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Not hip: Saudi Arabia prohibits taking selfies, photos & videos at Islam's two holiest mosques - reports


RT
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 18:43 UTC
Selfies
© Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters
The Hajj just became a bit less hip: Saudi Arabia has banned pilgrims from taking selfies at Islam's two holiest mosques, effective immediately, according to Indonesian media.

According to the Jakarta Post, visitors to Mecca's Masjid al-Haram, known as the Great Mosque of Mecca, and Medina's Masjid an-Nabawi, or 'The Prophet's Mosque,' will be prohibited from taking photographs or videos at the two holy sites.

Saudi authorities stated that the ban will prevent unnecessary disturbances for those who wish to worship without distractions.

While pilgrims may now be deprived of photographic mementos, security guards at the two holy sites have traditionally always been hostile toward people taking photos, the Jakarta Post noted.
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Info

The Mafia is as powerful as ever despite years of anti-mafia legislation

Fanny Carrier
Digital Journal
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 19:17 UTC
Toto Riina
© Alessandro Fucarini, AFP/FileMafia boss Toto Riina, seen here in a picture taken in 1993, has been buried in the Sicilian town of Corleone, near Palermo.
A week after the death of Cosa Nostra boss Toto Riina, key figures in Italy's judiciary and police have warned the mafia's tentacles are extending into the virtual world.

Gangrenous and omnipresent in the south, the country's various criminal networks are as powerful as ever and are also developing in the wealthier, industrialised north, a major conference on the fight against organised crime was told.

"The mafia has not won, but it has not lost either," Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said in the keynote speech.

The two-day gathering, which concluded Friday, was the culmination of a year of research and reflection involving more than 220 experts.

"For years we have had the most extensive anti-mafia legislation in place, we have been mounting operations non-stop for 25 years, how is it possible that the mafias can still be so powerful?" asked Franco Roberti, who was the national anti-mafia prosecutor until last week.

Thousands of mobsters are behind bars and more than 30 billion euros ($35 billion) of ill-gotten assets have been seized in the last two decades.

Yet still the clan and family-based networks of 'Ndrangheta (based in Calabria in Italy's deep south), the Camorra (in and around Naples), Cosa Nostra (Sicily) and the lesser-known Sacra Corona Unita (Puglia), continue to flourish, at home and abroad.

"They accumulate money in incredible proportions, and this cash ends up in our economy, in companies, in activities that are often run by honest and respectable people," said Roberti's successor, Federico Cafiero De Raho.
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No Entry

Berlin tourist destination a no-go area, 6,000 arrests this year

Stan M
Voice of Europe
Wed, 22 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Alexanderplatz
© alamyAlexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz (Alexander Square) was once a vibrant tourist attraction visited yearly by thousands of people; now, however, it has become a crime ridden hive it would be smart to avoid.

On average there are more than 18 crimes per day at Alexanderplatz. The number of crimes for the first ten months of 2017 totalled 5,631. Despite an increased police presence theft and assaults, as well as drug crimes, have all gone up. It has officially been classified as the most crime ridden area in all of Germany.

Just this weekend 61 people were arrested there; multiple cases of underage drinking and one sexual assault had occurred. The police are now allowed to check for ID without suspicion of a crime.

Especially on the weekends, Alexanderplatz has become synonymous as a haunt of migrants and as an area where drug dealing is rife. Knife attacks and mass brawls, once a rarity, are now almost a daily occurrence.
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Handcuffs

Kiss of death: Oregon woman sentenced for killing jailed boyfriend by passing him a mouthful of meth


Kansas City Star
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 15:34 UTC
oregon state penitentiary
© Statesman-Journal / AP / Danielle PetersonOregon State Penitentiary, in Salem, Ore. An Oregon woman was sentenced to two years in federal prison in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, on a drug conspiracy charge after her inmate boyfriend died from a meth-laden kiss at the Oregon State Penitentiary after a prison visit in 2016.
An Oregon woman whose inmate boyfriend died from a meth-laden kiss after a prison visit was sentenced to two years behind bars Tuesday on a drug conspiracy charge.

Melissa Ann Blair and Anthony Powell shared a long kiss at the end of a visit last year at the Oregon State Penitentiary and she passed seven tiny balloons filled with methamphetamine into his mouth. Two of the balloons ruptured in Powell's stomach a short time later and he died of methamphetamine toxicity, prosecutors have said.

U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez said Blair's actions were part of a scheme devised by Powell and others to get drugs inside the prison. There was a dispute as to whether Blair participated of her own free will, but Powell shared responsibility for his own death, Hernandez said.

"It was tragic and sad but he shares responsibility for what happened," the judge said.
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Attention

Poll: Almost half of white Americans living in the South feel like they're under attack

Matt Vespa
Townhall
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 02:55 UTC
blue collar labor, construction workers
This is something that fell on the backburner, but a bit interesting. A poll showed that a significant amount of white southerners feel they're under attack. I can see how. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the fact remains that Confederate statues, the flag, etc. are all cornerstones of southern culture. It's part of American history as well. Not one of our best moments, but a part of it nonetheless. Here's the breakdown of the survey (via The Hill):
Nearly half of white American poll respondents living in the South feel like they're under attack, a new Winthrop University poll found.

Forty-six percent of white Southerners polled said they agree or strongly agree that white people are under attack in the U.S. More than three-fourths of black respondents said they believe racial minorities are under attack.

And 30 percent of all respondents in the poll agreed when asked if America needs to protect and preserve its white European heritage. More than half of respondents disagreed with the statement.

Forty percent of respondents said they believed that Confederate statues should remain as is, while nearly a quarter said a plaque should be added to contextualize the statue.
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USA

Native Americans hold 'National Day of Mourning' Thanksgiving protest at Plymouth Rock


telesur
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 17:03 UTC
thanksgiving protest
© Yoon S. Byun/Globe StaffJuan Gonzalez of Boston kindled a fire under the statue of Massasoit in a prayer ritual during the 41st National Day of Mourning in Plymouth in 2010.
"As Indigenous people, we've been taught by our elders to give thanks every day. We are a people who have survived genocide," said rally organizers from UAINE.

Hundreds of Native American people and their supporters have gathered in Massachusetts for a "National Day of Mourning" at Plymouth Rock.

"Indigenous people give thanks all the time. We're not against giving thanks, and we're not against people having meals with their families," said Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of United American Indians of New England, the organization behind the annual event.

Since 1970, the site has served as a platform to bring awareness to Native American struggles as well as a day of remembrance dedicated to the culture, family, and history of Indigenous communities in the United States.

"As Indigenous people, we've been taught by our elders to give thanks every day. We are a people who have survived genocide," Monroe said.
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No Entry

Oxford Circus tube station evacuated after reports of gunfire [Update]


RT
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 18:39 UTC
oxford circus
© Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Oxford Circus Underground station and London's major shopping district Oxford Street were evacuated and armed officers called to the scene on Friday night amid reports of gun shots. The Metropolitan Police said there was no evidence of an attack.

The operation was stood down just after 6pm local time. "If you sought shelter in a building please now leave and follow the direction of police officers on the ground if you need assistance," the Metropolitan Police said.

"At 16:38hrs on Friday, 24 November police started to receive numerous 999 calls within a short space of time reporting shots fired in a number of locations on Oxford Street and at Oxford Circus underground station. Given the nature of the information received, the Met responded in line with our existing operation as if the incident was terrorism, including the deployment of armed officers," it said in a statement.

"Officers working with colleagues from British Transport Police carried out an urgent search of the area. No causalities, evidence of any shots fired or any suspects were located by police. Some cordons remain in place and additional officers remain on duty in the West End to reassure the public. We thank the public for their patience and assistance during our response," it added.

Comment: Apparently, a fight between two men initiated the panic:
An altercation between two men appears to have triggered the outbreak of mass panic in London on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, leading to people fleeing in fear, armed police being deployed and a section of the West End being evacuated.

British Transport Police issued a CCTV appeal for information about two men believed to be involved in a fight in Oxford Circus tube station on Friday afternoon as part of their inquiries into the cause of the panic.

Nine people were injured as hundreds ran to escape what they believed to be an attack on Friday evening, only to find it was a false alarm. The reaction was a sign of just how jittery many have become at the end of a year in which the capital and Manchester have been targeted by five terrorist attacks.


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Bullseye

Christian college teacher sacked after telling administration he's gay

Harley Tamplin
Metro
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 16:48 UTC
Craig Campbell
© FacebookCraig Campbell was dismissed when he told school bosses about his sexuality.
A teacher has been sacked by his school in Australia after bosses found out that he was gay.

Craig Campbell was removed from South Coast Baptist College's list of supply teachers after telling his bosses at the Western Australia school that he had a boyfriend.

Des Mitchell, the school's principal, told local TV channel 7 News Perth: 'At present, for us, we choose not to employ someone who's openly gay.' Mr Mitchell told the West Australian: 'I shared with him that, at present, there is an inconsistency with his beliefs on sexuality and the college's beliefs.'

The sacking has prompted calls to remove private schools' legal right to discriminate against gay members of staff in the region.
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Ambulance

Venezuela: Malaria outbreak spreads in the midst of drug shortage and unsanitary conditions

Maria Ramirez
Yahoo News
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:42 UTC
venezuelan clinic
© REUTERS/William UrdanetaPeople gather outside a health center as they wait to get treatment for malaria, in San Felix, Venezuela November 3, 2017.
On a recent morning in Venezuela's southern jungle state of Bolivar, Amanda Santamaria, her two sons, one daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter lined up in front of a shabby community health center in the hope of receiving treatment for malaria.

All five of them are afflicted by the mosquito-borne disease, which is rapidly spreading through Venezuela as an economic meltdown strips the country of medicine and doctors.

"We don't know if this is a curse, but the entire area is awash in malaria," said Santamaria, 56, suffering her second bout of the illness in the last three months and relying on palliative herbal teas because she has not found regular drugs.

The family was waiting with some 500 others under the scorching sun in the hope of receiving treatment.

Unsanitary conditions in Bolivar are thought to have led to a recent flare-up in malaria, a life-threatening disease that had been largely brought under control in Venezuela in the 1990s.
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Chart Pie

Seattle judge nixes income tax on the wealthy

Barnini Chakraborty
Fox News
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:26 UTC
monopoly game
Seattle's controversial tax on the wealthy failed its first legal test this week after a judge ruled the new ordinance violates state law - but the city isn't backing down and vows to appeal, setting the stage for a Washington State Supreme Court showdown.

King County Superior Court Judge John Ruhl ruled in a Wednesday that Seattle did not have the authority to impose the tax because state law prohibits tax on net income.

City Attorney Pete Holmes called the decision "disappointing" but, in a joint statement with Seattle Mayor Tim Burgess, said their goal to eliminate the state's "over-reliance on regressive sales taxes" would continue.

"We are also living in a time of extreme income inequality that corrodes our social compact and causes many to wonder whether wealthy individuals are paying their fair share," they said.

Opponents of the tax immediately hailed the ruling as proof Seattle officials knew the tax was legally flawed but still pushed it through.
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