The Holocaust survivor whose life is in danger again
In the Israeli city of Safed, an 89-year-old man has been accused of treachery for welcoming Arab students. Catrina Stewart reports
First they threatened to burn his house down. Then they pinned leaflets to his front door, denouncing him as a Jewish traitor. But Eli Tzavieli, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, is defiant. His only "crime" is to rent out his rooms to three Arab students attending the college in Safed, a religious city in northern Israel that was until recently more famous for Jewish mysticism and Madonna.
A campaign waged by Shmuel Eliyahu, the town's radical head rabbi, culminating in a ruling barring residents from renting rooms to Israeli Arabs, means that Safed is fast emerging as a byword for racism.
"I'm not looking for trouble, but if there is a problem, I'll confront it," says Mr Tzavieli, a Jew who survived Nazi forced labour camps and whose parents perished in Auschwitz. "These [tenants] are great kids. And I'm doing my best to make them comfortable."
The state has become further fascist and racist in its approach recently, and good on this man for standing up as a proper Jew; no-one after witnessing - let alone experiencing - the holocaust would allow the same fascist mentality to thrive again. This man is a credit to humanity, let alone the right-thinking Jewish population.
Pope asks Muslim World to Reciprocate Religious Tolerance
(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 11 - Pope Benedict XVI called on Islamic countries to reciprocate the religious freedom Muslims usually enjoy in predominantly Christian countries in a document published Thursday.
Read more @ Life In Italy
UK government asks McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write health policy
I can see this being very successful...
McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy
Department of Health putting fast food companies at heart of policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned.
Read more @ The Guardian
That's karma for you
A man who robbed a takeaway driver of pizzas, cash and his mobile phone was caught after his mother let the victim into their house to call the police.
...
He went to the first available lit window he could see, which turned out to be McManus's own home where he lived with his mother and brother.
Read more @ BBC News
The Poppy appeal has been hijacked
Poppy appeal's original aims being subverted, veterans complain
Critics say event is drum-roll for current conflicts but Royal British Legion says new approach has raised awareness
A group of veterans from conflicts including the Falklands and Northern Ireland have complained of the increasing glitz and glamour of the annual poppy appeal and of it being hijacked to marshall public support behind current campaigns.
Read more @ The Guardian
Poppies and 'Heroes'
The Poppy Appeal is once again subverting Armistice Day. A day that should be about peace and remembrance is turned into a month-long drum roll of support for current wars. This year's campaign has been launched with showbiz hype. The true horror and futility of war is forgotten and ignored.
The public are being urged to wear a poppy in support of "our Heroes". There is nothing heroic about being blown up in a vehicle. There is nothing heroic about being shot in an ambush and there is nothing heroic about fighting in an unnecessary conflict.
Remembrance should be marked with the sentiment "Never Again".
Ben Griffin (Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Iraq)
Ben Hayden (Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Iraq)
Terry Wood (Northern Ireland, Falklands)
Ken Lukowiak (Northern Ireland, Falklands)
Neil Polley (Falklands)
Steve Pratt (Dhofar, Northern Ireland)
(Taken from The Guardian)
Phil Woolas immigration leaflets case: high court orders election rerun in Oldham East
Special election court heard Labour MP knowingly made false claims as experts predict profound changes for future polls
Phil Woolas, the shadow immigration minister, faces being ejected from parliament after a court ruled today that he had breached election laws by falsely claiming his Liberal Democrat opponent had "wooed" extremist Muslims in the run-up to the 6 May poll.
For the first time in 99 years a specially convened election court has overturned the result of a parliamentary poll and ordered a rerun after two high court judges ruled the result of the Oldham East poll void. They upheld the claim by Elwyn Watkins that Woolas knowingly made false statements.
Quite a few Oldhamites on here, what are your views ?.
Fair to say Woolas will be feeling a tad sheepish right now.
MP Stephen Timms stabbed 'in revenge for Iraq war'
A woman stabbed Labour MP Stephen Timms twice at a constituency surgery in revenge for his vote for the Iraq war, the Old Bailey has heard.
The Labour MP for East Ham said he thought Roshonara Choudhry wanted to shake hands when she smiled before lunging at him in Newham on 14 May.
Miss Choudhry told police she wanted "to get revenge for the people of Iraq", prosecutors said.
Read more @ BBC News
"Youngest militant" of Guantanamo jailed.
He was arrested at the age of 15 (in 2002) and has done a plea bargain on charges that involved conspiring to commit terrorist acts and murdering US soldiers.
They say he will only be in prison for 8 years of the 40 year sentence, but if he was arrested in 2002m, that means 8 years have passed... do they mean 8 more years?