, followed by Oman (12%), Qatar (11%), Saudi Arabia (9%) and Kuwait (8%). The market in the United Arab Emirates instead dropped by 4%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Politician Urges Clemency for ‘Adulteress’
Rome, 7 Sept. (AKI) — Iran must spare the life of Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani — who faces death by stoning — or risk international isolation, said Isabella Rauti, an adviser for the Italian government’s equal opportunity ministry.
“Iran cannot close itself off from the world and exclude itself from the global village,” said Rauti (photo), lending support to the campaign launched by Italian news agency Adnkronos International to save Ashtiani’s life.
“It cannot only see markets in globalisation. It must globalise basic human rights,” Rauti said.
Rauti is the wife of Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno.
AKI’s ‘Flowers not Stones!’ initiative urges people all over the world to leave flowers outside the Iranian embassy and diplomatic representations in their country.
Ashtiani, Mohammad Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and helping kill her husband.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Dhaka: Muslim Girl Raped by Teacher During Ramadan
The rape took place on 2 September in an Islamic school in Madaripur District (Dhaka). Abbas Ali, the teacher who perpetrated the deed against the girl, is still on the run. The parents of the 11-year-old girl found her injured and in shock; she is still in serious conditions.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — An 11-year-old Muslim girl is in very serious conditions after she was raped on 2 September, during the holy month of Ramadan, by her teacher at the Hogalpatia Hafezia Madrassah, an Islamic school she attends in Madaripur District in Dhaka. Human rights activists and local Muslim leaders have called on the government to take the necessary steps against the rapist, Abbas Ali, 35, who taught Islamic culture at the school.
The girl’s parents discovered what happened when they went to the school after she was late in coming home. Inside the building, they found their daughter badly bleeding and in shock.
“At the end of the day, the teacher let all the students go, except for our daughter,” they said. “He forced her to stay with him. Once alone, he raped her several times, and then fled.”
When the parents found the girl, she was bleeding in her genital area and had bruises all over the body. Soon after, they took her to a local hospital, where she is still in critical conditions.
“Before this happened, we thought the school was a safe place,” the mother said. “I pray Allah to save my daughter. I cannot understand how a Muslim cleric can commit such an act during the holy month of Ramadan.”
At present, police is looking for Abbas Ali. For the local police chief, it is only a matter of time before he is arrested.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Kerala: “Blasphemer” Professor, Who Had His Hand Cut Off, Is Fired
His sister, Sister Mary Stella, tells AsiaNews: “We are comforted by the love of God through Mother Teresa, and look to the future with optimism. My brother has forgiven those who cut his hand off and who fired him, he will persevere in dialogue between Muslims and Christians. “
Ernakulam (AsiaNews) — Dismissed without a pension; that is the fate of Professor TJ Joseph, who was accused of blasphemy for a text on Mohammed and whose hand was cut off last July 4 by unknown assailants. The administration of Newman College, announced the measure, which was not directly related to accusations of blasphemy by Muslim brought against the teacher by Popular Front of India extremists.
According to the official announcement, the dismissal takes effect from 1 September and is derived “from having offended the religious sentiments of students”. There has been no protest by Christian institutions in the country, despite them having joined forces three days ago to condemn the proposal of an American evangelical pastor who wanted to celebrate 9 / 11 by burning the Koran. Informed of the decision, the professor said: “This is another unexpected blow to me and my family. However I have not thought about legal action against the college. His sister, Sister Mary Stella, tells AsiaNews: “The letter was sent to us by a messenger. I had to open it, because my brother is still in serious condition. He asked me to reread it twice; he could not believe the last paragraph which emphasizes that along with the dismissal he will also be stripped of all benefits and his pension. No one would ever expect such a hard decision. “
The nun says that, in the educational system of the state, “there are 7 different types of disciplinary punishments. They chose the hardest against my brother, no pension, no benefits, no nothing. As if he had never worked. It is very sad, because he spent a lifetime in education, at least 25 years. However, after having prayed together, he said that like Job, God gives and God takes away. But His name must always be glorified. “
“We forgive college — she adds — as we forgive those who cut off his hand. He has also received much support from civil society and his own colleagues: This dismissal has sparked more solidarity than the hand cutting. Today is the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, and the Day of teachers in India: my brother reminded me how the Blessed was also a great teacher, who served the poor by giving them love and dignity. The Mother is a source of great consolation and hope for Professor Joseph”.
The teacher has told some visitors that he looks at his situation with optimism: “It is certainly Mother Teresa who has given him courage, love of God in his hearts and in our lives. There is a mission behind these incidents, the cutting off of his hand and dismissal. We were supported and nourished by love of God through Mother Teresa. My brother feels called to be an instrument of understanding, peace and tolerance in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims. In Kerala and around the world. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Journal Finds 31% of Submissions Plagiarized
Yuehong Zhang
Since October 2008, we have detected unoriginal material in a staggering 31% of papers submitted to the Journal of Zhejiang University—Science (692 of 2,233 submissions). The publication, designated as a key academic journal by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, was the first in China to sign up for CrossRef’s plagiarism-screening service CrossCheck (Nature 466, 167; 2010).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Escher-Like Internet Map Could Speed Online Traffic
A novel map of the internet created by Marián Boguñá and colleagues at the University of Barcelona, Spain, could help make network glitches a thing of the past.
Boguñá squeezed the entire network into a disc using hyperbolic geometry, more familiar to us through the circular mosaic-like artworks of M. C. Escher.
Each square on the map is an “autonomous system” — a section of the network managed by a single body such as a national government or a service provider. The most well-connected systems are close to the centre, while the least connected are at the edges. The area of the hyperbolic plane grows exponentially with distance from the centre, so the edges of the map are “roomier” than the middle.
Like all good cartographers, Boguñá’s team hopes their map will help speed up navigation. At present each system routes traffic by referring to a table of all available network paths, but keeping this up to date is difficult as new paths keep coming on stream while others shut down…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Issues: The War Within Islam + Israel and Islamism
By Barry Rubin
Two readers asked me questions well worth answering. The first asked whether Islam itself isn’t the enemy; the second, how these distinctions appear from an Israeli standpoint; .
Regarding the first question, I would stress that “Islam” as a religion functioning in the world is not at war with anyone as such. There are those who want to steer Islam toward an active war against how the majority of Muslims live at present and almost all the governments ruling them, using valid quotations and interpretations. And there are those who oppose them, including most of those governments, also using valid quotations and interpretations of Islam.
Western leaders’ and media’s mistake is not that they aren’t “anti-Islam” or that they are “pro-Islam” but that they don’t understand fully this conflict happening among Muslims, the contending forces, the stakes, and the nature of the struggle. Thus, dire Islamist enemies are often misjudged as friends merely because they aren’t violent at present or because they say soothing words to Western audiences, while genuinely moderate Muslims are shunned as “inauthentic” merely because they disagree with the radicals.
Once again, the enemy is not Islam but those Muslims who, so to speak, want to make Islam an enemy by waging war on others—including other Muslims—through propaganda, organization, violence, and most importantly the seizure of state power to install a totalitarian regime and wage war on everyone else, including non-Islamist Muslim governments. Whether or not these specific groups are violent at any particular place or moment is less important than the goals they are striving to achieve with all the strategies and tactics at their command.
The battle against the West or against Israel is generally smaller than the battle among Muslims for control over interpreting Islam and over political power. Most notably:
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
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