What's up? News of the world....

[Angrboda]

Vintage plane crash-lands on California freeway, no injuries

A pilot escaped injury after his vintage single-engine plane crashed and burst into flames on a Southern California freeway Tuesday, authorities said.

The plane struck the center divider of U.S. 101 and the pilot, the only occupant, was safely removed before flames consumed much of the aircraft, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

No vehicles on the ground were involved in the afternoon crash that snarled traffic about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of downtown Los Angeles.

The North American AT-6 belonged to the Condor Squadron, a group that performs mock dogfights for air shows and flies in formation over parades, memorial services and events commemorating veterans, said president Chris Rushing.

“The pilot did a great job getting it down and not hitting any cars,” he said.

[Angrboda]

In its latest push for secularism, Ireland will vote on overturning its blasphemy ban

In 1702, Thomas Emlyn, a Unitarian minister living in Dublin, published a book questioning whether Jesus Christ was equal to God. The radical treatise, titled “An Humble Inquiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus Christ,” caused much outrage, and the next year Emlyn was charged with blasphemy and sentenced to a year in prison. Emlyn remains the last known person convicted of blasphemy in Ireland. But 315 years later, blasphemy is still prohibited under Irish law.

On Friday, Ireland votes on whether that should change, in the latest effort to move away from its strongly conservative Catholic background to a more secular social agenda.

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Ireland is one of 71 countries where blasphemy is illegal, according to a June 2017 report by the Commission on International Religious Freedom. But in terms of enforcing the law, many countries are much worse. In Iran and Pakistan, the act is punishable by death. In others, those convicted of blasphemy have served time in prison or received corporal punishment.

Critics of the referendum say it is unnecessary and have raised concerns it will remove protection for the country’s minority populations.

Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Center of Ireland told the BBC that keeping blasphemy in the constitution protects “the cohesiveness” of communities in Ireland and guarantees their rights and freedoms.

The referendum looks on track to pass, just barely. Fifty-one percent of voters said they would vote yes, while 19 percent of voters said they would vote no, according to an Irish Times Poll. Another 25 percent were undecided.

[Angrboda]

Singer Sinéad O’Connor converts to Islam, changes name to Shuhada' Davitt

LONDON — Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor announced that she has converted to Islam and changed her name to “Shuhada,” saying her decision was "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey.”

O’Connor uploaded a video of herself singing the adhan, or Islamic call to prayer. She apologizes for mispronouncing some of the classical Arabic words. The Koran is written in Arabic, and its prayers are recited in Arabic, even if the believer is not fluent in the language.

“Once I’ve practiced the Azan a hundred times I promise I’ll sing it much better than the one I’ve Posted,” she tweeted.

The theologian at Islamic Centre Ireland in Dublin, Umar al-Qadri, released a short video clip of the Irish singer reciting the “Shahadah,” the profession of Islamic faith that begins, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

“She’s so happy,” the cleric wrote.

“Her coming to Islam has been a careful and informed decision and follows a lifetime of searching and study,” the imam said in a statement.

[brewer]

Oh give me a break, what a load of malarkey.

[Deesse23]

7 syrian refugees and one german man (aged 19-29) arrested for raping an 18y old girl after leaving a club in Freiburg. Police still looking for more suspects. Her ordeal supposedly lasted some 4hrs.
At least one of the syrians is an already known felon whose DNA is registered. Most of the syrians are still living in refugee shelters.

My suggestion: Send those ##### back to Syria........in 10-20y.  

[Angrboda]

The Tragedy of Saudi Arabia’s War

The devastating war in Yemen has gotten more attention recently as outrage over the killing of a Saudi dissident in Istanbul has turned a spotlight on Saudi actions elsewhere. The harshest criticism of the Saudi-led war has focused on the airstrikes that have killed thousands of civilians at weddings, funerals and on school buses, aided by American-supplied bombs and intelligence.

But aid experts and United Nations officials say a more insidious form of warfare is also being waged in Yemen, an economic war that is exacting a far greater toll on civilians and now risks tipping the country into a famine of catastrophic proportions.

Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni allies have imposed a raft of punitive economic measures aimed at undercutting the Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen. But these actions — including periodic blockades, stringent import restrictions and withholding the salaries of about a million civil servants — have landed on the backs of civilians, laying the economy to waste and driving millions deeper into poverty.

Those measures have inflicted a slow-burn toll: infrastructure destroyed, jobs lost, a weakening currency and soaring prices. But in recent weeks the economic collapse has gathered pace at alarming speed, causing top United Nations officials to revise their predictions of famine.

“There is now a clear and present danger of an imminent and great, big famine engulfing Yemen,” Mark Lowcock, the under secretary for humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council on Tuesday. Eight million Yemenis already depend on emergency food aid to survive, he said, a figure that could soon rise to 14 million, or half Yemen’s population.

“People think famine is just a lack of food,” said Alex de Waal, author of “Mass Starvation” which analyzes recent man-made famines. “But in Yemen it’s about a war on the economy.”

[Minimalist]

Singer Sinéad O’Connor converts to Islam, changes name to Shuhada' Davitt

LONDON — Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor announced that she has converted to Islam and changed her name to “Shuhada,” saying her decision was "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey.”

O’Connor uploaded a video of herself singing the adhan, or Islamic call to prayer. She apologizes for mispronouncing some of the classical Arabic words. The Koran is written in Arabic, and its prayers are recited in Arabic, even if the believer is not fluent in the language.

“Once I’ve practiced the Azan a hundred times I promise I’ll sing it much better than the one I’ve Posted,” she tweeted.

The theologian at Islamic Centre Ireland in Dublin, Umar al-Qadri, released a short video clip of the Irish singer reciting the “Shahadah,” the profession of Islamic faith that begins, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

“She’s so happy,” the cleric wrote.

“Her coming to Islam has been a careful and informed decision and follows a lifetime of searching and study,” the imam said in a statement.

Will she put her money where her mouth is and move to Saudi Arabia or is she just full of shit?

[Cod]

Singer Sinéad O’Connor converts to Islam, changes name to Shuhada' Davitt

Will she put her money where her mouth is and move to Saudi Arabia or is she just full of shit?

If she covers her face, I for one, wont be complaining.

[Angrboda]

U.S. stocks skid deeper on tech sell-off

October’s stock skid deepened losses Friday on a global sell-off in technology companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 525 points, or 2.1 percent, in morning trading — before an afternoon reprieve left it to close down about 300 points, or 1.2 percent, to 24,688.31.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 2.1 percent. The Nasdaq is having its worst month in 10 years — notching a 10.2 percent loss on the month.

The S&P 500 gave up 1.7 percent. All 11 S&P 500 sectors were down Friday; the index is having its worst month since 2009. The S&P dipped during the day but bounced back enough to barely escape correction at close.

Friday’s declines erased all of the gains for the Dow and S&P 500 for 2018 for the second time in a week.

Markets were buffeted all week by politics, interest rates, President Trump’s quarrels with the Federal Reserve and, not least of all, some big earnings reports and data from China that made investors think the global economy may have reached its growth limit.

Muted outlooks from blue-chip giants Caterpillar and 3M shook markets Tuesday, and the volatility carried through the rest of the week. Markets staged a big comeback Thursday, but Amazon.com and Google dampened the party after the market closed as the tech juggernauts reported profitable but less than spectacular revenue growth. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.) That sent shivers through global traders, resulting in Friday’s seesaw. Markets dropped dramatically but then staged a rebound with the help of a strong report on gross domestic product for the third quarter.

[Angrboda]

Trumpian Partisanship Creeps Into Formerly Non-Partisan Council For Economic Advisers

CEA Issues Bizarre Report On Why Socialism Is Bad (Vox)

"Socialism is bad, mmmkay?  Except when it's good, and then it's not really socialism, mmmkay?"