From CNN : Protests support Yemeni President

Protests support Yemeni President
http://www.cnn.com//2015/02/22/world/yemen-unrest/index.html

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From BBC : The immigrant who became a drone firm boss

The immigrant who became a drone firm boss http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31356080

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From BBC : Chinese feast: Year of the lobster?

Chinese feast: Year of the lobster? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31541092

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From BBC : The blind breast cancer detectors

The blind breast cancer detectors http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31552562

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From BBC : Why I regret my years as a tanning addict

Why I regret my years as a tanning addict http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31548937

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From BBC : Thai students face insult verdict

Thai students face insult verdict http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31581219

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From BBC : Oscars 2015: Live

Oscars 2015: Live http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/entertainment-arts-31557571

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From BBC : top cleric calls for reform

Egypt’s top cleric calls for reform http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31580130

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From BBC : Australia to toughen citizenship law

Australia to toughen citizenship law http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-31579804

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Giotto_Christ_Entering_Jerusalem_Fresco_Arena_Chapel_Padua

Giotto_Christ_Entering_Jerusalem_Fresco_Arena_Chapel_Padua

From VOA : IS Claims Attack on Iran Ambassador’s Residence in Libya

  http://www.voanews.com/A/2653952.html

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From CNN : CBS staffers dispute Bill O’Reilly’s ‘war zone’ story

CBS staffers dispute Bill O’Reilly’s ‘war zone’ story
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/22/media/cbs-staffers-oreilly-argentina/index.html

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CBS news staffers dispute Bill O’Reilly’s ‘war zone’ story

CBS staffers dispute Bill O’Reilly’s ‘war zone’ story
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/22/media/cbs-staffers-oreilly-argentina/index.html

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From CNN : What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want?

What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want?
http://www.cnn.com//2014/12/02/world/africa/al-shabaab-explainer/index.html

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From VOA : Report to Allege Direct Kremlin Link to Ukraine Invasion

http://www.voanews.com/A/2653786.html

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From BBC : Hungary’s PM loses ‘super-majority’

Hungary’s PM loses ‘super-majority’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31576491

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this pressed: Flash – Two Thais await sentence for ‘insulting’ royals in play – France 24

AFP/File | Thai cadets hold flags as they walk in front of the Grand palace on the occasion of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 87th birthday in Bangkok on December 5, 2014

BANGKOK (AFP) –

Two young Thais accused of insulting the monarchy in a university play braced for sentencing Monday as the ruling junta intensifies its crackdown on perceived royal slurs under the kingdom’s controversial lese majeste law.

Student Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and activist Porntip Mankong, 26, pleaded guilty to defamation after their arrest last August, nearly a year after “The Wolf Bride”, a satire set in a fictional kingdom, was performed at Bangkok’s Thammasat University.

They were each charged with one count of lese majeste linked to the play, which marked the 40th anniversary of a pro-democracy student protest at the university that was brutally crushed by the military regime in October 1973.

Police are hunting for at least six others involved in the performance for allegedly violating “112” — the feared section of the Thai criminal code which carries up to 15 years in jail for each count of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent.

Of those on the wanted list, at least two have fled Thailand, joining dozens of academics, activists and political opponents of the coup in self-exile amid a surge in royal defamation cases since the military seized power in May.

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is revered by many in the country as a demi-god and shielded by one of the world’s most draconian royal defamation laws.

via Flash – Two Thais await sentence for ‘insulting’ royals in play – France 24.

This pressed: Report: Saudi morality police raid private residence, detain men for dancing at birthday party

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s morality police detained a group of young men for dancing at a birthday party and referred them to prosecutors, according to a state-linked media report.

The news website Ayn al-Youm reported Saturday that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice raided a private property in the city of Buraydah, arresting the men inside for “loud music and inappropriate dancing.”

Buraydah is the provincial capital of Saudi Arabia’s Qassim province, which is home to some of the kingdom’s most conservative clerics, who practice a strict interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism.

An unnamed official told the website that when members of the morality police raided the private property, they found the young men in “a comprising situation in their dance and shameful movements.” The official said there was also a cake and candles to celebrate one of the men’s birthdays.

via Report: Saudi morality police raid private residence, detain men for dancing at birthday party.

this pressed: US defense chief convenes anti-IS war council in Kuwait – Channel NewsAsia

KUWAIT CITY: New Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will hold talks on Monday (Feb 23) in Kuwait with top US commanders and diplomats to discuss the war effort against the Islamic State militant group, officials said.

Carter flew to Kuwait City from Afghanistan on Sunday to chair the extraordinary meeting that will see more than two dozen senior military officers and ambassadors gather at the sprawling US Army base of Camp Arifjan, officials said.

Carter, an experienced Pentagon technocrat who took office last week, “wants it to be an open conversation regardless of rank,” a senior US defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was not intended to produce a new strategy but to allow Carter to better understand the challenge posed by the militants and the range of efforts aimed at defeating them, said the official.

Carter will be looking for an update on the military and diplomatic facets of the campaign, including the Iraqi government’s efforts to recruit……

via US defense chief convenes anti-IS war council in Kuwait – Channel NewsAsia.

this pressed for Farage know best: Three EU dreams that have turned into nightmares – Telegraph

Three stories that were making daily headlines last week all had one very important thing in common. One was the shambles unfolding over Ukraine. The second was the ongoing shambles over Greece and the euro. The third was the ever-growing flood of refugees from Africa and the Middle East desperately trying to escape to safety in Europe.

Over Ukraine, I cannot recall any issue in my lifetime when the leaders of the West have got it so hopelessly wrong. We are treated to babyish comparisons of President Putin to Hitler or Stalin; we are also told that this crisis has only been brought about by Russia’s “expansionism”. But there was only one real trigger for this crisis – the urge of the EU continually to advance its borders and to expand its own empire, right into the heartland of Russian national identity: a “Europe” stretching, as David Cameron once hubristically put it, “from the Atlantic to the Urals”.

The “expansionism” that was the trouble was not Putin’s desire to welcome the Russians of Crimea back into the country to which they had formerly belonged; or to assist the Russians of eastern Ukraine in their determination not to be dragged by the corrupt government in Kiev they

via Three EU dreams that have turned into nightmares – Telegraph.

Father of Kayla Mueller tells “Today” show: US government put policy above American lives — The Associated Press (@AP)

Father of Kayla Mueller tells “Today” show: US government put policy above American lives http://t.co/oKfBuk2LBA

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 22, 2015

†

†

From VOA : Was Tipping Hand on Mosul Plan the Right Move?

http://www.voanews.com/A/2652935.html

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From VOA : US Defense Secretary Reviews Troop Plans in Afghanistan

http://www.voanews.com/A/2653793.html

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From VOA : Iraqi Minister Criticizes US Official for Discussing Mosul Plan

http://www.voanews.com/A/2654092.html

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From VOA : Somali Militants Threaten to Attack Western Shopping Malls

http://www.voanews.com/A/2653993.html

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pieter-bruegel-the-elder

The Triumph of Death (Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

UweBoll666

this pressed: BBC News – Syria girls: Families ‘cannot stop crying’

Shamima was last seen on Tuesday morning when she was dropped off at a bus stop, claiming she had extra classes at school. “There was no indication whatsoever. She was just herself. There was nothing different about her. There were no changes in her behaviour in anything. She was just our baby, she was just herself,” Ms Begum said.

Shamima was last seen on Tuesday morning when she was dropped off at a bus stop, claiming she had extra classes at school.

“There was no indication whatsoever. She was just herself. There was nothing different about her. There were no changes in her behaviour in anything. She was just our baby, she was just herself,” Ms Begum said.

“We don’t want her to do anything stupid – she is a sensible girl,” she said, adding: “We just want her home, we want her safe.”

‘Please think twice’

Mr Hussen said his daughter, Amira, had told him she was going to a wedding on Tuesday and sent a text between 10:00 and 11:00 GMT.

“She said, ‘Dad the place is a little bit far. I pray my midday prayer and I get back.’ She didn’t come home,” he said.

The family reported Amira as missing that night.

“We are depressed, and it’s very stressful,” he said. “The message we have for Amira is to get back home. We miss you. We cannot stop crying. Please think twice. Don’t go to Syria.”

He said his daughter had never spoken about an interest in the militant group with him.

“She doesn’t dare discuss something like this with us. She knows what the answer would be,” he said.”

via BBC News – Syria girls: Families ‘cannot stop crying’.

this pressed for † faith † : Foreign Fighter: American Joins Battle Against Islamic State| Via VOA (‘Without help, Christians will be ‘wiped out’)

Matthew VanDyke, founder of Sons of Liberty International, or SOLI, a nonprofit group helping to train a militia of Assyrian Christians, whose northern Iraq homeland has come under attack by the Islamic State group.
†“Without help, Christians will be ‘wiped out'”†

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************************************************************

William Gallo

February 22, 2015 10:08 AM

Since Islamic State militants declared a “caliphate” last year in parts of Iraq and Syria, thousands of Westerners have traveled there to join the battle.

But one American man told VOA he has joined the fight, not for the Islamic State jihadist group, but against it.

“I am in Iraq helping to raise a Christian army to fight ISIS,” declared Matthew VanDyke in a statement on Twitter this week.

VanDyke is a bearded, blue-eyed Baltimore native with a slender build and a master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown University. He has formed what he calls the Sons of Liberty International, or SOLI, a nonprofit group that is helping to train a militia made up of Assyrian Christians, whose homeland in northern Iraq has come under attack by Islamic State militants.

The militia, the Ninevah Plains Protection Units, or NPU, is one of several small groups of Christian fighters trying to defend vulnerable locals against the Islamic State group, which has carried out mass executions and expulsions of religious minorities.

Without help, Christians will be ‘wiped out’

The jihadi onslaught against the ancient Iraqi Christian community is part of what prompted VanDyke to go to Iraq in early December and join the fight against the Islamic State group.

“They’ve suffered greatly under ISIS,” VanDyke told VOA via Skype from the northern Iraqi town of Irbil. “There’s tens of thousands of Christian refugees and the population of Christians in Iraq is severely threatened.”

VOA was not able to confirm VanDyke’s location.

“A lot of them have left and have become refugees and will not return to their homes. And if the Christians cannot demonstrate that they’re able to secure their own lands, Christianity will be wiped out,” he said.

According to VanDyke, the best way to stop the onslaught is to equip locals to protect themselves. To do that, he is recruiting U.S. combat veterans to come to offer specialized training to the Assyrian fighters.

via Foreign Fighter: American Joins Battle Against Islamic State.

From BBC : Egypt charges 215 Muslim ‘militants’

Egypt charges 215 Muslim ‘militants’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31576484

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Stravinsky : Firebird Suite (1919 Edition)

RichardHilo

Published on Aug 27, 2011

Stravinsky : Firebird Suite (1919 Edition)
Yuri Temirkanov
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Sibelius: Andante festivo

kelfaska

Uploaded on Mar 24, 2008

Jean Sibelius: Andante festivo
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

The ‘Andante festivo’ was written for string quartet in 1922 shortly before the Sixth Symphony. The composer later expanded it for string orchestra with ‘ad lib’ timpani, and on 1 January 1939 he conducted a performance in Helsinki for short-wave radio transmission to the World Exhibition in New York. This performance was preserved on wax as a poignant historical memento. It was the last time Sibelius conducted, and is the only known recorded exemple of his conducting. The noble, seamless melody is as close as he came to a religious statement. There are, in addition, intriguing suggestions of Dvorak’s Symphony ‘From the New World’ (or is it ‘God Save the Queen’?) and Sibelius’ own later Seventh Symphony, and an unmistakeable final ‘Amen’ cadence.
(c) Robert Dearling, 1993

Maurice Ravel – Alborada del gracioso

neuIlaryRheinKlange

Published on Aug 20, 2012

“Alborada del gracioso” (“The Gracioso’s Aubade”) is the fourth movement of “Miroirs” (Reflections), a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. All the five movements are dedicated to a fellow member of the French impressionist group, Les Apaches: 1. “Noctuelles” (“Night Moths”) – Dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue, Noctuelles is a highly chromatic work, maintaining a dark, nocturnal mood throughout. The middle section is calm with rich, chordal melodies, and the recapitulation takes place a fifth below the first entry. 2. “Oiseaux tristes” (“Sad Birds”) – Dedicated to Ricardo Viñes, this movement represents a lone bird whistling a sad tune, after which others join in. The rambunctious middle section is offset by a solemn cadenza which brings back the melancholy mood of the beginning. 3. “Une barque sur l’océan” (“A boat on the Ocean”) – Dedicated to Paul Sordes, the piece recounts a small boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean. Arpeggiated sections and sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents. It is the longest piece of the set, and, with the exception of Alborada del Gracioso, the most technically difficult. 4. “Alborada del gracioso” (“The Gracioso’s Aubade”) – Dedicated to Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, Alborada is a technically challenging piece that incorporates Spanish musical themes into its complicated melodies. 5. “La vallée des cloches” (“The Valley of Bells”) – Dedicated to Maurice Delage, the piece evokes the sounds of various bells through its use of sonorous harmonies. “Alborada del gracioso” was orchestrated by Ravel himself in 1918. Conductor: Claudio Abbado & London Symphony Orchestra.

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

February 22

1349		Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland.
1613		Mikhail Romanov is elected czar of Russia.
1732		George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
1797		The last invasion of Britain takes place when some 1,400 Frenchmen land at Fishguard in Wales.
1819		Spain signs a treaty with the United States ceding eastern Florida.
1825		Russia and Britain establish the Alaska/Canada boundary.
1862		Jefferson Davis is inaugurated president of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va. for the second time.
1864		Nathan Bedford Forrest’s brother, Jeffrey, is killed at Okolona, Mississippi.
1865		Federal troops capture Wilmington, N.C.
1879		Frank Winfield Woolworth’s ‘nothing over five cents’ shop opens at Utica, New York. It is the first chain store.
1902		A fistfight breaks out in the Senate. Senator Benjamin Tillman suffers a bloody nose for accusing Senator John McLaurin of bias on the Philippine tariff issue.
1909		The Great White Fleet returns to Norfolk, Virginia, from an around-the-world show of naval power.
1911		Canadian Parliament votes to preserve the union with the British Empire.
1920		The American Relief Administration appeals to the public to pressure Congress to aid starving European cities.
1924		Columbia University declares radio education a success.
1926		Pope Pius rejects Mussolini’s offer of aid to the Vatican.
1932		Adolf Hitler is the Nazi Party candidate for the presidential elections in Germany.
1935		All plane flights over the White House are barred because they are disturbing President Roosevelt’s sleep.
1942		President Franklin Roosevelt orders Gen. Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines.
1951		The Atomic Energy Commission discloses information about the first atom-powered airplane.
1952		French forces evacuate Hoa Binh in Indochina.
1954		U.S. is to install 60 Thor nuclear missiles in Britain.
1962		A Soviet bid for new Geneva arms talks is turned down by the U.S.
1963		Moscow warns the U.S. that an attack on Cuba would mean war.
1967		Operation Junction City becomes the largest U.S. operation in Vietnam.
1984		Britain and the U.S. send warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
Born on February 22
1403		Charles VII, King of France.
1732		George Washington, Commander-in-chief of Continental forces during the American Revolution and first U.S. President.
1778		Rembrandt Peale, American painter known for portraits of U.S. founding fathers.
1857		Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement.
1857		Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, the first person to broadcast and receive radio waves.
1892		Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet.
1900		Sean O’Faolain, Irish short story writer.
1925		Edward Gorey, American writer and illustrator.
1932		Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts Senator, brother of John F. Kennedy.
1944		Jonathan Demme, film director (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia).

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history#sthash.DyOBuS8N.dpuf

today’s image: George Washington

George Washington

George Washington, born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, is revered as the ‘Father of His Country’ for the great services he rendered during America’s birth and infancy–a period of nearly 20 years. Well respected by Americans for his military exploits during the Seven Years’ War, Washington commanded the Continental Army that won American independence from Britain in 1783. In 1787, Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention that created the form of American democratic government that survives to this day. Washington was also elected in 1787 as the first president of the United States, serving two terms. One of his officers, ‘Light-horse Harry’ Lee, summed up how Americans felt about George Washington: ‘First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’ George Washington died at his Mount Vernon home on December 14, 1799, at the age of 67.

Image: Library of Congress

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/picture-of-the-day#sthash.xiQ00YZq.dpuf

Saint of the Day for Sunday, February 22nd, 2015 : St. Margaret of Cortona

Saint of the Day for Sunday, February 22nd, 2015

St. Margaret of Cortona

Margaret of Cortona, penitent, was born in Loviana in Tuscany in 1247. Her father was a small farmer. Margaret’s mother died when she was seven years old. Her stepmother had little care for her … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Margaret of Cortona St. Aristion St. Athanasius St. Baradates St. Elwin Bl. John the Saxon

Martyrs of Arabia St. Maximian of Ravenna St. Papias of Hierapolis St. Raynerius Bl. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski St. Thalassius & Limuneus

today’s holiday: St. Lucia Independence Day (2015)

St. Lucia Independence Day (2015)

The West Indies island of St. Lucia celebrates its national independence holiday on February 22. On that day in 1979, the country gained full independence from Britain. St. Lucia had been a British Colony since 1814. More… Discuss

quotation: I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings. Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) Discuss

today’s birthday: George Washington (1732)

George Washington (1732)

Washington is often called the “Father of his Country” because of the central role he played in the founding of the United States. As commander of the Continental Army, he led colonial forces to victory over the British and served as the new nation’s first president. He then relinquished that power and retired after two terms, thereby setting a key precedent for republican democracy. What other precedent of the US presidency did Washington set? More… Discuss

this day in the yesteryear: Johns Hopkins University Opens (1876)

Johns Hopkins University Opens (1876)

Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University is named for philanthropist Johns Hopkins. Poorly educated and aware of Baltimore’s lack of medical facilities, Hopkins donated $7 million for the foundation of Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. The university was modeled after European universities and emphasized graduate research rather than collegiate instruction—two groundbreaking and successful decisions that influenced many other US universities. How did Hopkins get his unusual first name? More… Discuss

Snail Teeth May Be Stronger than Spider Silk

Spider silk has long been hailed as the strongest known natural material, but UK scientists have discovered that the teeth of limpets—snail-like sea creatures found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans—may be even stronger. The research team examined limpet teeth down to the atom and found a hard mineral called goethite, the strength of which helps limpets cling to rocks and remove algae. Experts see potential in copying the structural makeup of limpet teeth for use in the manufacturing of cars, boats, and planes. More… Discuss

The Great Gatsby

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American novelist of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby is today considered standard reading in high school courses on American literature. It tells the story of a bootlegger whose obsessive dream of wealth and lost love is destroyed by a corrupt reality. Cynical yet poignant, the novel is a devastating portrait of the so-called American Dream, which measures success and love in terms of money. What other titles did Fitzgerald consider for this novel? More… Discuss

word: lanceolate

lanceolate

Definition:	(adjective) Tapering from a rounded base toward an apex.
Synonyms:	lancelike
Usage:	The bush had lanceolate leaves with sharp tips that could sting unwary passersby. Discuss.

From France 24

Crowds flock to French Atlantic coast for ‘tide of the century’

http://f24.my/1vWKSRJ

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From VOA : Jailed RFE/RL Journalist Vows to Pursue Corruption Probe

http://www.voanews.com/A/2651837.html

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From VOA : Revelation of Secret Spyware Could Hamper US Espionage Efforts

http://www.voanews.com/A/2653015.html

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From VOA : Australia to Challenge Radical Islam Online

http://www.voanews.com/A/2653891.html

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From BBC : Turkey enters Syria to evacuate tomb

Turkey enters Syria to evacuate tomb http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31572257

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