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Lack of Snow Leaves Kosovo With a Drought

Posted on January 9, 2014 by ankakh

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In 2013, winter brought heavy rains and flooding to Kosovo. The year before that, it was blizzards and snow drifts. Now it’s a drought.

An official said Wednesday that some 400,000 people in and around Pristina, the capital, could face reduced supplies of drinking water, given a dramatic fall in the levels of the two artificial basins they get it from.

Arieta Mjeku, a spokeswoman for the regional water supply company, said strict reductions must be imposed if the winter drought continues. Mjeku said some areas are already on limited water supply.

Canadian Turks Should Condemn, Not Condone, Genocide Denial

Posted on January 8, 2014 by ankakh

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By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

Canadian Turks launched a petition last month seeking the removal of all references to the Armenian Genocide from the 11th grade curriculum of Toronto high schools.

This petition is a part of Turkish denialists’ long-standing efforts to reverse the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) 2008 decision to educate students about the Armenian, Jewish, and Rwandan genocides. TDSB’s action follows the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Canadian Senate in 2002 and the House of Commons in 2004. In addition, since 2006, successive Canadian Prime Ministers have issued official annual statements acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, despite intensive political pressure and economic blackmail by the Turkish government.

Back in 2008, a similar Turkish petition failed to sway TDSB to amend the genocide curriculum, after gathering over 11,000 signatures, mostly from Turkey. Indeed, the Ankara government and its Turkish proxies in Toronto have done everything possible during the past seven years to undermine this curriculum.

Below are the baseless claims made by the Turkish petition against TDSB’s genocide curriculum, followed by my rebuttal:

— Turkish Petition: “As the Turkish/Turkic speaking parents of students attending the Toronto District School Board, we are deeply concerned about the negative impact of the current curriculum module on ‘Armenian Genocide’ and the learning resources adopted by the Board since 2008.”

My response: There has been NO violence or intimidation against a single Turkish student in Toronto schools even though the genocide curriculum has been taught there for several years. The reason is that Armenians do not hold today’s Turks responsible for the crimes committed by the Government of Ottoman Turkey almost 100 years ago, except those who associate themselves with these crimes by their denial. The Republic of Turkey, on the other hand, as successor to the Ottoman Empire, is responsible for the continuing consequences of the Armenian Genocide. Denying the facts of the Genocide has a far more serious negative psychological impact on Armenians than its inclusion in the curriculum on Turks. Furthermore, the truth cannot be concealed in order not to offend the sensibilities of those who wish to cover up historical facts. Would anyone advocate erasing all references to the Jewish Holocaust from history books not to offend present-day Germans?

— Turkish Petition: “The textbook on the Genocide of the Armenians and other readers, such as Barbara Coloroso’s Extraordinary Evil, unremittingly discredits one community’s narrative over the other; and, adversely affects the students of TDSB with Turkish and Turkic heritages.”

My response: There cannot be two narratives or two versions of the proven facts of the Armenian Genocide. There can only be one version — the truth!

— Turkish Petition: “We firmly believe that the values of mutual respect, understanding and peaceful coexistence can be achieved through an honest and open dialogue on history. Moreover, fair and unprejudiced learning should be based on historical facts and not solely on the narratives of select communities while ignoring others. It should also be noted that there are no court decisions on any of these historical claims and the opinions of historians differ regarding the details and the definitions of these events.”

My response: ‘Mutual respect, understanding and peaceful coexistence’ cannot be achieved through distortions and lies. Only after acknowledging the truth and making appropriate amends, Canadian Turks can talk about such lofty ideals. Furthermore, contrary to the Turkish claims, there are several court verdicts on the Armenian Genocide, starting with the Turkish Military Tribunals of 1919, and judgments by Argentinean, Swiss, and U.S. courts. Significantly, the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities adopted in 1985 a report acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. The ultimate arbiter of any genocide is the United Nations, since the Genocide Convention is a UN document.

To sum up, this latest Turkish petition is a total failure since its initiator, the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations, has so far collected less than 2,000 signatures out of a claimed membership of 200,000 in Canada. Interestingly, most of the signatories are not from Canada, but Turkey where the petition has been widely circulated.

A more worthwhile initiative for Canadian Turks would be to start a petition urging the Turkish government to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and make proper restitution to the descendants of this heinous crime on the occasion of the Genocide’s Centennial.

Body parts that fell from the sky onto Saudi city could be ‘remains of someone trapped in an aircraft’s landing gear’, police say

Posted on January 6, 2014 by ankakh

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Human body parts that fell from the sky in Saudi Arabia could be the remains of someone trapped in an aircraft’s undercarriage bay, police have revealed.

Officers said the grisly incident happened near the centre of the Red Sea city of Jeddah, just south of King Abdulaziz International Airport, early this morning.

The report came after a Saudi Arabian Airlines jet made an emergency landing in the city of Medina in the west of the kingdom, injuring 29 people on Sunday.

That aircraft had been travelling from Iran’s second city of Mashhad with 315 people on board.

A spokesman for the General Authority of Civil Aviation said there was no connection between the emergency landing in Medina and the Jeddah incident.

In a desperate attempt to cross borders, some people at poorly monitored airports climb inside the bays housing aircraft landing gear.

Most of them freeze to death once the aircraft reach cruising altitude, but some survive.

Bulgarians Celebrate Epiphany With an Icy Dip

Posted on January 6, 2014 by ankakh

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Thousands of young men are plunging into icy rivers and lakes across Bulgaria to retrieve crucifixes cast by priests in an old ritual marking the feast of Epiphany.

By tradition, a crucifix is cast into the waters of a lake or river, and it is believed that the person who retrieves it will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy through the year.

The celebration of Epiphany, or the Apparition of Christ, as Bulgarians call it, began on Monday in Sofia with a water blessing ceremony.

The head of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neofit, said a prayer for the prosperity of the people and blessed the colors of representative army units — a tradition abandoned in 1946 and re-established in 1992.

Obama LEAVES Michelle in Hawaii as 50th ‘birthday present’ while he returns from two-week vacation with Sasha and Malia

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Վարդուհի Իշխանյան

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Michelle Obama doesn’t want jewelry or chocolates for her 50th birthday later this month. She wants to be alone.

President Barack Obama returned to Washington Saturday after two weeks of vacationing with his family in Hawaii. He left with daughters Sasha and Malia. Michelle stayed behind.

‘As part of her birthday gift from the president, the first lady will remain in Hawaii to spend time with friends ahead of her upcoming 50th birthday,’ the White House explained in a statement.

The First Lady turns the big 5 – 0 on January 17.

The White House did not say how much longer Michelle would stay in Hawaii or when she would rejoin her family in Washington.

More than a dozen die in stampede at religious event in China

Posted on January 6, 2014 by ankakh

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A stampede at a religious gathering in northwestern China left 14 dead and 10 others injured on Sunday, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua has reported, citing local government.

The incident is still under investigation, but Xinhua’s initial report said the stampede occurred during the handing out of food at an event to commemorate a late religious figure in a mosque in Guyuan, a city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The injured victims were hospitalized. Four people are in critical condition, Xinhua reported.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step down after election due in May

Posted on January 4, 2014 by ankakh

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday that he will step down after his country’s national elections due in May.

“In a few months’ time, after the general election, I will hand the baton over to a new prime minister,” Singh told a news conference in New Delhi.

The 81-year-old Oxford-educated Singh has been prime minister for India’s governing Congress party since May 2004.

His move to rule himself out of the race for the top job in this year’s general elections didn’t surprise political observers.

His party suffered a bruising defeat in regional elections in December, billed by the country’s news media as an indicator of political trends ahead of the upcoming national vote.

A rash of corruption scandals has also undermined the reputation of Singh’s coalition government over the past few years.

Death Toll in Latest Egypt Clashes Rises to 17

Posted on January 4, 2014 by ankakh

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An Egyptian security official says the death toll from clashes between Islamist protesters and security forces the day before has risen to 17.

The official reported the new toll on Saturday.

Friday’s protests gripped Cairo and other heavily populated cities and provinces such as Alexandria, Ismailia, Fayoum and Minya.

They were the most violent in months, coming less than two weeks ahead of a key referendum on an amended constitution.

Three TONNES of crystal meth seized in raid on Chinese village where one in five families was a part of grenade-wielding drug lab gang

Posted on January 4, 2014 by ankakh

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Three tons of crystal meth has been seized from a single Chinese village notorious for drug production, where one in five families is part of a grenade-wielding drug lab operation.

Helicopters, speedboats and paramilitary police were deployed to raid the southern village of Boshe in Lufeng City, where 182 suspects were arrested.

A reported 3,000-strong security force surrounded and entered the village where more than a fifth of the households were suspected to be involved in or linked to the production and trafficking of drugs, the Guangdong province police force said on its website.
Boshe’s villagers have resisted Chinese authorities for years, blockading the village entrance with motorcycles when word of a raid spread.

The provincial police say the city of Lufeng, which Boshe is a part of, has become the source of a third of the country’s total crystal meth supply in the last three years.

No one was harmed in the Sunday raid, a police statement said on Thursday.

9 killed in Mexican jail shootout

Posted on January 4, 2014 by ankakh

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At least nine people were killed in a shootout between gunmen and inmates at a jail about 120 miles southwest of Mexico City, officials said.

The gunbattle occurred inside the Tuxpan jail in the city of Iguala on Friday in the early morning hours, the Guerrero state attorney general’s office said in a news release.

Six gunmen managed to enter the jail by pretending to be public officials bringing a new inmate inside.

Once inside, the gunmen initiated a firefight with inmates and also with jail guards in the security towers, the office said.

Five of the attackers and four prisoners were killed.

The surviving attacker was hospitalized and was under police custody, the attorney general’s office said. A guard wounded in the gunfight also was in the hospital, the office said.

State and local officials are investigating the incident and offered no further details.

Israel releases 26 Palestinian prisoners

Posted on January 1, 2014 by ankakh

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Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners Monday in a gesture of goodwill between the two sides, days before a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The release was a step aimed at “resuming the diplomatic process,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Saturday announcing the move.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas greeted 18 of the freed prisoners in Ramallah, West Bank.

Kerry travels to Jerusalem and Ramallah on Wednesday in his ongoing attempt to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Indonesia Rumbling Volcano Unleashes Fresh Burst

Posted on January 1, 2014 by ankakh

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A rumbling volcano in western Indonesia that has been spewing lava and clouds of gas high into the sky let out a new, powerful burst Tuesday, prompting warnings for airplanes and triggering panic among villagers, officials said.

Nine eruptions Tuesday sent lava and searing gas tumbling out of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province, said Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. The volcano started spitting clouds of gas and lava as high as 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) in the air late Monday, but no casualties were reported.

He said more than 19,000 people have been evacuated from villages in a danger zone 5 kilometers (3 miles) around the crater to temporary shelters since authorities raised the alert status for Sinabung to the highest level in November.

Gray ash covered villages, farms and trees as far as 70 kilometers (43 miles) southeast of the mountain.

The 2,600-meter (8,530-foot) Mount Sinabung has sporadically erupted since September. An eruption in 2010 killed two people and caught scientists off guard because the volcano had been quiet for four centuries.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said airlines had been notified to avoid routes near the mountain.

North Dakota train collision ignites oil cars; fire to burn out

Posted on December 31, 2013 by ankakh

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A wreck involving two trains, one of which was carrying crude oil, sparked a large fire Monday that sent huge flames and dangerous smoke into the sky, North Dakota authorities said.

There were no reports of injuries from the accident, said Sgt. Tara Morris with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, but “with the oil on fire there are hazardous conditions, and we are directing all people in the area to shelter in-place and stay indoors.”

Firefighters will be forced to let the fire burn out, which may take as long as 12 hours from the time of the accident (2:12 p.m. CT), because they cannot get close enough to the flames, she told CNN.

The incident occurred one mile west of Casselton, a town of 2,300 residents about 25 miles west of Fargo. Huge plumes of smoke could be seen in Fargo, Morris said.

The sheriff’s office advised all residents in Casselton and two nearby townships to evacuate because the winds were shifting due to a high-pressure system.

Morris said it was unclear how the accident happened and authorities are trying to determine whether one of the trains derailed before they collided.

About 10 of the cars on the train carrying oil were fully engulfed in flames. At least a dozen firefighters are involved, she said.

China bans officials from smoking in hospitals and schools in bid to reduce annual 1.4million death toll

Posted on December 30, 2013 by ankakh

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China bans officials from smoking in hospitals and schools in bid to reduce annual 1.4million death toll

China has banned officials from smoking in public places such as schools and hospitals in renewed efforts to cut the 1.4million deaths linked to tobacco each year.

The edict, which comes from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party, has been hailed as a ‘major breakthrough’ in a country which has the world’s largest number of smokers with 300million.

Officials are not allowed to smoke in schools, hospitals, sports venues, on public transport or any other places where smoking is banned, or to smoke or offer cigarettes when performing official duties, the official Xinhua News said.

China, with a population of 1.35 billion, has more than 300 million smokers.

The annual number of cigarettes sold in the country increased by 50 per cent to 2.52 trillion in 2012 compared with 10 years earlier, according to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, which is overseen by health authorities.

Formula 1’s Michael Schumacher in critical condition after skiing accidentFormula 1’s Michael Schumacher in critical condition after skiing accident

Posted on December 30, 2013 by ankakh

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Formula 1’s Michael Schumacher in critical condition after skiing accident

Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in Formula 1 history and one of the world’s highest-profile athletes, remains in critical condition after suffering severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps, hospital officials said Monday.

Doctors who have been treating Schumacher at the University Hospital Center of Grenoble said at a news conference that it was too early to say what the driver’s prognosis might be.

The 44-year-old German, who retired from the elite motorsport for the second time in 2012, fell and hit his head on a rock Sunday, said the director of the Meribel resort where Schumacher was skiing.

Schumacher was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital and required immediate brain surgery, officials said. So far, he has undergone one operation and is being kept in a coma, they said Monday.

The cause of the accident, which is being investigated by police, remains unclear, Gernignon-Lecomte said.

The accident took place just days ahead of his 45th birthday Friday.

Pakistan: Police Find Bombs Near Musharraf’s House

Posted on December 30, 2013 by ankakh

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A Pakistani police official says authorities have defused four small bombs planted near the house of former president and army chief, Pervez Musharraf, just two days before he’s to appear in court in a treason case.

Police officer Nayyar Saleem says an onlooker spotted the devices on Monday alongside a road about a half kilometer from Musharraf’s farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Saleem says the improvised devices were left in separate plastic shopping bags, and there were about three kilograms of explosives altogether.

He says authorities don’t know if Musharraf was the intended target.

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Room with a view: NASA releases the best photos of Earth taken from space this year

Posted on December 28, 2013 by ankakh

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When it comes to a room with a view, one several hundred miles above earth is hard to beat.

Satellites orbiting the planet and astronauts aboard the International Space Station often take pictures of volcano eruptions, hurricanes and other examples of nature’s fury.

And now NASA has rounded up the most spectacular images taken from space all year.

The images also include some of the most beautiful sights our planet has to offer – from Princess Charlotte Bay, in Australia, to the surprising beauty of Reno, Nevada’s city lights set against the mountains that surround it.

A picture was captured just weeks ago of a new island forming in the Pacific.

China Formalizes Easing of One-Child Policy

Posted on December 28, 2013 by ankakh

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China on Saturday formally allowed couples to have a second child if one parent is an only child, the first major easing of the 3-decade-old restrictive birth policy.

Demographers and policy makers have estimated the easing would benefit some 15 million to 20 million Chinese parents — mostly in cities — and result in 1 million to 2 million extra births per year in the first few years, on top of the 16 million babies born annually in China. They say the easing is so incremental that the extra births are not expected to strain resources such as the health care and education.

China has credited the restrictive policy with managing its population growth and improving the economy, but critics say it is a violation of human rights.

China is the world’s most populous country with 1.35 billion people.

At least 26 dead in India train fire

Posted on December 28, 2013 by ankakh

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At least 26 people were killed and eight injured after a compartment of a passenger train caught fire early Saturday in southeast India, officials said.

Some 60 passengers were on board when the fire broke out on a Bangalore-Nanded express train near the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh state, railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Kim Kardashian Gets Hermes Bag With Her Nude Painting From Kanye West

Posted on December 28, 2013 by ankakh

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Kim Kardashian proudly showed off the gift she received from her baby daddy Kanye West for Christmas. It’s a Hermes bag with her bare-chested painting by visual artist George Condo, who created artwork for his 2010 album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy“.

#HandPaintedGeorgeCondo #HermesBirkin #OneofOne #ChristmasPresentFromYeezy,” she wrote on Instagram along with a picture of the customized bag. She also carried the bag when shopping with the rapper in Woodland Hills, California on Thursday, December 26.

While the cost of the finished product is not known, it can be estimated by the fact that a Hermes Birkin the size of Kim’s retails for around $16,000 (£10,000), while one of Condo’s paintings, The Manhattan Strip Club, sold at auction last year for a staggering $1.3million.

KimYe welcomed their first daughter, North West, this summer. On his first Father’s Day, Kim gave Kanye Apple computer mice signed by the high-tech company’s founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. “One of the other gifts my girl gave me for fathers day,” he tweeted back then.

Steve is one of Kanye’s idols as the outspoken lyricist once compared himself to the Apple founder, “I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period.”

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