International Topless Jihad Day: FEMEN Activists Stage Protests Across Europe (NSFW PHOTOS)

My comment: From personal freedom point of view this seems ok, but from civilization point of view we are going on absolutely wrong way.

FEMEN strikes again: Topless protesters staged demonstrations near mosques and Tunisian embassies across Europe on Thursday to express support for embattled FEMEN activist Amina Tyler.

“We’re free, we’re naked, it’s our right, it’s our body, it’s our rules, and nobody can use religion, and some other holy things, to abuse women, to oppress them,” FEMEN member Alexandra Shevchenko said in Berlin, according to AFP.

“And we’ll fight against them. And our boobs will be stronger than their stones,” she added.

Tunisian student Amina Tyler sparked a massive controversy in mid-March by posting topless photos of herself on Facebook, with the slogans “Fuck Your Morals” and “My Body Belongs To Me, And Is Not The Source Of Anyone’s Honor,” painted on her body.

Islamist hackers responded with an attack on FEMEN’s Tunisian Facebook Fan Page, replacing topless photos with quotes from the Quran. An Islamic preacher even stated that Tyler could be stoned for her act of defiance.

Pluto’s Gate Discovered: The Plutonium ‘Gate To Hell’ Found In Ancient City Of Hierapolis

Hell is a hard place to describe in detail, since, after all, going there would require dying first. But in an effort to find out what the ancient version of the underworld looked like, archaeologists may have unearthed the gateway to Hades.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, a team of archeologists working in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis in southwestern Turkey claims to have located the Plutonium, or Pluto’s Gate – an ancient pilgrim site considered the entryway to the underworld. A small cave near the temple of Apollo, the Plutonium grew in association with death from deadly gases it emitted.

Happy Happiness Day!

By Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University; Author, ‘The Price of Civilization’

Let me be the first to wish you a very Happy Happiness Day! In case you didn’t know it, today is the first International Day of Happiness, launched by all 193 UN member states. Happiness Day doesn’t mean we’ve arrived at happiness, but it does mean that we’ve recognized that happiness is our goal — and that our societies need to work harder to promote the things that really matter in the 21st century.

The fourth king of the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan led the way 40 years ago, drawing on ancient Buddhist wisdom. Bhutan should pursue Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than Gross National Product (GNP) like the rest of the world. Since then, Bhutan has been experimenting with a new holistic approach to development that emphasizes not just economic growth but also culture, mental health, compassion, and community. Bhutan is searching for a balanced society.

It’s a worthy search. Bhutan aims to avoid the Easterlin Paradox that grips the US. Professor Richard Easterlin discovered many years ago that America was becoming much richer per person but not happier, at least not according to the direct reports of wellbeing by Americans responding to surveys. This is sobering, indeed. We are threatening the planet with pollution, climate change, and other environmental degradation to chase more and more goods that don’t seem to do so much to really make us any happier.

My colleagues Richard Layard, John Helliwell and I reported on the evidence on happiness in last year’s first World Happiness Report, prepared for a UN meeting on happiness promoted by Bhutan. (We’ll have the Second World Happiness Report out this fall.) We used worldwide survey data to look at the factors that truly make people happy. Income of course matters, but mainly to the poor. When people are hungry, deprived of basic needs such as clean water, health care, and education, and without meaningful employment, they indeed suffer. Economic development that alleviates poverty is a vital step in boosting happiness.

Chavez’s Body To Be Permanently Displayed, Venezuela’s Vice President Says

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s acting president says Hugo Chavez’s embalmed body will be permanently displayed in a glass casket so that “his people will always have him.”

Vice President Nicolas Maduro says the remains will be put on permanent display at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the presidential palace where Chavez ruled for 14 years. Maduro says the president will lie in state first for at least another seven days.

A state funeral for Chavez attended by some 33 heads of government is scheduled to begin Friday morning. Tens of thousands have already filed past his glass-topped casket at a military academy following a seven-hour procession on Tuesday which took his body from the hospital where he died.

Other world leaders whose bodies are on display

World leaders whose bodies have been preserved and put on perpetual display, as Venezuela’s government plans to do with Hugo Chavez:

VLADIMIR LENIN: Body of Soviet Union’s founder has been displayed since January 1924 in a mausoleum at Red Square. His tomb is one of Moscow’s most famous symbols and Communists consider it almost a shrine. The embalmment for display is considered the model for subsequent Communist world leaders put on exhibit.

Mother Teresa Humanitarian Image A ‘Myth,’ New Study Says

The Huffington Post  |  By Ron Dicker

A new study by Canadian academics says Mother Teresa was a product of hype who housed the poor and sick in shoddy conditions, despite her access to a fortune.

The Times of India, reporting on the controversial essay, wrote that the authors asserted Mother Teresa saw beauty in the downtrodden’s suffering and was far more willing to pray for them than provide practical medical care. Meanwhile, researchers say, the Vatican engaged in a PR ploy as it threw aside concerns about her suspicious financial dealings and contacts to forgo the five-year waiting period to beatify her.

One of the researchers, Serge Larivee of the University of Montreal’s department of psychoeducation, told the school’s website, “Given the parsimonious management of Mother Teresa’s works, one may ask where the millions of dollars for the poorest of the poor have gone?”

Queen Beatrix To Abdicate Dutch Throne April 30

By MIKE CORDER  

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix announced Monday that she is ending her reign after 33 years and passing the crown to her eldest son, who has long been groomed to be king but who will have to work hard to match his mother’s popularity.

The widely expected abdication comes at a time of debate over the future of the largely ceremonial Dutch monarchy, but also as calm has descended upon the Netherlands after a decade of turmoil that saw Beatrix act as the glue that held together an increasingly divided society.

“Responsibility for our country must now lie in the hands of a new generation,” Beatrix, one of Europe’s longest-serving monarchs, said in the simple, televised speech announcing her abdication.

The queen, who turns 75 in just a few days, said she will step down from the throne on April 30. That same day, her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, will be appointed king at an inauguration in Amsterdam. He will be the Netherlands’ first king since Willem III died in 1890.

Willem-Alexander is a 45-year-old father of three young daughters, an International Olympic Committee member, a pilot and a water management expert.

Over the years, he has struggled to win the affection of this nation of 16 million, but his immensely popular wife, the Argentine-born Maxima, has helped him gain more acceptance ever since she brushed away a tear during their wedding in 2002.

They are a hard-working couple: Willem-Alexander regularly gives speeches at water conferences, sharing his low-lying nation’s centuries of experience battling to stay dry, while soon-to-be Queen Maxima, a former investment banker, has carved out acareer as a microfinance expert.

After Successful Missile Launch, North Korea Threatens New Nuclear Test

By Austin Ramzy

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the West Sea Satellite Launch Site in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province, in this picture released by the KCNA news agency on Dec. 15, 2012

When North Korea put a satellite into orbit last month, it declared that the launch was an exercise of its “right to use space for peaceful purposes” and denounced criticism by the U.S. and others that it was carrying out a ballistic-missile test meant to threaten its neighbors. On Tuesday the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the launch, which it said was banned under previous resolutions, and moved to strengthen existing sanctions. Today North Korea responded angrily to the Security Council’s move, declaring that it may soon carry out another nuclear test — the isolated totalitarian state’s third — a move its National Defense Commission said was aimed at the U.S.

India Teen Commits Suicide After Police Pressure Her To Drop Gang Rape Case, Marry Attacker

AFP

ndian youth hold candles and placards as they take part in a candle light vigil following the gang rape of a student last week in the Indian capital during a rally in Ahmedabad on December 23, 2012. (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)

A 17-year-old Indian girl who was gang-raped committed suicide after police pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers, police and a relative said on Thursday.

Amid the ongoing uproar over the gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi earlier this month, the latest case has again shone the spotlight on the police’s handling of sex crimes.

One police officer has been sacked and another suspended over their conduct after the assault during the festival of Diwali on November 13 in the Patiala region in the Punjab, according to officials.

The teenager was found dead on Wednesday night after swallowing poison.

Inspector General Paramjit Singh Gill said that the teenager had been “running from pillar to post to get her case registered” but officers failed to open a formal inquiry.

“One of the officers tried to convince her to withdraw the case,” Gill, the police chief for the area, told AFP.

Brutal Delhi Gangrape Outrages Indians, Spurs Calls for Action

By Nilanjana Bhowmick / New Delhi

Indian women shout slogans outside the Delhi Police headquarters as they block a main road during a protest in New Delhi, Dec. 19, 2012. The hours-long gang-rape and near fatal beating of a student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country.

Last Sunday in New Delhi, at around 9.30 p.m., a 23-year-old woman was gang raped for almost an hour on a moving bus and then thrown semi-naked on the road to die. Hideous violence against women is nothing new in India, but this particular outrage has caused widespread anger. Perhaps it was the casual ferocity of it. Or the fact that it took place on some of the teeming capital’s busiest streets. Or perhaps a nation at great pains to modernize is finding it hard to stomach what feels like an increasingly predatory sexual culture.

The rape sparked protests in the capital and outrage in Parliament, with several politicians demanding capital punishment for the perpetrators. The police have arrested four of the accused, and the trial, Indian home minister Sushil Shinde said, will be fast tracked. “The incident has raised the issue of declining public confidence in the law and order machinery in the city,” a National Human Rights Commission statement said, “…especially, in its capacity to ensure safety of women as a number of such incidents have been reported in the National Capital in the recent past.”

Indeed, the rape of the 23-year-old—now fighting for her life with grievous injuries not only to her genitals but her intestines—is just another horror in a grim litany of Indian sexual violence. There were 17 cases of rape reported in the state of Haryana, which borders much of Delhi, in October alone. Across the nation, a woman is raped every 20 minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. These frightening figures have risen steadily in recent years: in 2010, 24,206 rapes were reported, an almost 10% increase over 2001. The number of unreported rapes is without a doubt greater.

Russia Arms Sales: Putin Touts Record $14 Billion In Weapons Exports In 2012

The Horse Whisperer
In this Sept. 2010, photo released on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pats a horse during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow in the Siberian Tyva region (also referred to as Tuva), on the border with Mongolia, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) -

Russian arms exports reached a record $14 billion this year, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, extending a run of record-breaking sales in recent years that have included deliveries to Syria despite the civil war raging there.

The world no. 2 arms exporter has cultivated new weapons clients in Southeast Asia and Africa, despite criticism that it is failing to deliver the technological benefits of Western suppliers or the low costs of emerging weapons exporter China.

“Let’s talk about our results – they are positive. We are reaching a record level of weapons exports. Their total volume was above $14 billion,” Putin said in a televised meeting with officials.

He said Russia had signed over $15 billion in new export contracts this year alone. He did not spell out when deliveries on those deals were expected.

North Korea declares its rocket launch a success

North Korea launched a long-range rocket Wednesday morning despite international opposition and growing tensions in the region. Pyongyang claimed the Unha-3 rocket successfully delivered a scientific satellite into orbit.

Seoul has strongly condemned the launch as a violation of UN resolutions, with the South Korean president calling for an emergency meeting over the issue. The launch was confirmed by officials at the South Korean Defense Ministry and its Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Shortly after liftoff, the Aegis radar system in the Yellow Sea detected the move,” a senior South Korean military official said, Yonhap news agency reports.

North Korea said the Unha-3 rocket delivered a Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite into orbit as planned.

“The second version of satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 successfully lifted off from the Sohae Space Center by carrier rocket Unha-3 on Wednesday,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. “The satellite entered its preset orbit.”

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported that the North Korean missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit, which would fall in line with Pyongyang’s claims about the nature of the launch.

However critics believe this could be a ballistic missile test, which the UN has banned North Korea from conducting. The UN Security Council is to gather for an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the developments.

The debris of the rocket fell into waters off the Philippines at 10:05 a.m. local time after passing over Okinawa, the Japanese government said, according to Yonhap. An official in Seoul told the news agency that the first stage of the North Korean rocket fell in the Yellow Sea.

The World’s Most Livable Cities In 2012: Mercer Survey

Comment: If our thinking always negative and we are always greedy we can not enjoy anywhere, so the most important thing to be happy and to spend enjoyable life is the way of thinking. Even in New York, Moscow, Sydney, Melbourne, Beijing, Geneva etc. etc lots of rich people are not happy. It does not mean that money and pace do not play any role to make people happy.

Looking for the world’s most livable city? According to the Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey, Europe may be your destination.

Though some parts of the region continue to be plagued by economic turmoil and political unrest, Europe dominated this year’s best-of list with eight of the report’s top 10 cities hailing from the region.

As CNN notes, the annual survey conducted by the global human resources consulting firm points to much of the the continent’s qualities.

“Overall, European cities continue to have high quality of living as a result of a combination of increased stability, rising living standards and advanced city infrastructures,” Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer, told CNN.

Palestinian UN Recognition Vote Passes By Majority

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the state of Palestine.

The resolution upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by the 193-member world body late Thursday by a vote of 138-9 with 41 abstentions.

Addressing the General Assembly Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the historic vote was the last chance to save the two-state solution. He also told the meeting that it “is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the parties to renew their commitment to negotiating peace deal.

However the US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the UN’s vote on the Palestinians’ status places further obstacles in the path of peace.

The Palestinian bid to join the global body as a full member state failed in 2011 due to lack of support at the UN Security Council. To get the “non-member observer state” status, the Palestinians only needed a simple majority at the 193-member General Assembly, such status is already held by the Vatican.

Israel-Gaza Conflict Reaches Cease-Fire After Egyptians, U.S. Broker Deal

By Joshua Hersh

WASHINGTON — Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire in the week-old conflagration in Gaza that has left more than a hundred dead and many more wounded.

The halt in hostilities was announced during a Wednesday press conference in Cairo, Egypt, by the Egyptian foreign minister Mohammed Kamel Amr. He was joined by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has spent the past 18 hours engaged in a whirlwind tour of diplomacy in a hasty attempt to reach a peace deal.

The cease-fire is set to take effect at 9 p.m. Cairo time, or 2 p.m. EST. More than 140 Palestinians, and five Israelis, have been killed in the conflict, which was almost entirely conducted by airstrike, rocket and drone.

Egyptian mediators told Reuters that Hamas believes it has won “guarantees” from the Israeli government to stop assassinating its leaders, and to ease the way for Palestinians to move across the borders of the Gaza Strip. Israelis say that if the rocket fire from Gaza does not stop, they hold the right to redouble their military strikes in the future.

Xi Jinping, China Vice President, Named Communist Party Leader

By Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING, Nov 15 (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party unveiled its new leadership line-up on Thursday to steer the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years, with Vice President Xi Jinping taking over from outgoing President Hu Jintao as party chief.

Xi was also named head of the party’s Central Military Commission, state news agency Xinhua said.

The other new members of the Politburo Standing Committee – the innermost circle of power in China’s authoritarian government – include premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang and financial guru Wang Qishan, who will be in charge of fighting corruption.