909th day of the Tens

British exam board condemned by Jewish community for asking pupils to ‘justify’ anti-Semitism

One of Britain’s leading exam boards became engulfed in accusations of anti-Semitism, over a national exam paper which asked pupils to ‘justify’ prejudices against Jews.

The AQA board had set the question, as part of a religious studies GCSE examination for 16-year-old British pupils, which asked pupils to “explain, briefly, why some people are prejudiced against Jews.”

Board of Deputies chief executive Jon Benjamin lead the public outcry of the board’s reasoning for including the question in an exam distributed to leading Jewish schools such as Jewish Free School (JFS). The cross-communal Jewish representative body described it as “unacceptable” and “nothing to do with Jews or Judaism.”

“We will be taking it up with the examination board and it seems to me that it is also something to raise with the Department of Education, with which we are meeting to discuss anti-Semitism in schools,” added Mssr. Benjamin.

In a separate statement, Education Secretary Michael Gove joined critics of the exam board in saying: “To suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre.”

Mssr. Gove continued to say that it was “the duty of politicians to fight prejudice, and with anti-Semitism on the rise we need to be especially vigilant.”

A spokesperson for the AQA board expressed “concern” that the question had offended the Jewish community and insisted that whilst it acknowledges that “some people hold prejudices; it does not imply in any way that prejudice is justified.”

The spokesperson added that the question, which formed part of a paper focusing on Judaism, required students to use “the Holocaust to illustrate prejudice based on irrational fear, ignorance and scapegoating.”

Exam regulator Ofqual confirmed it had contacted AQA for comment on the controversial test, adding: “We will take appropriate follow-up action if necessary.”

SOURCE: { http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/uk/58393 }

904th day of the Tens

Israeli Air Force Targets Terrorist Rocket Squad in the Gaza Strip

Today, Israeli Air Forces aircraft targeted a terrorist squad during preparations to fire a rocket at Israel from the central Gaza Strip. Authorities identified a hit.

During the past week over 130 rockets hit Israel.

The Israeli Defence Force {IDF} shall not tolerate any attempt by terrorist groups to target Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, The IDF Blog says, and shall continue to operate against those who use terror against the State of Israel.  The Hamas terror organization assumes sole responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.

SOURCE: { http://www.idfblog.com/2012/06/22/iaf-targets-terrorist-rocket-squad-in-the-gaza-strip-2/ }

Comment: What does Alistair Burt plan to do about this issue, other than offer lip service to a public apathetic towards Alistair Burt?  The British Mandate along with The French Mandate assume full responsibility for the creation of the borders that threaten both Israeli and Palestinian independence; so, shouldn’t Hamas bomb British and French territories?

876th day of the Tens

France to withdraw all combat forces from Afghanistan this year

 

All French combat forces shall pull out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, France's new president said in Kabul today.

Some trainers shall remain to help Afghanistan's security forces.

Francois Hollande said that France's troops have carried out their mission in Afghanistan and that they can leave; an early pullout, co-ordinated with the United States and other allies.

“There will be no combat troops” after the end of the year, Mssr. Hollande said during a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Mssr. Hollande flew to Afghanistan to meet troops and to discuss plans with Mr Karzai to withdraw combat troops more than a year earlier than scheduled.

Security reasons prevent the announcement of his visit ahead of time and he expects to depart shortly after the news conference.

Mssr. Hollande said that France shall pull its 2,000 combat troops, out of a total of 3,300, out by the end of the year.

Some would stay behind to help send military equipment back to France, and others would help train the Afghan army and police. He did not provide a breakdown for the roles of the 1,300 soldiers who shall remain past 2012 or how long they would stay.

The discussion of continued cooperation between Hollande and Karzai took place “because there will continue to be trainers who will work with (Afghan) soldiers and police.”

France signs an agreement with Afghanistan that calls for co-operation after 2014.

During an earlier meeting with French troops at a base in the Nijrab district of the eastern Kapisa province, Hollande said “several reasons justify this decision to withdraw our combat troops from Afghanistan.”

“The time for Afghan sovereignty has come,” he said. “The terrorist threat that targeted our territory, while it hasn't totally disappeared, is in part lessened.”

His predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, had pledged to withdraw all troops by the end of 2013 but Mr Hollande, elected president this month, made a more immediate pullout a pillar of his campaign.

SOURCE: { http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/20537240/ : on 25/05/2012 12:13:36 }

IMG SRC: { http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2012/05/21/276181.jpg }

759th day of the Tens

The Anti-Defamation League Commends The European Union's Sanctions Against Iran

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) commends the European Union for adopting a ban on imports of Iranian oil and imposing other economic sanctions, including restrictions on transactions with Iran's Central Bank, in response to the country's continuing nuclear weapons program.

“The latest E.U. sanctions demonstrate strong leadership and a determination to take meaningful steps against Iran,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “These restrictions will not only economically impact Iran, but also signal that oil embargoes are not hypothetical threats and are not limited to the U.S.. When combined with the recent U.S. sanctions on foreign companies dealing with Iran's Central Bank, the regime's clearinghouse for oil transactions, the targeting of Iran's oil has moved from plan to action.”

In a letter to Catherine Ashton, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the ADL praised the E.U. for setting an example that will hopefully inspire other major purchasers of Iranian oil to act responsibly by contributing to the campaign against Iranian nuclear weapons.

The schedule for the oil embargo's enforcement begins on July 1.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/6225_62.htm

New York, NY, January 23, 2011 �

754th day of the Tens

Could A New Type Of Paint Generate Electricity?

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame, led by Prashant V. Kamat, develops a semi-conductive paint that turns surfaces of application into solar cells.
The U.S. Patent office describes the solar paint as “nanomaterial scaffolds for electron transport.”
Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT's) create scaffold architecture, which allows electrons to move efficiently.
Titanium dioxide and either cadmium sulfide or cadmium senenide coats nanoparticles. When suspended in a water and alcohol mixture the particles then form a paste.
SWCNT's share special properties that can boost the solar paint’s photoconversion efficiency:
“The unique electrical and electronic properties, wide electrochemical stability window, and high surface area render SWCNT's beneficial as a scaffold to anchor light harvesting assemblies. In accordance with an embodiment, the electron accepting ability of semiconducting SWCNT's thus offers an opportunity to facilitate electron transport and thus increase the photoconversion efficiency of nanostructure semiconductor based solar cells,” said Kamat.
This points to clear possibilities surrounding an inexpensive and efficient solar paint. The generation of electricity could come from the application of the paint onto everyday surfaces like fences and homes. This product could serve as a huge breakthrough for renewable energy production.



SOURCE:



{1}. http://www.solarfeeds.com/futurewatch-solar-paint/

753rd day of the Tens

London's Big Ben Leans

The landmark clock tower containing Big Ben at Britain's Palace of Westminster starts to tilt. Media reports last week said the mother of all parliaments began its slippy slope toward the River Thames, raising fears over its future.

The House of Commons Commission met last week to discuss the responsibility for the upkeep of the 19th century neo-Gothic parliamentary estate, so popular with tourist photographers.
Media reports said the commission would discuss a surveyor's report which could recommend lawmakers move out for repairs costing up to one billion pounds. The Daily Telegraph said another proposal might mean selling the maintenance to Russian or Chinese developers for about 500 million pounds (£779.7 million).
But a commission spokesman said that no surveyor's report took place, and members met only to discuss setting up a group to look at general long-term renovation of the grade 1-listed building designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin.
“I think there's been twos and twos added together and {what they've} come up with {is that } we are selling to the Russians, but they won't be talking about anything like that,” the spokesman said.
The 96-metre tall clock tower, which houses the bell originally nicknamed Big Ben, leans about 46 cm to the left of its peak.
A construction expert, who worked on the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy and a multi-storey carpark under the houses of parliament in central London, said that people should not worry as it would take 10,000 years for the building to reach an angle of concern.
Professor John Burland of Imperial College London also said work on the underground Jubilee train line in the 1990s did not cause dramatic movement, while a spokesman for the commission said the tilt could come from the origin of its construction in 1859.
The lean, slightly visible to the naked eye, “had been there for years,” Burland said.
“When I first started work on the car park it was obvious that it was leaning,” he told BBC radio.
“It was probably developed at a very early stage because there's no cracking in the cladding and we think it probably leant while they were building it and before they put the cladding on,
“That was a long time ago and buildings do lean a little bit,” he said.
He also dismissed concern in the media that parliament should also slip into the Thames, while the commission's spokesman denied the walls around the palace suffer from a particularly bad subsidence problem causing Big Ben to lean.
The current building, built after its medieval predecessor, which houses the upper and lower chambers as well as the offices of some lawmakers, got largely destroyed by fire in 1834 and requires constant maintenance.
“There's no such thing as an old building that isn't cracked,” Burland maintained.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-britain-parliament-leaning-idUSTRE80M1IK20120123?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FoddlyEnoughNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Oddly+Enough%29

NB. Should House of Commons Commission sell maintenance of Big Ben to Russian or Chinese developers?

751st day of the Tens

U.S. Anti-Piracy Votes Delayed After Protests

Yielding to strong opposition from the high-tech community, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives leaders said on Friday they shall put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said he must postpone a test vote set for Tuesday "in light of recent events." Those events included a petition drive by Google that attracted more than seven million participants and a one-day blackout by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith, a Republican, quickly followed suit, saying consideration of a similar House bill would remain postponed "until there is wider agreement on a solution."
The Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act and the House's Stop Online Piracy Act receive strong support from the entertainment industry and other businesses that lose billions of dollars annually to intellectual property theft and online sales of counterfeit products.
But they also face strong opposition from Internet-related companies that argue the bill would lead to over-regulation and censorship of the Internet.
Reid met with at least a half-dozen senators who sponsor the bill and announce that they now oppose it.

Piracy costs billions

Reid said counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars every year and "there is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved." Reid said he felt optimistic about reaching a compromise in the coming weeks.
The main Senate sponsor, Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, said he respected Reid's decision to postpone the vote but lamented the Senate's unwillingness to debate the bill.
"The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem," said Leahy. Criminals in China, Russia and other countries "who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided" that debating the bill proved worthless.
The two bills would allow the Justice Department, and copyright holders, to seek court orders against foreign websites accused of copyright infringement. They would bar online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as credit card companies from doing business with an alleged violator. They also would forbid search engines from linking to such sites.
The Tuesday vote centered around whether to move the legislation to the Senate floor for debate. A statement made on Thursday, by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, stated it too early to consider the bill. Alongside the recent desertions it appeared supporters lacked the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
McConnell on Friday applauded Reid's decision, saying it would "prevent a counterproductive rush toward flawed legislation."

Opponents relieved

In the House, Smith said he "heard from the critics" and resolved that " … we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products." Smith plans to hold further committee votes on his bill next month.
The bill's opponents felt relieved for the delay.
Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, commended Congress for "recognizing the serious collateral damage this bill could inflict on the Internet."
The group represents Internet and technology companies including Google, Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Erickson said they would work with Congress "to address the problem of piracy without compromising innovation and free expression."
Republican representative Darrell Issa, who joins Democratic senator Ron Wyden in proposing an alternative anti-piracy bill, credits opponents with forcing lawmakers "to back away from an effort to ram through controversial legislation."
But the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, former Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, warned that, "as a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves."
The MPAA, which represents such companies as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., leads the advocacy for the anti-piracy legislation.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/01/20/anti-piracy-vote-delay.html?cmp=rss