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Denmark bans kosher and halal slaughter as minister says 'animal rights come before religion'

Adam Withnall
The Independent
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© IndependentNew law, denounced as ‘anti-Semitism’ by Jewish leaders, comes after country controversially slaughtered a giraffe in public and fed him to lions.
Denmark's government has brought in a ban on the religious slaughter of animals for the production of halal and kosher meat, after years of campaigning from welfare activists.

The change to the law, announced last week and effective as of yesterday, has been called "anti-Semitism" by Jewish leaders and "a clear interference in religious freedom" by the non-profit group Danish Halal.

European regulations require animals to be stunned before they are slaughtered, but grants exemptions on religious grounds. For meat to be considered kosher under Jewish law or halal under Islamic law, the animal must be conscious when killed.

Yet defending his government's decision to remove this exemption, the minister for agriculture and food Dan Jørgensen told Denmark's TV2 that "animal rights come before religion".

Commenting on the change, Israel's deputy minister of religious services Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan told the Jewish Daily Forward: "European anti-Semitism is showing its true colours across Europe, and is even intensifying in the government institutions."

Comment:
Barbarians! Shameful! Marius the giraffe killed and dissected at Copenhagen zoo despite worldwide protests

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Chess

Russia tells U.S. that Ukraine's peace deal is under threat


Voice of Russia
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 22:54 UTC
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© RIA NovostiRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that the peace deal signed in Ukraine had been "sharply degraded by opposition forces' inability or lack of desire" to respect it, the ministry said.

"Illegal extremist groups are refusing to disarm and in fact are taking Kiev under their control with the connivance of opposition leaders," Lavrov told Kerry by telephone, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.
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Whistle

Silencing the Scientist: Tyrone Hayes on being targeted by herbicide firm Syngenta


Democracy Now
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 14:12 UTC
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We speak with scientist Tyrone Hayes of the University of California, Berkeley, who discovered a widely used herbicide may have harmful effects on the endocrine system. But when he tried to publish the results, the chemical's manufacturer launched a campaign to discredit his work. Hayes was first hired in 1997 by a company, which later became agribusiness giant Syngenta, to study their product, atrazine, a pesticide that is applied to more than half the corn crops in the United States, and widely used on golf courses and Christmas tree farms. When Hayes found results Syngenta did not expect - that atrazine causes sexual abnormalities in frogs, and could cause the same problems for humans - it refused to allow him to publish his findings. A new article in The New Yorker magazine uses court documents from a class action lawsuit against Syngenta to show how it sought to smear Hayes' reputation and prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from banning the profitable chemical, which is already banned by the European Union.

Comment: Additional articles about Dr. Tyron Hayes on going battle with the Syngenta Corporation:

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Bad Guys

Tymoshenko tells Kiev protesters they should keep up protests


The Voice of Russia
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 23:44 UTC
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© EPAYulia Tymoshenko
Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko urged President Viktor Yanukovich's opponents on Saturday not to abandon their protests in central Kiev even though parliament has voted to oust him.

In an emotional speech to thousands of protesters in Kiev's Independence Square after she was carried on to a stage in a wheelchair, she said: "You have no right to leave the Maidan (square)... Don't stop yet."

Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was released earlier on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for much of the time since she was convicted in 2011 on charges of abuse of office. Supporters say the case was politically motivated.

Her speech was briefly interrupted by a heckler but she later carried on addressing the crowd. Some people welcomed her speech but others whistled.

Comment:
Free-dumb and Democrazi: Ukraine MPs vote for release of ex-PM and gas billionaire Tymoshenko, along with a return to 2004 CIA-imposed constitution

The Country Run by a Mafia: Ukrainian ex-PM Tymoshenko may face life in prison for 'ordering murder'

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Hourglass

Russian Foreign Minister: No EU country would tolerate Ukraine protest violence at home


RT
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 10:00 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/Andrey SteninOpposition supporters during clashes with riot police outside Dynamo stadium in Kiev.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the violence currently consuming the Ukrainian capital Kiev was in "no small part" being organized from abroad, adding no EU country would accept such disorder within its own borders.

"As it turns out, these agitators have not even considered the interests of the Ukrainian opposition itself, in so far as they have attempted to incite violence," Lavrov said during a media conference in Moscow.

"When something like this happens within a European country, no one questions the need to curb the disorder and violence with firm measures," he added.

Lavrov criticized some European states for handling the Ukrainian crisis in such an offhand manner, warning that their interference could cause the situation to spiral out of control. He was especially critical of the fact that members of several European states have rushed to Independence Square in Kiev to participate in the anti-government demonstrations despite having diplomatic relations with Ukraine.

"It's just distasteful, and it is, by the way, fueling the situation."
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USA

Obama's silent coups

Ted Snider
AntiWar.com
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Bill
Last night, as I watched the television news, there were consecutive stories on massive street protests in Ukraine and Venezuela. They were all presented as democratic protests against undemocratic and unresponsive governments. Not one of the stories mentioned the not unimportant detail that, in each case, the violent street protests were targeting governments democratically elected by the people.

But that's precisely the point.

I have previously suggested that recent coups and coup attempts have been so disguised that they are not even recognized as coups. Unlike the covert coups of earlier administrations, in places like Iran, Guatemala and Chile, the coups of the Obama administration are not seen to be coups and involve no tanks or guns. They are silently disguised as domestic current events.

One of the ways these coups have been disguised is as the expression of the public will through mass democratic expression in the streets. These coups cloak themselves as domestic, democratic movements that attempt to bring about a regime change in the streets that could not be accomplished in the polls. A mass minority protesting in the streets produces a cry heard more loudly around the world than a silent majority in a secret and sound proof polling booth. This regime change in disguise amplifies the minority in the street into a voice great enough to overturn the majority in the polls.
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Snakes in Suits

Corporate political conspiracy behind bankruptcy of Detroit revealed

Kate Randall
World Socialist Web Site
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© WSWSInquiry Chairman Lawrence Porter
Workers and youth from throughout Detroit, across the US and internationally gathered at Wayne State University (WSU) on Saturday for the Workers Inquiry into the Bankruptcy of Detroit & the Attack on the DIA and Pensions.

The meeting drew more than 100 people, including students from Wayne State University and other campuses, Detroit city workers, teachers, artists and tenants fighting eviction from the Griswold Apartments in downtown Detroit. Delegates attended from Illinois, New York, Virginia, California and other states, as well as from Germany and Australia.

The Inquiry, sponsored by the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), was the product of a months-long campaign to organize working class opposition to the bankruptcy. Reports provided a detailed exposure of the political conspiracy involving both major political parties, the courts and the mass media.

Opening the meeting, Workers Inquiry Chairman Lawrence Porter explained, "This is an historic gathering, a true working class investigation into one of the crimes of this century: the premeditated plan to install an emergency manager with immense powers and take the city into bankruptcy in order to destroy rights won in over 80 years of struggle."
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Briefcase

Western 'democracy': Unelected party secretary Matteo Renzi appointed as Italy's youngest ever prime minister

Josephine McKenna
The Telegraph
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 12:15 UTC
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© APMr Renzi will spend the next few days seeking to fill key cabinet positions.
Matteo Renzi outlined an ambitious plan for Italy on Monday as he was appointed the country's new prime minister, vowing to urgently pursue far-reaching financial and political reforms in his first few months in office.

Mr Renzi was summoned to the Quirinale, the presidential palace, following the resignation of Enrico Letta on Friday and will spend the next few days seeking to form a coalition and fill key cabinet positions after facing rejections from several candidates at the weekend.

"For the legislature that we are proposing we need a few days to confirm the government," Mr Renzi, who at 39 would be the country's youngest-ever prime minister, said immediately after the president confirmed his position.

"But I assure you I will give this commitment all the energy I have."

The former premier was ousted in an internal party vote orchestrated by Mr Renzi who called for a "new phase" to push through economic and electoral reforms.

Provided his government is approved, as is expected, in a parliamentary confidence vote later this week, Mr Renzi will be Italy's third unelected prime minister in three years. He was named after the president held talks with leaders across the political spectrum at the weekend to decide on a new leader.
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Telephone

Merkel, Hollande to discuss possible European communication network that excludes U.S.

Erik Kirschbaum and Julien Ponthus
Yahoo! News
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 13:11 UTC
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© Reuters/Yoan Valat/PoolFrench President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) meet in President's office prior to a dinner at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, December 18, 2013.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she would talk to French President Francois Hollande about building up a European communication network to avoid emails and other data passing through the United States.

Merkel, who visits France on Wednesday, has been pushing for greater data protection in Europe following reports last year about mass surveillance in Germany and elsewhere by the U.S. National Security Agency. Even Merkel's cell phone was reportedly monitored by American spies.

Merkel said in her weekly podcast that she disapproved of companies such as Google and Facebook basing their operations in countries with low levels of data protection while being active in countries such as Germany with high data protection.

"We'll talk with France about how we can maintain a high level of data protection," Merkel said.

"Above all, we'll talk about European providers that offer security for our citizens, so that one shouldn't have to send emails and other information across the Atlantic. Rather, one could build up a communication network inside Europe."

Hollande's office confirmed that the governments had been discussing the matter and said Paris agreed with Berlin's proposals.
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Bomb

Western terrorists' car bomb killed dozens outside mosque in southern Syria


The Guardian
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:51 UTC
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© APA still from video footage shows smouldering vehicles after an explosion outside a mosque in Yadouda, Syria.
Explosion in Yadouda after Friday prayers ignites nearby oil tanker, causing large fireball at mosque in Deraa province

A car bomb has exploded outside a mosque in southern Syria, killing dozens of people and filling clinics and hospitals with the wounded, anti-government activists have said.

The explosion in Yadouda, as worshippers were leaving after Friday prayers, charred nearby vehicles and damaged the white-domed mosque, according to video images posted by activists who are fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

The motive for the blast could not immediately be determined and activists provided varying death tolls ranging from 29 to 43. State-run TV confirmed the bombing but said only three people were killed.

Car bombs have frequently been used by Islamic extremists both against the government and against moderate rivals in the Sunni-led opposition movement. Government forces also have been known to use explosive-packed vehicles and the two sides frequently trade blame in attacks targeting mosques.

An activist in the nearby region of Quneitra, Jamal al-Golani, said the car bomb killed at least 29 people, of which 18 were identified. He gave the Associated Press a list of the names of the identified men who were killed.
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