Beit Shemesh ultra-Orthodox Jews clash with police

BBC News, 27 December 2011

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Disputes between ultra-Orthodox and secular
Jews have been becoming more frequent

Ultra-Orthodox Jews have clashed with police in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem.

One police officer was slightly hurt and a number of Orthodox Jews detained, say reports.

The town has become a focus of friction between secular Jews and ultra-Orthodox men demanding strict gender segregation and "modest" dress for women.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to end attempts to enforce segregation of the sexes.

The latest clashes came as police attempted to remove one of several signs in the town ordering segregation between the sexes.

Some 300 ultra-Orthodox residents pelted the police with stones and eggs, slightly injuring one officer, and rubbish bins were set on fire.

A television crew attempting to film in the town were also surrounded and harassed - the second alleged attack in two days on journalists.

On Sunday, a crew from Channel 2 news were attacked as they were filming, say reports, with rocks allegedly thrown at their van.

The alleged assault came days after Channel 2 aired a story about an eight-year-old American girl, Naama Margolese, who said she was afraid to walk to school because ultra-orthodox men shouted at her.

The broadcast has inflamed secular opinion, with activists planning to hold a rally in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday to counter what they say is intimidation by sections of the ultra-orthodox community. 

The case of Naama Margolese has shocked
many Israelis

Some ultra-Orthodox Jews will also reportedly be joining the rally in an effort to distance themselves from "extremists".

Unnamed ultra-Orthodox activists from Beit Shemesh issued a statement condemning the violence, but also accusing the media of initiating "deliberate provocations in order to make the peaceful, quiet and tolerant residents, who live their lives according to their beliefs, look bad".

Such clashes have become more frequent in Israel in recent years as the authorities have challenged efforts by ultra-Orthodox Jews to segregate women in public places.

Other recent points of contention include demands for separate seating areas for women on buses and a recent case of some soldiers who refused to remain at a performance by female singers.

Mr Netanyahu has ordered a crackdown on segregation, saying harassment and discrimination have no place in a liberal democracy.

Ultra-orthodox Jews make up 10% of the population in Israel. The community has a high birth rate and is growing rapidly.

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The ultra-Orthodox make up 10 percent of Israel’s population of 7.5 million,but are increasing rapidly amid a growing backlash to the privileges and subsidies long granted to the ultra-religious.
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)

Fukushima investigation reveals failings

Japanese government delayed giving information to the public, according to interim report into the disaster

guardian.co.uk, Associated Press in Tokyo, Monday 26 December 2011

A disturbing picture has emerged of bumbling workers and government
officials scrambling to respond to the disaster. Photograph: Ken
Shimizu/AFP/Getty Images

Japan's response to the nuclear crisis that followed the 11 March tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, a report has revealed.

The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was depicted in the report, detailing a government investigation.

The 507-page interim report, compiled by interviewing more than 400 people, including utility workers and government officials, found authorities had grossly underestimated tsunami risks, assuming the highest wave would be 6m (20ft). The tsunami hit at more than double that level.

The report criticised the use of the term soteigai, meaning outside our imagination, or unforseeable, which it said implied authorities were shirking responsibility for what had happened. It said by labelling the events as beyond what could have been expected, officials had invited public distrust.

"This accident has taught us an important lesson on how we must be ready for soteigai," it said.

The report, set to be finished by mid 2012, found workers at Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the utility that ran Fukushima Daiichi, were untrained to handle emergencies such as the power shutdown that struck when the tsunami destroyed backup generators setting off the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

There was no clear manual to follow, and the workers failed to communicate, not only with the government but also among themselves, it said.

Finding alternative ways to bring sorely needed water to the reactors was delayed for hours because of the mishandling of an emergency cooling system, the report said. Workers assumed the system was working, despite several warning signs it had failed and was sending the nuclear core into meltdown.

The report acknowledged that even if the system had kicked in properly, the tsunami damage may have been so great that meltdowns would have happened anyway.

But a better response might have reduced the core damage, radiation leaks and the hydrogen explosions that followed at two reactors and sent plumes of radiation into the air, according to the report.

The government dallied in relaying information to the public, such as using evasive language to avoid admitting serious meltdowns at the reactors, the report said.

The government also delayed disclosure of radiation data in the area, unnecessarily exposing entire towns to radiation when they could have evacuated, the report found.

The government recommended changes so utilities will respond properly to serious accidents.

It recommended separating the nuclear regulators from the unit that promotes atomic energy, echoing frequent criticism since the disaster, which left 20,000 people dead or missing.

Japan's nuclear regulators were in the same ministry that promotes the industry, but they will be moved to the environment ministry next year to ensure more independence.

The report acknowledged people were still living in fear of radiation in the air and water, as well as radiation in the food they eat. Thousands have been forced to evacuate and have suffered monetary damage from radiation contamination, it said.

"The nuclear disaster is far from over," the report said.

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Japan 'was unprepared' for nuclear disaster

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

DPRK welcomes visits from south to pay respects

English.news.cn   2011-12-23

             

PYONGYANG, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) welcomes visits of people from the Republic of Korea (ROK) to pay their respects on the passing of its late top leader Kim Jong Il, a DPRK website said Thursday.

The uriminzohkkiri.com website, run by the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, said the DPRK would accept southern delegations and individuals who wanted to pay their respects.

The authorities would open land and air routes and the visitors' convenience and safety would be guaranteed, it said.

The website also issued a commentary on the same day to accuse the South Korean government of blocking visits by its citizens.

This is "intolerable humiliation against the dignity of the DPRK" and "a rude breach of ethics", the commentary said.

The DPRK top leader passed away last Saturday at the age of 69 from a "great mental and physical strain" on the train during a field guidance tour, DPRK's official KCNA news agency reported on Monday.

Earlier this week, Seoul expressed condolences to the DPRK over the death but decided not to send an official delegation to the funeral.

Choi Boh-seon, spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, said in a briefing Wednesday that Seoul would allow civic groups and civilians to send messages of condolences via fax or mail to the DPRK.

Seoul also said it would allow former first lady Lee Hee-ho and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun to visit the DPRK to offer their personal condolences.

Editor: An

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North Korea says it will admit delegations from South

Seoul-based aid group North Korea Peace plans to launch 1,000 pairs
of socks every month (AFP, Jung Yeon-Je)

One pair of socks is thought to fetch about 22 pounds of corn --
enough to sustain a person for a month (AFP, Jung Yeon-Je)          

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators to fall, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“…..   Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

Ron Paul wins despite mainstream smear

RT.com, 23 December, 2011

United States, Boone : Ron Paul speaks at the town hall in the Erickson
 Public Library during a campaign stop on December 8, 2011 in Boone,
Iowa. (AFP Photo / Kevork Djansezian)

Herman Cain got secret service protection. Michele Bachmann has a big, fancy bus. Congressman Ron Paul isn’t like other Republicans, however. At least not like those who have chased the GOP’s bid for the 2012 election.

The road to the White House is a bumpy one but Rep. Ron Paul is okay with that. So are his supporters in Iowa, apparently, who have come to appreciate the could-be-president’s lack of fleer while dismissing the mainstream media’s smear campaign against the congressman.

To many, it isn’t the way the establishment — now terrified of Paul’s surge in the polls — portrays the candidate. It’s the way the congressman has stuck to his gut during his decades in public office.

"He's the only consistent conservative out there," J.C. Weiand, a law student who attended a Paul rally in Fort Madison, Iowa, tells the Associated Press. "For 30 years, he's been preaching the same message. Now his time has finally come."

Paul was pegged as a possibility for the Republican Party’s nomination since he launched his campaign, but only in recent weeks has his popularity finally propelled him to the top. While scandals cost Cain his campaign and Rick Perry’s poor public appearances have dragged him down in the polls after once being a frontrunner, Paul has only soared with support as of late.

The mainstream media has attempted to take down the libertarian-leaning Republican in recent days by unearthing antiquated messages penned under Paul’s name. The congressman has dismissed allegations that he was responsible for the questionable material, but that isn’t keeping the establishment from attacking him over it. Fed up with repeated questioning, Paul walked off the set of a CNN interview earlier this week. Even without the support of corporate news, however, Paul is still finding positive numbers thanks to his ability to approach topics from an angle that his party competition won’t dare dig into.

While other candidates have waged for increased military spending and weakening the Constitution to crush the civil liberties of Americans, Paul is trying to take the US out of foreign wars and reinstall freedom for every citizen. As America counties to be ripped by wars and the Pentagon is hemorrhaging money for the sake of executing civilians, Paul’s soft-spoken but solid ideas are finding an audience sick with the establishment.

To others, Paul is simply bridging a gap their neither the left nor right can cover on their own.

“I think the most important thing is the philosophy I’m talking about is the Constitution and freedom,” Paul said during a recent debate in Sioux City, Iowa, “and that brings people together. It brings independents into the fold and it brings Democrats over on some of these issues. So therefore I see this philosophy as being very electable because it’s an America philosophy.”

“Dr. Paul is surging in Iowa and New Hampshire because he is exactly what the voters have been looking for,” Paul spokesman Jesse Benton adds to ABC News. “He governs on principle. He is consistent and does not flip-flop. And he is the only candidate who will really cut the spending and balance the budget so we can get back on our feet and create jobs.”

“It's not impossible, but 2012 could be the year that there will be just two parties.The Ron Paul Republican Party and the Democrats,” Ron Paul supporter Robert Timsah writes in the Examiner on Friday, “The Democrats would feature, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. I call this the war party, and of course, Paul's being the anti-war party. “

If Timsah is right and it comes down to those two, Paul says he already knows the outcome there.

“The challenge isn’t all that great on how we’re going to beat Obama. I think he’s beating himself,” Paul said at the debate in Sioux City. “I think really the question is, what do we have to offer? And I have something different to offer. I emphasize civil liberties. I emphasize a pro-American foreign policy, which is a lot different than ‘Policemen of the World.’ I emphasize, you know, monetary policy and these things that the other candidates don’t talk about.”

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Indefinite detention and torture act arrives at White House

RT.com, 22 December, 2011

Anti torture activists dressed in the orange jumpsuits and black hoods
 that are now emblematic of the policies of torture and abuse that the
Obama administration (AFP Photo / Karen Bleier)

Legislation that will let President Obama and future leaders of America detain and torture Americans indefinitely has made it to the White House, where it is expected to be soon signed into law by the commander-in-chief.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, of NDAA FY2012, was overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate earlier this month. While the legislation indeed had its critics, the act was inexplicably missed by the mainstream media, who neglected to inform Americans of the dangerous blows to constitutional rights that will become a reality under the law.

The bill, which is annually updated to outline spending for the Department of Defense, contains several provisions for 2012 that will turn America, as Senator Lindsey Graham puts it, “into a battlefield.” As the US continues an open-ended war on terror, now American citizens suspected to be linked to terrorist enemies can be detained in prison indefinitely and subjected to torture tactics previously outlawed.

“What this legislation does,” lectured Senator Karl Levin earlier this month, “says from the Congress’ point-of-view, that we expressly authorize the indefinite detention” of someone deemed a threat. “We recognize the authority of this president and every other president to hold an enemy combatant indefinitely, whether they are captured home or abroad, because that only makes sense.”

“How long can you hold them? As long as it takes to make us safe,” said Graham.

The senator added that, “when you join the enemy…we aren’t worried about how we’re going to prosecute you right away.” Because of this, Miranda Rights should not be read to suspected criminals and additionally the right to an attorney is also suspended under the act.

Additionally, the president can send American-born detainees to foreign prisons and can at last legally take the offense and launch cyber wars against alleged enemy nations.

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Watchdog faults Ernst & Young on audits

Reuters, by Sarah N. Lynch, Thu Dec 22, 2011

(Reuters) - A 2010 inspection by the U.S. audit industry watchdog faulted accounting giant Ernst & Young for a range of audit issues, including not getting enough supporting evidence and problems with testing the fair value of financial instruments.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) watchdog released the inspection report publicly for the first time on Thursday. It encompassed a review of 62 audits performed by the firm in 2010, plus one audit in which Ernst & Young played a role, but did not serve as the lead auditor.

Of the 63 total audits reviewed, the PCAOB identified a variety of problems in 13 of them. That is up from a 2009 inspection report in which 58 audits were reviewed and only five deficiencies were found.

Under its rules, the PCAOB, in some circumstances, must delay for a year the public release of negative findings from an inspection report.

In a response accompanying the PCAOB's findings, Ernst & Young said that while it did "not agree with the specific characterization of the work we performed in all cases, on an overall basis we do agree with certain findings in the report and, where applicable, have taken actions to address such findings."

The PCAOB's report on Ernst & Young is the last to be released in a series of 2010 inspections of the Big Four audit firms.

At PricewaterhouseCoopers there were problems in 28 audits out of 76 audits reviewed.

For Deloitte & Touche, problems were found in 26 of the 58 audits reviewed.

KPMG had 12 problems with 54 audits reviewed.

The PCAOB was created in 2002 by the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance and accounting reform law.

In recent years, the audit watchdog has started taking a harder look at major accounting firms.

The PCAOB earlier this year imposed the longest-ever ban against a partner of a Big Four firm when it accused former Ernst & Young partner Peter O'Toole of faking audit documents.

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Nanette Byrnes in Chapel Hill, N.C.; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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Mexico Maya begin 2012 'end of era' countdown

BBC News, 21 December 2011

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Mayan priests in El Salvador have also
held ceremonies to mark the occasion

Indigenous Maya communities in southern Mexico have begun a year-long countdown to 21 December 2012, which will mark the end of a five-millenia cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar.

Some people have interpreted the prophesy as predicting the apocalypse.

But experts say it signifies the end of an era, not the end of the world.

Maya priests have been holding special religious ceremonies, and Mexican tourism officials are preparing for a surge in visitors to the region.

Mexico's tourism agency says it hopes to draw around 52 million visitors in 2012, with many heading to the Maya heartland in the southern states of Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Tabasco.

Powerful god

The Mayan civilisation, which reached its peak between 250 and 900AD, was fascinated by astronomy, mathematics and the cycles of time.

Its Long Count calendar began in 3114BC and moves forward in 394-year periods known as Baktuns.

The winter solstice in 2012 marks the end of the 13th Baktun, a date of special significance that reflects celestial alignments recognised by modern astronomers.

The idea that it could mean the end of the world - based on a Mayan text carved into a stone 1,300 years ago - has been spread on thousands of websites.

But archaeologists and Maya experts say the prophesy predicts the return to Earth of a powerful god and the start of a new era, not a global catastrophe.

They point out that other Maya prophesies refer to events far in the future.

This has not stopped the spread of millennial fears around the world.

Tourism officials are hoping that some of those who believe the end of the world is nigh will take the opportunity to visit the Maya region before it is too late.

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"Spiritual Logic" - Oct 15 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) 
(Subjects: Benevolent Design, Channelling, Holy scriptures, Higher self, (Old) Souls, Universes, Big Bang, Galaxy/Solar system build for life, Astronomy, Life on Earth tried to start 5 times/ 5th time life started, Large Animals/No Humans, Asteroid belt, 7 Sisters/100.000 year ago Pleiadian Brothers and Sisters seeded Humans on earth, DNA, Humans Ascensiont with PleiadianDNA, Lemuria (Hawaii), 21-12-2012, 26.000 years cycle, 1987 - Harmonic convergence (11:11), Shift of Human Consciousness, Gaia, The Humanization of God, 1991 Russia falls, 1994 started 36 years galactic window (Presession), Mid point on 21-12-2012, Lemuria (Hawaii) center of the Earth time,  Love (Mother & Child),  Religion, Higher self, Global Unity,..... etc.) - New !

"What's Going to Happen?" - Oct 19 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) 
(Subjects: The Humanization of God,  Re-calibration, Shift of Human Consciousness, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), (Old) Souls, 21-12-2012, Gaia, Hawaii (Lemuria), All Dictators to fall, Old Politics, Old and New energy, Higher self, 1 - No fear, 2 - Compassion, 3 - Change Attitude (Expect positive outcome), 4 - Believe the Truth of DNA/Akashic records, 11:11, Master Christ, Reincarnation, Global Unity,..... etc.) - New !

Quantum Living begins 2012 – 30 Oct 2011 (a message from Kuthumi channeled by Lynette Leckie-Clark)

The Nation of Humanity - 13 Sep 2011 (Channelled message from Metatron by Tyberonn in the United Nations building)