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Backstage at the Holocaust survivor beauty pageant: Israel hosts beauty contest for 16 women who survived the Nazi genocide

Posted on August 23, 2013 by ankakh

Commemorating the atrocities committed by the Nazis is usually a sombre duty, not a cause for joy.

But at the Miss Holocaust Survivor Beauty Pageant, the emphasis is firmly on celebrating the remarkable women who survived the genocide of the Jews.

The 16 contestants at the event in Israel, all aged over 70, showed off their mature beauty as they competed to take the crown as the nation’s most striking senior citizen.

The pageant, held in the town of Haifa, was held for the second time on Thursday, following on from the success of last year’s inaugural edition.

It is organised by the International Christian Embassy, an evangelical group that supports Israel, in collaboration with a charity for Holocaust survivors.

The aim is to boost the self-esteem of the women involved by bringing a touch of glamour to their lives.

While the contestants are certainly encouraged to look their best in sparkling ballgowns, officials say the event is meant to celebrate inner beauty as well.

The winner of this year’s pageant was Shoshana Colmer, 93, who was brought up in Czechoslovakia before being imprisoned in Auschwitz.

She still bears the identity number which was branded on her skin by the Nazis.

Critics claim the pageant exploits vulnerable elderly people by putting them on show for entertainment.

Israel launches rocket attack on Lebanon

Posted on August 23, 2013 by ankakh

The Israeli Air Force conducted a strike in Lebanon between Beirut and Sidon, responding to rockets that had been launched at northern Israel Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces said Friday.

The IDF described the launch of rockets targeting Israel as a “terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory.”

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes attacked a site belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) General Command located in the al-Naama valley at dawn Friday.

The Israeli attack comes in response to an earlier attack in which four rockets were fired from southern Lebanon at northern Israel Thursday, with two of them landing in populated areas, Israel Defense Forces said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his nation would respond.

The United Nations peacekeeping force monitoring the Israeli-Lebanese border, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), on Thursday sent a helicopter to investigate the attacks which were reportedy launched from the southern town of Tyre into Israel.

According to the statement, the parties confirmed their interest in keeping the situation under control and pledged to cooperate and work closely with UNIFIL.

Israel Military: 4 Rockets Fired, None Hit Country

Posted on August 22, 2013 by ankakh

The Israeli military says a total of four rockets were fired toward Israel from Lebanon, but none landed in its territory.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the rockets were fired Thursday from a location south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre, with one intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system. He said the others did not land in Israel. He said light damage to a street and vehicle in northern Israel was likely caused from fallout from the rocket-defense system.

Lerner blamed “global jihad” elements of being behind the attack, referring to groups either linked to or inspired by al-Qaida.

Iraq Hangs 17, Mostly for ‘Terrorism’

Posted on August 20, 2013 by ankakh

Iraq executed 17 prisoners on Monday, all but one convicted for “terrorism,” shrugging off calls from international human rights organizations to reconsider the use of capital punishment.

In a statement posted on its website, the Justice Ministry said authorities had executed 15 Iraqis and an Egyptian convicted of terrorism for “carrying out crimes against the Iraqi people.” The other prisoner was convicted of another unspecified criminal offense.

Two of those hanged were women, it added, without saying when the executions were carried out. This year, a total of 67 people have been executed in the country.

According to London-based Amnesty International, Iraq was ranked fourth among the top five executioners in the world in 2011, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

Car bombs in Baghdad; 25 dead

Posted on August 16, 2013 by ankakh

At least 25 people were killed and 70 others were wounded in a wave of car bombs across Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

Eight bombings took place in several of the Iraqi capital’s neighborhoods. Most of the explosions occurred in Shiite areas.

July was the deadliest month in Iraq in the last five years since the peak of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. According to the United Nations, 1,057 Iraqis were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence last month.

Over the last two weeks, Iraqi security forces have been conducting a large-scale operation called “The Revenge For The Martyrs.” The goal is to track down al Qaeda members in and around Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq is a Sunni militant movement.

So far, hundreds of people have been arrested, according to the Baghdad operation military command website.

Ossama al-Nujaifi, the country’s parliament speaker and a Sunni, strongly criticized the operation in a recent statement and blamed Iraqi security forces for not been able to protect the citizenry.

43 dead after car bombings pummel Baghdad and other areas of Iraq

Posted on July 29, 2013 by ankakh

A string of car and roadside bombs exploded across Iraq on Monday morning, killing at least 43 people and wounding nearly 200 others, police said.

Interior Ministry officials said more than 20 attacks were carried out by the “enemies of Iraq.”

Most of the casualties occurred in the capital, Baghdad, the officials said. All the attacks occurred in predominantly Shiite areas.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Iraq has been in the throes of relentless violence, much of it stemming from discord between Sunnis and Shiites.

Sunnis have long felt politically marginalized under a Shiite-led government in the post-Saddam Hussein era.

According to a CNN tally, the violence has killed nearly 600 people in Iraq this month.

Turkey arrests a KESTREL for spying for Israel… but releases it without charge after X-ray shows it did not contain surveillance equipment

Posted on July 27, 2013 by ankakh

Officials were told that a secret service agent had been discovered only to be handed… a kestrel.

The bird was held in Turkey on suspicion of spying for the Israelis after a metal ring on its foot carried the engraved words ‘24311 Tel Avivunia Israel’.

Suspicious residents in the village of Altinayva then handed it over to their local governor.

But the bird of prey was freed after X-rays showed it was not carrying surveillance equipment and the ring was a tag for researchers to track migrations.

It didn’t stop Turkey’s Milliyet newspaper later carrying a front-page image of the radiogram with the title ‘Israeli agent’.

Ties between Ankara and Jerusalem have been tense since 2010, when Israeli commandoes killed nine Turkish activists aboard a ship that was helping to break a blockade of the Gaza Strip.

1 Killed in Firefight at Turkish-Syrian Border

Posted on July 23, 2013 by ankakh

Turkey’s military says soldiers returned fire on a group of people trying to cross into Turkey illegally from Syria, killing one of them.

The shooting is the latest in a series of incidents on the shared 910-kilometer (566-mile) border. Turkish security forces have been retaliating to stray fire from Syria landing on Turkey’s territory or to attacks from smugglers or other people trying to enter the country illegally.

The military said that a group of eight “civilians” fired up to 15 shots at soldiers patrolling the border late on Monday, ignoring their warnings to stop. The troops then fired back.

Separately, the military also said Tuesday that seven soldiers were slightly injured after a group of suspected fuel oil smugglers from Syria threw stones at the security forces.

Powerful car bomb rips through southern Beirut

Posted on July 9, 2013 by ankakh

(CNN) — A powerful car bomb rocked southern Beirut on Tuesday, unleashing an inferno in the Bir El Abed neighborhood, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

At least 18 people were wounded, according to NNA.

Video from the scene aired on Al Manar TV showed multiple vehicles on fire, with black smoke billowing into the air.

Crews doused the flames with fire hoses as authorities kept the crowds back.

The explosion was powerful enough to damage surrounding buildings several stories up, blowing out windows and damaging balconies.

Syria’s conflict stirs up old rivalries in Lebanon

Tensions have been on the rise in Lebanon as thousands of refugees have poured into the country since the conflict in Syria began in March 2011.

Sectarian violence has been a growing concern as many Lebanese support the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while others do not.

And there is evidence rebel groups are receiving small arms smuggled across both the Lebanese and Turkish borders.

In April the Lebanese army announced it had intercepted a cargo ship bound for Tripoli — the northern epicenter of support for Syrian rebels in Lebanon — that was filled with weapons it believes were meant to be delivered to rebel forces in Syria.

CNN’s Mohammed Jamjoom says the big worry is that Syria’s troubles will reopen the wounds of Lebanon’s long civil war with theSunni community, which tends to back the rebels, pitted against Hezbollah, the powerful pro-Assad Shiite militia.

Train in Central Pakistan Hits Rickshaw, Kills 12

Posted on July 6, 2013 by ankakh

A police officer says a train traveling through central Pakistan hit an overloaded rickshaw at an unmanned railway crossing, killing 12 people.

Senior police officer Himayun Tarar said the crash Saturday happened near Khanpur village in Shaikhupura district of Punjab province. Tarar said the rickshaw driver didn’t notice the train and tried to cross the tracks.

Tarar said two women and two children were among the dead, while two others who survived the collision were in critical condition at a local hospital. The officer said many of the victims died before rescue workers reached the crash.

Such crashes routinely occur in Pakistan, as the country has hundreds of unmanned rail crossings and motorists driving overloaded vehicles routinely speed through without looking for oncoming trains.

Iraqi farmer, 92, and father of 16 marries for a second time… to a woman 70 YEARS younger than him

Posted on July 6, 2013 by ankakh

A 92-year-old Iraqi farmer has married a woman 70 years his junior in a triple wedding ceremony with his two teenage grandsons.

Musali Mohammed al-Mujamaie married his 22-year-old bride Muna Mukhlif al-Juburi in a four-hour ceremony.

His grandsons, aged 16 and 17, also got married in the ceremony north of Baghdad on Thursday, according to AFP.

Mr Mujamaie said the special day had been long-awaited as his grandsons’ weddings had been postponed several times to coincide with his marriage ceremony.

Mr Mujamaie had raised 16 children in his home village of Gubban with his first wife, which lies just south of the central Iraqi city of Samarra.

His second marriage comes three years after his wife died.

The four-hour ceremony included musical and dance performances and celebratory gunfire.

Earthquake-proof table invented to save the lives of millions of school children worldwide

Posted on July 5, 2013 by ankakh

Experts once advised people to run for a doorway when the earth begins to shake, now that’s out the window and scientists suggest jumping under the nearest table.

Two Israel scientist have a solution for that: earthquake-proof tables.

Designed to withstand downward impacts of up to one ton, the table is the brainchild of Israeli inventors Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno.

Brutter and Bruno say the idea came out of the pressing need to protect school children in the developing world at risk of death and injury when earthquakes that strike their structurally unsound schools.

Then Brutter witnessed footage of 2010’s catastrophic Haiti earthquake in which an estimated 200,000 people died as poorly constructed homes and schools easily buckled in the face of the 7.0 magnitude temblor.

‘I looked at pictures of a school that was crushed in the earthquake in Haiti and they really shocked me,’ he said.

The solution is a cheap to make, easy to lift table for school children that can withstand massive impact when used as shelter from earthquake debris.

The tables, when placed in rows like classroom desks, also act as a means of escape.

With debris halted above, students can crawl through the clear passageways created by the tables, as can rescue workers.

First tested by the Israeli military, the desk is now undergoing strict testing at PaduaUniversity’s Structural Engineering department in Italy.

According to Brutter and Bruno, some 300 million school children worldwide are at risk from earthquakes because their buildings aren’t prepared for them. The team sees their earthquake proof table as a way to prevent deaths and injuries.

The two have been applauded around the world for their invention and received numerous awards.

Ancient Egyptian statue has started MOVING sparking fears it has been struck by a ‘curse of the Pharaohs’

Posted on June 23, 2013 by ankakh

It sounds like the something from the script of a Hollywood action adventure.

But the ‘mystery of the moving mummy’ – which has seen an Egyptian statue mysteriously start to spin round in a display case – has spooked museum bosses.

The 10-inch tall relic, an offering to the Egyptian God Osiris, was found in a mummy’s tomb and has been at the ManchesterMuseum for 80 years.

But in recent weeks, curators have been left scratching their heads after they kept finding it facing the wrong way. They now believe there could be a ‘spiritual explanation’ for the turning statue.

It is believed that there is a curse of the pharaohs which strikes anyone who dares to take relics from a pyramid tomb.

Experts decided to monitor the room on time-lapse video and were astonished to see it clearly show the statuette spinning 180 degrees – with nobody going near it.

Now scientists are trying to explain the phenomenon, with TV physicist Brian Cox among the experts being consulted.

Scientists who explored the Egyptian tombs in the 1920s were popularly believed to be struck by a ‘curse of the Pharaohs’.

Egyptologist Campbell Price, 29, said: ‘I noticed one day that it had turned around.

‘I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key.

‘I put it back but then the next day it had moved again.

Other experts have a more rational explanation – suggesting that the vibrations caused by the footsteps of passing visitors makes the statuette tu

The height of annoyance! Millionaire homeowners in world’s tallest block of flats forced to walk 97 floors to top after lift breaks down

Posted on June 18, 2013 by ankakh

Homeowners living in the world’s tallest residential skyscraper are having to climb up more than 1,300ft of steps – the equivalent of walking one-third of the way up Ben Nevis – after all the lifts broke down.

Princess Tower in Dubai, which stands at 1,355ft tall with 97 above-ground residential floors, has been named the tallest residential building in the world Guinness World Records.

But residents living in the luxurious tower block – many of whom are British – have been told they have ‘no choice’ but to walk up to their flats, some on the 97th floor, after all eight lifts in the building broke down last week.

The building, which has six levels in the basement and 101 above ground level, opened in September last year, with two-bed flats on the rental market for £140-a-day and penthouse flats selling for more than £2million.

Princess Tower boasts 763 luxury apartments as well as eight giant stores and overlooks the Palm Jumeirah, the manmade ‘palm island’ where David Beckham and Brad Pitt are said to have bought luxury pads.

Emergency repairs are ongoing after the problems began last week – leaving penthouse owners who paid £2millio plus for their flats forced to take the stairs.

Flat owners have today been told that a solitary ‘service elevator’ is available for ‘limited’ trips to the 50th floor – but anyone living above that level will still have to walk the rest of the way.

Bosses at the skyscraper – owned by Tameer estates – say the flooding was caused by water from the ‘fire protection system’ and that a ‘faulty fire hose’ was to blame.

Water from the hose got into the residents’ lift shafts, flooding them and causing them to be shut down.

One resident, who lives on the 78th floor, said: ‘I came home after a hard day of work and was told I’d have to walk to my apartment on the 78th floor.

‘I truly couldn’t believe it – there was no way I was walking all that distance so I just booked myself into a hotel.’

A spokesman for Kone Elevators said: ‘We have had engineers on site 24-hours a day since the water leak occurred.’

Kuwaiti woman jailed for 11 YEARS for tweeting that nation’s ruler should be overthrown

Posted on June 11, 2013 by ankakh

A teacher has been sentenced to 11 years in prison today for tweets that insulted Kuwait’s ruler and encouraged his overthrow.

Huda al-Ajmi, 37, received the longest known sentence for online dissent in the Gulf state, according to Kuwaiti opposition groups.

She reportedly faced three separate charges that included insulting the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, which carries a one-year sentence in itself.

The other two five-year prison terms were given for inciting rebellion against the regime and violating laws on public discussions.

Although Kuwait is more liberal than many Gulf states, authorities are

increasingly cracking down on perceived dissent over social media.

However, it is unusual for a woman to serve jail time for political crimes in Kuwait.

Recently two female activists were punished with lighter jail terms but ended up with suspended sentences.

Breezy rider: Daring Saudi man sends texts while sitting on bonnet of a car as it speeds along highway at 50mph

Posted on June 5, 2013 by ankakh

This is the unbelievable moment a Saudi man is filmed texting on his phone from the bonnet of a car as it speeds along a motorway at 50mph.

The fearless stunt shows the man stretching out, relaxing and even kicking his feet in the air as he sits on the front of vehicle.

The incredible footage has quickly become a hit online and has been viewed more than 1.1million times since it was posted on YouTube last week.
The footage appears to have been shot from another car as it approaches the vehicle travelling in the outside lane of a highway in Saudi Arabia.

As the camera pulls alongside, the daredevil performer can be seen, wearing traditional Saudi dress, hunched over a mobile phone on the bonnet of the car.

The car has to move over as traffic begins to build up, but in a final death-defying stunt the man turns around and kneels up with arms on the roof.

It is unclear whether those filming the performance were part of the act or passed it by coincidence.

Recently young men have taken to ‘sidewalk skiiing’ – a new craze which involves gripping onto the outside of a car as it drives along on two wheels.

A large middle-Eastern country made up largely of desert, Saudi Arabia has plenty of open road for fearless riders to practice.

Mass grave uncovered containing dozens of Palestinians killed in 1948 war that founded Israel

Posted on June 1, 2013 by ankakh

Six mass graves features the remains of dozens of Palestinians killed during the Israeli-Arab war of 1948, when the Jewish state was founded have been uncovered in the Jaffa district of Tel Aviv.

An official at the Muslim cemetery there told AFP that the grisly find happened on Wednesday when ground subsided as builders carried out renovation work.

In 1948 Jaffa was a Palestinian town but there was an exodus of most of its Arab population when it fell to the fledgling Israeli army and right-wing Jewish militias.

Researcher and historian Mahmoud Obeid, a Jaffa resident, told As-Safri newspaper: ‘We discovered six mass graves, two of which we dug up. Our estimate is that they contain around 200 bodies, with an unknown additional number in the other graves.

Russia says it will arm Syria with anti-aircraft missiles to prevent ‘some hotheads’ from intervening in the conflict

Posted on May 28, 2013 by ankakh

Russia has refused to scrap plans to provide Syrian President Bashar Assad with high-powered missiles – claiming it will help deter ‘hotheads’ intent on intervention in the two-year-old conflict.

The announcement comes as Russia accused the European Union allowed of ‘throwing fuel on the fire’ by letting its own arms embargo on Syria expire.

Israel and France had urged Moscow to refrain from sending high-precision S-300 missile systems to President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which is battling a Western and Gulf Arab-backed insurgency.

But Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested the air defence system would be useful in deterring any intervention in the conflict.

‘We think this delivery is a stabilising factor and that such steps in many ways restrain some hotheads from exploring scenarios in which this conflict could be given an international character with participation of outside forces,’ he told a news conference.

Russian officials have not disclosed whether S-300s have actually been sent to Syria and Ryabkov would not specify.

Earlier Ryabkov said the European Union’s failure to renew an arms embargo on Syria would undermine the chances for peace talks that Moscow and Washington are trying to organise.

Syria ‘agrees to Geneva peace talks’ in first confirmation that Assad is prepared to meet with opposition

Posted on May 25, 2013 by ankakh

The Syrian government has agreed to a conference on the country’s future proposed by Russia and the United States, Russia’s foreign ministry said today.

The Syrian government had ‘agreed in principle’ to participate in the conference in Geneva which is expected within two weeks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in televised remarks.

Mr Lukashevich, however, said that it was impossible to set the date for the conference at this point because there is ‘no clarity about who will speak on behalf of the opposition and what powers they will have’.

Russia and the US joined efforts earlier this month to convene an international conference to bring representatives of Assad’s regime and the opposition to the negotiating table. The aim of the talks would be to establish the outlines of a transitional government as a way out of the crisis.

The Moscow announcement came after days of talks there between Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad and Russian officials.

Syria opposition peace talks enter second day

Posted on May 25, 2013 by ankakh

Syria’s main opposition group is set to hold a second day of talks Friday, mulling a new US-Russian peace initiative to end the two-year civil war while the regime vows to crush the insurgency.

Holding its seventh general assembly meeting since its creation last November, the National Coalition is expected to choose a new president, incorporate new members and decide the fate of an interim rebel government.

The three-day meeting comes as rebels face a massive onslaught by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in the insurgent bastion of Qusayr, central Syria.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, more than 90,000 people have been killed.

The opposition has long held that it can only enter into talks if the fall of Assad’s regime is guaranteed.