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Iraqi Kurds Announce Start of Crude Flow to Turkey

Posted on January 9, 2014 by ankakh

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The authorities in Iraq’s self-ruled northern Kurdish region say they’ve unilaterally started exporting crude oil through Turkey despite objections by the central government in Baghdad.

The Kurds’ regional Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement late Wednesday that pumping started in early January.

The oil is being shipped north through a newly constructed pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, bypassing Baghdad.

The Kurdish ministry has invited companies to participate in a January tender for the 2 million barrels already deposited in Ceyhan. It anticipates an increase in exports to 4 million barrels in February and 6 million barrels in March, with the goal of 10-12 million barrels in December.

Man who thinks he’s Jesus… along with hundreds of young women who follow him across the world

Posted on January 9, 2014 by ankakh

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A 66-year-old Brazilian man has spent 35 years preaching the word of God – because he believes he is the reincarnation of Jesus.

Inri Cristo has ‘hundreds of followers’ from around the world, including the UK, Britain and France, some of whom live with him at his ‘church’ compound outside Brasilia.

Since 1979 he has travelled for 27 countries to spread his word, however his controversial views has seen him expelled from the US, Britain and Venezuela.

Most of the disciples who live at his church – mostly women – have followed Inri for decades, the eldest, Abevere, 86, has been following him for 32 years.

His youngest disciple is now 24 years old and first met Inri when she was just a two years old.

His Jesus-like dressing and unorthodox views on capitalism, abortion and even Christmas has seen him detained by police more than 40 times.

But despite seeing himself as Jesus reborn, Inri refuses to celebrate Christmas saying it is just a day where ‘the rich humiliate the poor’.

He now runs his own church, the ‘Soust’ (Suprema Ordem Universal da Santmssima Trindade), located on a lush farmland outside of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, which he calls the ‘New Jerusalem’.

His quirky life has led to critics saying he is mentally ill – an accusation he firmly denies.

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.

Abducted Swedish Journalists Released in Syria

Posted on January 9, 2014 by ankakh

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Abducted Swedish Journalists Released in Syria

Two Swedish journalists who were abducted in Syria in November have been released, Swedish and Red Cross officials said Wednesday.

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the release of writer Magnus Falkehed and photographer Niclas Hammarstrom, and said both were receiving assistance from Swedish diplomats in Beirut.

The two freelance journalists were abducted as they were on their way out of Syria in November.

Swedish authorities wouldn’t say who abducted them or how they were set free. But national police spokeswoman Jessica Krasser Fremnell said Swedish police had worked closely with other authorities to secure their release.

Their state of health was not immediately clear.

Press advocacy groups say Syria has become the most dangerous country in the world for reporters over the past two years, with kidnappings becoming a major threat.

Mutant super rats IMMUNE to poison invade British homes to escape flooded sewers and underground burrows

Posted on January 8, 2014 by ankakh

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Flood ravaged homes across England have a new threat to contend with: a plague of mutant ‘super’ rats.

Hordes of the brown rats have escaped flooded drains across the south of England after storms unleashed torrential downpours on vast swathes of the country.

The rats are resistant to normal poisons and can transmit life-threatening diseases to humans and farm animals.

A study by University of Reading’s Rodenticide Resistance Action Group involving testing the tails of hundreds of rats killed in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, found that many of the rodents were resistant to common forms of poison used by local authorities and professional pest controllers, farmers and gamekeepers.

Other EU countries allow the use of potent poisons, brodifacoum and flocoumafen outside. But in the UK fears over the effect the poisons will have on other wildlife, including owls who feed on rats, has prompted widespread studies by experts.

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.

A New Year Congratulatory Address by President Serzh Sargsyan

Posted on January 1, 2014 by ankakh

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Dear Fellow Citizens,
I cordially wish you a Happy New Year!

The passing year has been full of many initiatives and events, but I believe the most significant among them was the deeply conscious work aimed at Armenia’s economic growth and enhanced level of security. We have furthered Armenia’s economic, political and military cooperation with the Russian Federation, and next year, I am certain, we will become a full member of the Customs Union. Armenia is creating a new reality which will make her more protected and more competitive.

We have continued and will steadily continue our course towards reformation. Our cooperation with Europe and the United States in this area will not weaken but will become even deeper. Our goal is inalterable: we want Armenia to be a modern state with strong societal relations and mature legal structure.

Let’s face it: the passing year has also had some ordeals. Despite all difficulties we have been able to make a promise of the regular increase of wages and pensions a reality. We have found basic solutions which will work beyond the next year.

Dear Compatriots,

Certainly, every new year always brings new hopes, new expectations and new plans. I am confident that materialization of these hopes and realization of these plans is in our hands. Each family has its own expectations, its plans, its troubles, and its happiness. Some are waiting for their sons to return from the army, some are working to conclude the constructions of their homes, some are expecting new babies and the bliss of that event, and so on. I wish that every family in Armenia in 2014 is able to make its dreams come true. All happy families together make our country stronger and make us all more positive.

I wish that we enter 2014 with the optimistic outlook and serious programs, all the more so because we have every reason to do it and these reasons live in each one of us. Our mindset and our work will show up in the results we get.

Dear Fellow Citizens,

As always, today we will raise our glasses to the soldiers of our Motherland, to those who at this moment in the wintry mountains are guarding our borders. They defend themselves and our mountains. They defend themselves and our dreams. They defend their victorious homeland and national aspirations.

I have no doubt that our demeanor and our work will make us worthy of them and of our noble goals. We will make flourish our villages and towns, we will beautify every inch of our land, we will bring our folks back home from the far away places. We can do that and we will do it together. The New Year will give new energy and doubled vigor.

Dear Compatriots,

I also congratulate all our compatriots in Artsakh and Spyurk. I send special congratulations to our brothers and sisters in Syria who are going through difficult times. Their pain is our pain. On this festive day, let us pray and believe that tomorrow, in year 2014 they will get peace and success. Their happiness is our happiness too.

I wish all citizens of the Republic of Armenia and the entire Armenian nation all the best. I wish good health to you, your children and your parents.

Happy New Year and approaching Holly Christmas!

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.

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