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In
a high-level meeting on religious persecution in Brussels, the
President of the European Parliament (EP) said that Europe cannot afford
to continue ignoring the fate of Christians, who are “clearly the most persecuted group” in the world.
In
Wednesday’s meeting, EP President Martin Schulz said that the
persecution of Christians is “undervalued” and does not receive enough
attention, which has also meant that it “hasn’t been properly
addressed.”
Schulz’s concerns were echoed by EP Vice President
Antonio Tajani, who warned that Europe sometimes “falls into the
temptation of thinking we can ignore this task,” referring to the
protection Christians throughout the world who suffer persecution.
Speakers
cited the work of Open Doors, a human rights organization that monitors
the persecution of Christians, noting that 150 million Christians
worldwide suffer torture, rape and arbitrary imprisonment. Christians in
Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, North Korea and Nigeria are among those
hardest hit.
The Open Doors report
for 2015 found that “Islamic extremism is by far the most significant
persecution engine” of Christians in the world today and that “40 of the
50 countries on the World Watch List are affected by this kind of
persecution.”
Did you think the genetically modified pig was gone? It is true that Canada’s “Enviro Pig” was scrapped
in 2012 after consumer backlash and lack of university funding. That
vacancy mainly left genetically modified salmon in the running to become
the very first commercial GM animal.
But there are two new types
of engineered pigs poised for approval in their respective countries.
Now, with the secret Trans Pacific Partnership out in the open, it
becomes clear that the deal opens the door for a swarm of global biotech
ventures that can more easily glide their wares across country
boundaries.
Whereas Enviro Pig’s genetic splicing was supposedly
intended to cut down on phosphorous waste that kills waterways, two more
pigs are vying for public acceptance.
It’s important to note that these animals aren’t “transgenic”
like many of the GE crops on the market. That is, they do not contain
genes from other species or kingdoms like bacteria. Biotech involves
more than GMOs, and some methods currently fall outside of regulation or
definition. However, we are still talking genetic engineering.
Bruce Whitelaw and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh are developing a pig resistant to African swine fever,
a devastating disease with no vaccine or cure that has led to hundreds
of pigs being slaughtered in Europe to prevent its spread.
Jinsu Kim and his colleagues at Seoul National University have developed “double-muscle” pigs that produce twice as much muscle as a regular pig, resulting in higher protein, lower fat pork.
Genetically modified pigs raise concerns about food regulation
Regulatory system lacks transparency, critics say
CBC NewsPosted: Nov 03, 2015 11:50 AM ETLast Updated: Nov 04, 2015 8:59 AM ET
Two
kinds of genetically modified pigs are on their way to becoming pork on
our dinner plates. If they do, they'll be some of the very first
genetically modified animals to enter our food system. (Laszlo
Balogh/Reuters)
The Current: GMO pigs' cautionary tale of genetically modified food research 24:43
But
consumers are wary and lack confidence in governments' readiness to
regulate this new class of food product, researchers and activists say.
The genetically modified pigs under development are designed to improve pork production in different ways:
Bruce Whitelaw and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh are developing a pig resistant to African swine fever,
a devastating disease with no vaccine or cure that has led to hundreds
of pigs being slaughtered in Europe to prevent its spread.
Jinsu Kim and his colleagues at Seoul National University have developed "double-muscle" pigs that produce twice as much muscle as a regular pig, resulting in higher protein, lower fat pork.
In
both cases, researchers have precisely targeted an individual pig gene
to create a mutation that turns up or turns down certain genes. The
African swine fever resistant pig has an immune gene that is slightly
more like a warthog's. The double-muscle pig has a mutation similar to
one produced by normal breeding in a muscly cow breed called the Belgian
blue.
The pigs aren't "transgenic" — that is, they don't contain
genes from other organisms. That makes them unlike some genetically
modified crops already on the market, which may contain genes from
organisms such as bacteria.
French warplanes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria on Sunday as police in Europe widened their investigations into coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people.
Islamic
State has claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide bombings and
shootings, which have re-ignited a row over Europe's refugee crisis and
drawn calls to block a huge influx of Muslim asylum-seekers.
French
police have launched an international hunt for a Belgian-born man they
believe helped organize the assaults with two of his brothers. One of
the brothers died in the attacks, while the second one is under arrest
in Belgium, a judicial source said.
A further two French suicide
attackers have been identified, police said, while the identity of four
other assailants, who all died in the violence, was still under review.
France
has been bombing Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria for months
as part of a U.S.-led operation. Following Friday's mayhem, Paris vowed
to destroy the group. Underlining its resolve, French jets on Sunday
launched their biggest raids in Syria to date, hitting its stronghold in
Raqqa.
"The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched
simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs
were dropped," the Defence Ministry said. Among the targets were a
munitions depot and training camp, it said.
IS fighters said they carried out the gun and bomb massacre - calling Paris "the capital of prostitution and obscenity".
Sky's
Sam Kiley, in northern Iraq, said the French airstrikes should not be
seen as a "wanton act of revenge" or carpet-bombing campaign.
"I
think it's very clear that the French and the wider coalition have
decided in a sense to give France the iron fist at least for the next 24
hours or so," he said.
PARIS — French warplanes struck Islamic State militants
in Syria on Sunday, a French government official said, two days after
attackers linked to the terrorist group carried out a coordinated assault on Paris that killed 129 people.
Prior to the attack on Paris, France had been sparing in its strikes against targets in Syria.
News
reports in France said the airstrikes were focused on Raqqa, the city
in northern Syria that is the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic
State.
The attackers in
Friday’s terrorist assault in Paris communicated at some point
beforehand with known members of the Islamic State in Syria, officials
on both sides of the Atlantic say, adding evidence to the assertions
that the radical group coordinated or helped carry out the attacks
rather than simply inspired them.
President François Hollande of France has characterized the attacks as “an act of war” carried out by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS
or ISIL. He provided no specific information, but the Islamic State
released statements on Saturday claiming responsibility for the attacks,
part of increasing indications that the group is becoming more capable
of extending its reach far beyond its base in Syria and Iraq.
A
manhunt is under way for Saleh Abdeslam after he was reportedly
questioned and released despite being identified by authorities.
21:29, UK, Sunday 15November 2015
A man wanted over the Paris terror attacks had been questioned and released by police hours after the massacres, it is claimed.
Salah
Abdeslam, 26, reportedly helped with logistics and rented a black
Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall
and killed at least 89 people on Friday night.
He was apparently
spoken to by officers on Saturday morning when they pulled over a car
carrying three people near the Belgian border.
Police then checked Abdeslam's ID and subsequently let him go, officials told the Associated Press.
The
incident came just hours after authorities had identified him as the
person who rented the Polo which was abandoned at the scene of the
attack.
One
of his brothers, Ibrahim Abdeslam, was reportedly among the seven
suicide bombers in the co-ordinated assaults targeting six sites across
the French capital.
A third brother was apparently arrested in Belgium and questioned before being released.
Salah Abdeslam, who was born in Brussels, is described as 1m 75cm (5ft 8in) tall and has brown eyes.
Police
released a photo of him and warned the public he is dangerous and said
"do not intervene yourself". There are reports he may have fled to
Spain.
Another man, Bilal Hadfi, has been named as among the
attackers and he also lived in Belgium as did Salah and Ibrahim
Abdeslam, said the Washington Post.
If
investigators determine that the Islamic State is responsible for the
catastrophic attacks in Paris, as the group claims and France alleges,
the assaults represent a major leap in the group’s abilities.
Until
now, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has relied mainly
on “lone wolf” followers to attack the West, with relatively low-tech
assaults — shootings, the taking of hostages, hit-and-runs — that draw
wide attention but do not cause mass casualties.
“This is much
different than a normal lone wolf inspired attack,” said Patrick M.
Skinner, a former C.I.A. operations officer now with the Soufan Group, a
security consultancy. “This was choreographed.”
“The fact that
they could do this, especially in Paris, where the intelligence service
is really good, clearly there’s a hole somewhere,” Mr. Skinner said.
The
Islamic State has been expanding beyond its base in Iraq and Syria
since it declared a caliphate, or Islamic state, in June 2014. The group
is focused on three parallel tracks, according to Harleen Gambhir, an
analyst at the Institute for the Study of War:
inciting regional conflict with attacks in Iraq and Syria;
building relationships with jihadist groups that can carry out military operations across the Middle East and North Africa;
and inspiring, and sometimes helping, ISIS sympathizers to conduct attacks in the West.
“The
goal,” Ms. Gambhir said, “is that through these regional affiliates and
through efforts to create chaos in the wider world, the organization
will be able to expand, and perhaps incite a global apocalyptic war.”
Shell and Exxon's €5bn problem: gas drilling that sets off earthquakes and wrecks homes
Groningen
has been one of Europe’s richest gas fields for 30 years, and thousands
of people say their homes have been damaged by the tremors that
drilling sets off. Now a class action may finally bring them
compensation – and force a rethink of European energy security
‘Nobody is taking this seriously, not the school or the mayor, no one’ …
Annemarie Heite, whose home in Groningen has been scheduled for
demolition after earthquakes caused by oil drilling. Photograph: Hans
Knikman/Demotix
Lucas Amin
Five
years ago, Annemarie Heite and her husband, Albert, bought their dream
home; a traditional 19th-century farmhouse in Groningen province in the
northern Netherlands.
The couple planned to raise their two young daughters in this charming
corner of the Dutch countryside. “Then, the living was still easy, and
affordable,” Annemarie says, her tone bittersweet and nostalgic. Today,
their house is scheduled for demolition.
Hundreds of earthquakes
have wrecked the foundations of the Heites’ home and made it unsafe to
live in. Annemarie’s biggest fear is the safety of her daughters. She
points to a room. “This is where my children sleep,” she says, “and
everyday I’m just picking up pieces of bricks and stuff from the
ceiling.”
Heite fears that her children may not be any safer at
school. Her daughter Zara goes to a local primary school that has not
been structurally reinforced to withstand strong earthquakes. “I feel
powerless. It feels like I can’t do anything,” Heite says. “It’s not
like I’m a frantic, hysterical person, but nobody is taking this
seriously, not the school or the mayor, no one.”
Next door,
Heite’s neighbour’s farmhouse is already a pile of rubble, which yellow
JCBs are clearing away. “It’s collapsed. It’s gone,” Heite says. “They
lived there for 30 years … and over there behind the trees, they
demolished another house.”
Farmhouses like Heite’s are
disappearing across the Groningen countryside as a peculiar, profound
environmental crisis grips the province. At the heart of it are two oil
companies, Shell and Exxon Mobil,
and a government that, for two decades, denied responsibility for its
actions and ignored the voices of citizens and scientists. The scandal
has already cost the oil companies €1.2bn [£880m], but last month a
landmark court ruling gave the victims fresh hope that their voices
could be ignored no longer. And if they are right, the consequences
could be profound: a compensation bill that could stretch to more than
€5bn in Holland, an energy security headache for Europe, and an
invocation for the world to think about the real cost of burning fossil
fuels.
The top three foods being thrown away uneaten in British homes are bread, potatoes and milk. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA
The average UK family is wasting nearly £60 a month by throwing away almost an entire meal a day, according to a new report that reveals the scale of the ongoing challenge to reduce household foodwaste.
Britons
are chucking out the equivalent of 24 meals a month, adding up to 4.2
million tonnes of food and drink every year that could have been
consumed. Almost half of this is going straight from fridges or
cupboards into the bin. One-fifth of what households buy ends up as
waste, and around 60% of that could have been eaten.
There has
been no progress in reducing meat and fish wastage, with Britons still
throwing away the equivalent of 86 million chickens every year. The top
three foods being thrown away uneaten in British homes are bread,
potatoes and milk. The equivalent of 24m slices of bread, 5.8m potatoes
and 5.9m glasses of milk are being wasted daily, while even cakes and
pastries make it into the top 10 most wasted items.
The study by
the government's waste advisory body, the Waste & Resources Action
Programme (Wrap), shows that since 2007, avoidable household food waste
has been cut by 21% to 4.2m tonnes, saving consumers almost £13bn.
Wrap said that such waste should be cut a further 1.7m tonnes a year
by 2025, saving up to £45bn. Its chief executive, Dr Liz Goodwin,
called on retailers, manufacturers, governments and consumers to agree
to a "major combined effort".
The
United Nations says Europeans throw away 90 million tons of food every
year, while a significant number of people continue to go hungry in
other parts of the world.
A recent UN report revealed
that millions of households across Europe are throwing out a colossal
amount of edible food, while millions of people around the world do not
have enough food to eat, Press TV correspondent Zarya Shakely reported
on Sunday.
The bulk of this waste is attributed to consumers who buy more food than they consume, the international body said.
“Because
a lot of households do not know, they are not aware of how much food
they waste in their households. I think when an individual is aware of
the food-wasting problem, there will also be a change in other sectors
in the food supply chain,” said Felicitas Schneider with the Vienna
Waste Management Institute.
In Austria alone, 25 percent of all the food produced in the country is
wasted each year, with the average household spending approximately 300
euros worth of unused groceries - mostly consisting of leftovers like
fruit, vegetables, bread, dairy products and meat.
“I feel
bad because customers only want to buy food that is fresh, and also we
are not allowed to sell bad food and we are not able to do anything
against this. The only thing we can do is to take it with us home,” said
Dogan Kayikci, a market trader.
This is while according to the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), some 1.3 billion tons of food
are wasted globally every year.
Experts recommend that food
wastage can be reduced with better planning before shopping to get food
portions right and storing food correctly to keep it fresh longer.
Politicians are also encouraged to introduce policies that would reduce
the level of food waste.
GMA/SS
