Catholics and Obama

 
On Monday, 43 Roman Catholic organizations filed lawsuits in a dozen different federal courts, challenging the Obama administration’s mandate requiring insurance coverage for “preventive health services” inimical to their faith. The litigation represents the latest stage of a battle that began January 20th, when the administration announced that the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would require Catholic institutions and individual Catholic employers to provide contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs to all of their employees. The Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services Departments are being sued by Jones Day, a law firm representing all the plaintiffs pro bono. “We have tried negotiations with the administration and legislation with the Congress — and we’ll keep at it — but there’s still no fix,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan in a statement.

Cardinal Dolan further illuminated the Church’s position on “CBS This Morning” yesterday. “They tell us if you’re really going be considered a church, if you’re going to be really exempt from these demands of the government, well, you have to propagate your Catholic faith and everything you do, you can serve only Catholics and employ only Catholics,” Dolan said. ”We’re like, wait a minute, when did the government get in the business of defining for us the extent of our ministry?”

Perhaps the best answer to that question would be Friday, February 10th, when the administration claimed they would “accommodate” Catholic concerns with a “compromise,” whereby insurance providers would provide coverage for the disputed services. It was initially well received by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who called it “a first step in the right direction.” Twenty-four hours later the compromise was rejected. “In the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer’s plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns,” the Bishops decided. Read More

Street lights 'changing ecology on the ground'

Scientists trapped nearly 1,200 of the animals in areas under and between street lights in Helston in Cornwall.
They report in Biology Letters that invertebrate predators and scavengers were more common near the lights, even during the day.

That suggests street lights influence ecology more than previously thought.
Much work in recent years has gone into addressing the effects that street lights can have on local, transient populations of bugs - particularly those that can fly and have significant ranges of exploration.

But the effects of street lights on the vast communities of invertebrates on the ground remained unaddressed.
Thomas Davies of the University of Exeter and his colleagues set 28 traps in Helston, some just under street lights, and some in dark regions midway between them, over a three-night period.

The team found in general that a higher number of animals were trapped near the lights.
But the relative proportions of scavengers such as beetles and predators such as harvestmen and wolf spiders were significantly different, with a higher proportion being found near the lights - even during the day.
"This study now seems to be indicating that those transient, nocturnal effects on the behaviour of the animals are actually being translated into the habitat preferences of the animals in the daytime as well," Dr Davies said.

"It's amazing how long we've been using street lighting and artificial lighting, and how little research has been done on the impact of those lights on the environment," he told BBC News.

Dr Davies stressed that the study was small and its findings preliminary, but that it invited future study into much wider-ranging environmental effects.

"Invertebrates in the UK at least are undergoing a bit of a biodiversity crisis and have been for some time now, and they're very important for a number of ecosystem syervices such as pollination and the breakdown of organic matter," he explained.

"So the impact of street lights on invertebrate communities could be very, very important, could be problematic, but we simply don't know at the moment - we need to do the research." see source

Iran nuclear talks open in Baghdad

 

The talks are being held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, at Iran's request.

They come a day after the UN's nuclear watchdog held talks with Iran to try to gain better access to the regime's nuclear installations.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says any efforts by Western powers to put pressure on Iran at the talks would be "futile". 

But he told a news conference in Tehran on Wednesday that there were reasons to be optimistic about the negotiations. 

"The ideas fielded to us speak of the fact that the other side would like to make Baghdad a success. We hope that in a day or two we can bring good news." 

Tehran insists its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes, but the West fears Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany are seeking to persuade Iranian officials to scale back their nuclear programme.

Security is tight, with about 15,000 Iraqi police and troops protecting the venue inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Previous talks in Istanbul in mid-April managed to find enough common ground to arrange a further meeting in Baghdad.

Correspondents say Wednesday's talks will put these renewed efforts to the test.

A senior Western official quoted by Reuters said that the six - led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton - would make Iran "a detailed proposal that will include confidence-building measures".

However, no details were given on what those measures might be.

Analysts say the main goal of the six powers will probably be an Iranian agreement to shut down the higher-grade uranium enrichment programme that it launched in 2010.

Sanctions

Iran has since expanded the enrichment process at an underground plant at Fordo, outside the northern city of Qom. Read More

Egyptians vote in landmark presidential election

Fifty million people are eligible to vote, and large queues have formed at some polling stations.
The military council which assumed presidential power in February 2011 has promised a fair vote and civilian rule.

The election pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against Mubarak-era ministers.
But the BBC's Wyre Davies, in the second city of Alexandria, says that for many people the election is not about religious dogma or party politics, but about who can put food on the table.
The frontrunners are:

• Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force and briefly prime minister during February 2011 protests
• Amr Moussa, who has served as foreign minister and head of the Arab League
• Mohammed Mursi, who heads Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
• Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate

Until a new constitution is approved it is unclear what powers the president will have, prompting fears of friction with a military which seems determined to retain its powerful position.

'Free choice'

Voting began at 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT), with queues observed at many Cairo polling stations.
BBC correspondents say the atmosphere is calm, with people waiting patiently for their turn.
There have been no reports of violence on the day, although a police sergeant died after being shot during clashes between rival supporters in Rawdh al-Faraj on Tuesday evening, officials said.
"It's a very big day," one woman told the BBC. "This is a real great moment for the Egyptians to change."
Another, when asked how long she had been waiting to vote, replied, with a laugh: "Thirty years."
One man said it was most important for the new president to have his own programme.
"Actually he has to be in the revolution, or he has to be a strong part in the revolution. This is something which is not negotiable," he said. Read More

Spain striker David Villa to miss Euro 2012

 Villa, 30, fractured his tibia in December and told national coach Vicente del Bosque on Tuesday he will not be fit for the tournament.

He tweeted  : "I've tried, but I can't be 100% to play the Eurocup. I called Del Bosque. It's the honest thing.

"Thanks to all of you for your support. I'll continue working to return as soon as possible with Barca and Spain."

Del Bosque, who names his final squad for the tournament on Sunday, had promised he would give Villa as long as possible to return to fitness.

A a statement from the Spanish FA said:  "Villa spoke with the national team coach this afternoon [Tuesday], after the team arrived in Schruns, Austria (for a pre-tournament training camp).

"After not getting in the final practice and development desired, David Villa spoke with Del Bosque, who relayed that although it was Villa's wish to be with the team in Poland and Ukraine, that his physical state was 'not as good' as would be desirable."

Villa is Spain's record goalscorer with 51 goals in 82 games.
Spain are also likely to be without veteran defender Carles Puyol, who is struggling with a knee injury, as they seek to defend the title they won in Vienna in 2008.

Spain won all eight of their qualifiers for Euro 2012 and are in Group C for the finals along with Italy, against whom they play their opening game on June 10, Republic of Ireland and Croatia. Read More

Lockerbie: Did someone else bomb Pan Am 103?

Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person convicted in connection with the Lockerbie airline bombing that killed 259 people on board Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 on the ground, went to his grave protesting his innocence.

And there are others who believe that Megrahi, who died on Sunday from cancer, was not responsible for bringing down the jet over Scotland in 1988, including some of the victims' families.

Why does the tragedy continue to raise questions? CNN examines the issues.

Why was al Megrahi convicted?

After a nine-month trial that concluded in January 2001, a Scottish court based in a former U.S. base at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, convicted al Megrahi of the murders and he was sentenced to life in prison with the condition that he serve at least 27 years before being eligible for parole. Scotland does not have the death penalty.

The trial followed years of negotiation with Libya, after British and American investigators indicted two men for the crime in 1991.

The U.S. and UK blamed both al Megrahi, who was once security chief for Libyan Arab Airlines, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah -- accusing them both of being Libyan intelligence agents.

Libya eventually handed over both men to the United Nations in 1999 and later paid $2.7 billion to victims' families. Sanctions against Moammar Gadhafi's regime were lifted on the same day the men were taken into custody.

At al Megrahi's trial, prosecutors said he placed a bomb in a Toshiba cassette recorder and hid it in suitcase on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany. The bag was believed to have been transferred to a Pan Am flight that went first to London Heathrow and then to Flight 103 to New York.

The prosecution maintained that al Megrahi, who worked at the Malta airport, had been seen buying clothes, fragments of which were found in the suitcase that contained the bomb.

Al Megrahi was found guilty but Fhimah was acquitted.

Many of the victim's families believe the right man was convicted and expressed a mixture of relief on hearing of al Megrahi's death and anger that he had been released from his sentence.

Susan Cohen, whose daughter was among the 189 Americans killed, said: "He was a mass murderer. I feel no pity."

Why was he released early?

In August 2009, eight years after al Megrahi's conviction, there was uproar when Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced that he would be released from prison on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

His release -- and the celebrations that greeted him on his return to Libya -- sparked condemnation from the United States, and from some victims' families.

Despite being given just a few months to live, he survived for more than two years, sparking anger against the Scottish authorities and accusations in the British press that a deal had been struck with Libya. A group of U.S. senators then attempted to investigate rumors that the Lockerbie bomber was released as part of a deal to allow BP to drill for oil off the coast of Libya.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister David Cameron reiterated his belief that al Megrahi should never have been released from prison.

But Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said al Megrahi's death put to rest "some of the conspiracy theories which have attempted to suggest that his illness was somehow manufactured."

Why is al Megrahi's guilt questioned?

In an interview with Reuters in 2011 al Megrahi vowed that "new facts" would come to light. He always maintained his innocence.

After al Megrahi lodged an appeal whilst still in prison, the evidence was reviewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. New evidence uncovered during the investigation and other evidence not submitted at al Megrahi's original trial led the review commission to state that he "may have suffered a miscarriage of justice." Read More

Mali protesters storm palace, beat interim president

Dioncounda Traore, Mali's interim president, was beaten and rushed to a hospital after hundreds of protesters demanding his resignation stormed the presidential palace Monday.

Traore was assaulted and hit over the head when protesters found him inside the palace. The president was later taken to the hospital where he was treated for a wound to his head, hospital staff said.

"There were three dead and some injured by gunshot when [Traore's] security shot at people," said Bakary Mariko, a spokesman for the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy, a group of military officers who mounted a coup in March.

Protests were expected after the Economic Community of West African States, which has tried to broker a return to civilian rule after the coup, agreed to let Traore remain in charge for a year to oversee the transition. And ECOWAS has warned that followers of Capt. Amadou Sanogo, who led the revolt that deposed President Amadou Toumani Toure, were threatening to derail the agreement. 

Traore's term as interim president had been set to expire on Tuesday. Groups denouncing him gathered Monday morning in the Place de l'Independence, in the center of Mali's capital, Bamako.

Traore "is not staying as president of Mali," said Youssouf Kone, the leader of several groups demanding the interim president's resignation.

"We will stay until Traore agrees to step down," he added. "We're going to make this the Tahrir Square," referencing the 2011 protests in Egypt.

Just before 11 a.m. (7 a.m. ET), a group of protesters parted and moved up the hill in direction of the presidential palace. Read More

Alive or Dead???????

NEW ZEALAND – PBS reported that the rapper Tupac Shakur was sighted in New Zealand this weekend.

PBS is reporting that Tupac Shakur was sighted and photographed having drinks at a bar in Auckland, New Zealand. Soon thereafter the internet was ablaze with speculation if this was real and Tupac was really alive.

Tupac Shakur was allegedly gunned down September 7th 1996 after leaving a boxing match. However reporters have discovered that Tupac actually survived the shooting, but he and record label executives paid off medical examiners to claim he had died. His apparent death allowed him to escape his assailants and his constant legal battles.

Since then Tupac had lived in hiding under an assumed name in rural Pennsylvania. Weekly World News reporters tracked down the beloved rap star to his new home.

With regards to going into hiding he said, “At first it was life or death. I’d just been shot at and I knew it wasn’t going to stop. Once I was out of the game, a fresh start looked too good. All the baggage from the old life, I could let it go and walk away.”

Since then, “I mostly keep my head low. Don’t draw attention. Staying out of trouble.”

When asked about how he spends his time, he said, “Ya know, same old same old. Shop at the Farmer’s Market. Keep my bees, get some honey. Flirt with the girls at Dairy Queen. Nothin’ big.”

For creative exploits, Tupac says, “I like to knit.” His house was covered with hand knit pieces celebrating his former celebrity and sweaters with ‘Thug Life’ stitched on them. Above the couch was a large tapestry depicting a scene from his California Love video. He went on: “I do a lot of writing. Jewel’s book of poetry, that was mine. I also ghost wrote the screenplay for ‘The Lake House’.”

Tupac said he has no plans to return to the public eye. “I’m a keep it straight chillin’ here. Keep them bees, work the strawberry patch. End of the day, play on with some World of Warcraft. It’s a good life.”

comments are welcomed in the comment box.