ROBERT WILLIAM WOOD 1889 – 1979

ROBERT WILLIAM WOOD 1889 – 1979

Nicolae Grigorescu – Fata cu tulpan

Nicolae Grigorescu – Fata cu tulpan

Navajo (Diné) woman grinding corn. Undated (1920s?). Source – University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

Navajo (Diné) woman grinding corn. Undated (1920s?). Source – University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

Leonid Afremov

Leonid Afremov

Takashi Akasaka watercolor: Hisanaga (In Winter)

Takashi Akasaka watercolor: Hisanaga (In Winter)

Navajo (Diné) mother tying her daughter’s hair using brush. Undated (1920s?). Source – University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

Navajo (Diné) mother tying her daughter’s hair using brush. Undated (1920s?). Source – University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

Marek Langowski

Marek Langowski

BBC News: NYC jogger killing: Suspect charged over Karina Vetrano death

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

NYC jogger killing: Suspect charged over Karina Vetrano death – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38876192

BBC News: China amusement park: Teen girl flung from ride dies

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

China amusement park: Teen girl flung from ride dies – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38873719

Check out @realDonaldTrump’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827483841589891073?s=09

Check out @realDonaldTrump’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827483841589891073?s=09

Short eared owl Rogaland jæren Norway

Short eared owl Rogaland jæren Norway

That is the dilema: To rule or to be ruled?

​That’s quite a puerile argument, considering the past experiences! It is like saying that because, by accident we know that one rattle snake was non veninous, therefore “all ratllesnake” is non veninous  when we know that the exeption is a nonveninous ratllesnake…it is the dilema suffered by all european democracies, yi which, notonce we, in the USA, fell pray to allahism! We cannit turn the other cheek to the devil when the devil expect the Christian to turn the other cheek! 

Or in other words: to rule or to be ruled…that is the dilema!

LEONARDO DA VINCI ( 1452- 1519 )Was an Italian painter born at Vinci , next to Florence , died at Chateaux de Cloux in France , near Ambroise

LEONARDO DA VINCI ( 1452- 1519 )

Was an Italian painter born at Vinci , next to Florence , died at Chateaux de Cloux in France , near Ambroise . Many historians and scholars regard Da Vinci as the prime example of ” Universal Genius”  or ” Renaissance Man “. According to art historian Helen Gardner Leonardo’s mind and personality seem to us superhuman while the man himself mysterious and remote”  . his areas of interests included painting , architecture ,  science , mathematics, music , anatomy , geology ,botany etc …

Today Leonardo is widely considered as one the diversaly talented individual ever to have lived …

Schitul “Sfântul Ioan Botezătorul”, de la Breaza

Schitul “Sfântul Ioan Botezătorul”, de la Breaza

Doar un gând : “Niciodată din nou!”

Când o să credeți că românii au fist ținuți sub călcâiul comuniştilor ruşi jumătate de secolul trecut şi pe deasupra 17 ani, o să înțelegem de ce, şi mai ales de cine sântem manipulați, şi aceea este important să vă alegeți conducatorii cu mintea și nu cu inima…și dups ce verificați prezentul si trecutul fiecăruia dintre cei ce-i alegeți, di toate rubedeniile lor pînă la “paşopt”

Citiți postul despre vorba casei regale a României în legătură cu demonstrațiile din România!

Nu le mai dați nici-o şansă de a ajunge la conducere nici unui rus fie ca moștenire dau ca apartenență politică!  

“Niciodată din nou!”

Royal House of Romania supports the protests: It is uplifting to see that Romanians keep the noble tradition of fighting for the principles and ideals! : Stireazilei – Latest news and the latest local news

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Royal House of Romania supports the protests: It is uplifting to see that Romanians keep the noble tradition of fighting for the principles and ideals!

Royal House of Romania supports the protests: It is uplifting to see that Romanians keep the noble tradition of fighting for the principles and ideals!

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Royal House of Romania handed the message thrilled Romanians, amid ample street protests.

,, Romanian,

Our public life is going through a difficult moment. Our error is not only a political cause. Custom exercise of whim passed from one generation to another several decades in our history.This sad reality is unrelated to elections and no alternation in power. Often, people with high positions are convinced that subordination institution is a proof of lucidity and ethics is the prerogative of the weak.

Romania is a European country like any other. But the difficult conditions we had to face during the communist dictatorship have left traces in our mentality. Due process is not a theoretical question, but an everyday aspect of our existence, public and private. We respect the Constitution, laws, traditions and moral conduct we have for ourselves, for the good of our family, not because we Urges European or transatlantic partners.

World last few years has shown us that democracy is not safe forever. The company earns each day right to a free future. Therefore, it is vital for civil society to ensure the correct use of institutional power. It is uplifting to see that Romanians keep the noble tradition of fighting for the principles and ideals.

I hope to see Romanian state made up of solid institutions and served by people who respect themselves. Only then will we be truly free.

So help us God!

Daisy,

Custodian Romanian Crown

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Un gând bun: O revoluție e întotdeauna începută de naivi, continuată de intrigați și exploatată de escroci. ~Paul Bourget

O revoluție e întotdeauna începută de naivi, continuată de intrigați și exploatată de escroci. ~Paul Bourget

BBC News: France election: Far-right’s Le Pen rails against globalisation

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

France election: Far-right’s Le Pen rails against globalisation – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38872335

France 24 : French far-leftist Mélenchon stumps as hologram

French far-leftist Mélenchon stumps as hologram

http://f24.my/2kGZpoZ

French far-leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon held simultaneous presidential campaign rallies Sunday in two cities that are nearly 500km apart – appearing in the flesh in Lyon and as a three-dimensional spectre in suburban Paris.

The communist-allied candidate made a real-life appearance in Lyon, in a move meant to goad far-right torchbearer Marine Le Pen, who spoke before a crowd of her own in the same Rhône Valley city around the same time on Sunday. Meanwhile, a virtual version ofMélenchon could be seen in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

“Where am I? I am in Lyon… and now in Paris,” Mélenchon declared Sunday, as he snapped his fingers and his hologram manifested in Aubervilliers, hailed by a round of applause from supporters.

Transmitted by satellite and staged by the firm Adrénaline, the image materialized with a two-second delay, according to Mélenchon’s team, at an estimated cost of 30,000 to 40,000 euros.

The candidate’s spokesman Alexis Corbière said a crowd of 12,000 had turned out to see the flesh-and-bones Mélenchon in Lyon, while another 6,000 witnessed the magic of the candidate’s virtual rally in two separate halls in Aubervilliers.

Those figures would give Mélenchon the provisional attendance lead among the series of political rallies being held this weekend by major candidates for France’s spring presidential elections, with centrist independent Emmanuel Macron having drawn upwards of 10,000 supporters Saturday in Lyonand National Front chief Le Pen expected to draw a similar number on Sunday. Recent polling data indicates Macron and Le Pen are the favourites to advance to the presidential run-off contest in May, after a first-round ballot in late April.

The head of the “La France insoumise” movement (roughly translated as “Rebellious France”) is a former Socialist cabinet minister who quit the party to strike off on his own. He describes his candidacy as one of “humanism, solidarity and cooperation rather than competition and universalism,” and in opposition to the “communitarianism” he ascribes to Le Pen and the “indifference to others incarnated by Mr Macron’s liberalism.”

Tech fan Mélenchon says the hologram should be an “occasion to discover what everyone knows: That when the human spirit invents, when no conditions of skin colour, religion or gender are placed upon it, well, the imagination unleashes itself and shares knowledge.”

 

France 24 : Le Pen urges France to follow in Brexit, Trump footsteps

Le Pen urges France to follow in Brexit, Trump footsteps

http://f24.my/2kaLWm1

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday hailed Britain’s exit from the EU and Donald Trump’s victory in the US as she kicked off her own presidential campaign in the city of Lyon.

Le Pen delivered a keynote speech in front of around 4,000 supporters gathered in the city’s main conference centre, less than three months before French voters pick their next president.

“The impossible has suddenly become possible,” the far-right candidate told supporters in reference to recent surprises at the ballot box, Britain’s vote last June to leave the European Union and Trump’s November election to the US presidency.

“Other countries have shown us the way,” Le Pen declared triumphantly from the podium. “The awakening of those nations is historic and marks the end of an era. The winds of history have changed,” she proclaimed.

The leader of the anti-EU National Front pledged to organise France’s own referendum on leaving the bloc within the first six months of her term, if she is elected president.

Le Pen, 48, is favoured to win the first round of the presidential ballot on April 23, according to recent opinion polls. The same surveys nevertheless show she is unlikely to win the May 7 run-off duel, no matter whom she faces as an opponent.

Twin evils

The far-right leader said globalisation and immigration were twin evils that were destroying France’s identity and prosperity.

She warned globalisation “from below” had taken the form of massive immigration, while globalisation “from above” – the world of international finance – forced unreasonable austerity on French citizens.

“The old dichotomy between the left and right is over, the new battle is between patriots and globalisationists,” Le Pen said, calling on voters of all political stripes to join her campaign.

Le Pen’s speech returned repeatedly to the issue of immigration – a traditional grievance of the National Front that she has spent less time criticising in recent years.

She said that as president “no person who has entered the country illegally will be able to obtain resident status, nor become a citizen.” She also blamed immigrants for “implanting fundamentalist Islam” in the country.

‘Not the people’

Le Pen mostly ignored rival candidates in her address, despite a bitter attack from the surging centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron a day earlier.

“They are not speaking ‘In the name of the people’,” Macron told a crowd of more than 8,000 gathered in Lyon on Saturday, citing Le Pen’s campaign slogan. “They are speaking to a France that never existed.”

The leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon – also a candidate in France’s upcoming presidential election – organised a rival rally near Lyon on Sunday in which he blasted Le Pen’s campaign promise to deny schooling to the children of undocumented migrants.

In a French presidential campaign first, Mélenchon appeared simultaneously in Lyonand – as a hologram image – in a suburb of the French capital.

Watch “Tamsin&Bo – Let your heart be bright” on YouTube

Dark Runs Out

Amy Stroup 

Last update on February 28th 2016

Let your heart be bright
Let your heart be bright
Steady like the stars

Constant like the rain falls down
Fold it like a flag
Hold it til the dark runs out
Oooo, Oooo
Let your heart be bright
Let your heart be bright
Steady like the stars
Constant like the rain falls down
Fold it like a flag
Hold it til the dark runs out
Oooo, Oooo
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
Oooo
Holding on
Oooo
Holding on
Oooo
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
You find yourself
You find yourself
You find yourself
Holding on
Let your heart be bright
Let your heart be bright
Now, oh.

Writer(s): Amy Francis Stroup, Troy James Akers

Denisa Aricescu: a color pencil sketch

Denisa Aricescu: a color pencil sketch

BBC News: US sanctions Iran after missile test

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

US sanctions Iran after missile test – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38860352

Mierla sus în copac

Mierla sus în copac

My birds on the wire today

My birds on the wire today

My Chakra today

My Chakra today

My Duck today

My Duck today

France 24 : Pentagon chief brands Iran top ‘terror sponsor’ as tensions flare

Pentagon chief brands Iran top ‘terror sponsor’ as tensions flare

http://f24.my/2kzQjL1

Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise Saturday in a show of defiance, while the US defense secretary on the same day called Iran the world’s “single biggest state sponsor of terrorism.”

Tehran’s missile exercise comes a day after the United States imposed sanctions over a ballistic missile test launch last weekend.

Relations between Washington and Tehran have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trumptook office last month, promising a tough line on what he sees as Iranian belligerency towards US interests and allies.

“As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world,” Pentagon chief James Mattis said at a press conference in Tokyo on Saturday, but he added that the US had no plans to increase troop numbers in the Middle East in response.

“It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it and at the same time I don’t see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the Middle East at this time,” he said.

“We always have the capability to do so but right now I don’t think it’s necessary.”

The new sanctions are the first of Trump’s presidency and target what US officials say is Iran’s weapons procurement network in Lebanon and China.

They are a response to Iran’s test launch of a medium-range ballistic missile last Sunday as well as its support for Yemeni rebels who attacked a Saudi frigate earlier this week, officials said.

Iran’s medium-range missiles can reach 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), sufficient to strike Israel or US bases in the Gulf.

But the Revolutionary Guards said that the missiles deployed for Saturday’s exercise would only be of very short range — up to 75 kilometres (47 miles).

They said the manoeuvres in the northeastern province of Semnan were aimed at demonstrating their “complete preparedness to deal with the threats” and “humiliating sanctions” from Washington.

“Different types of domestically produced radar and missile systems, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems will be used in this exercise,” the Guards’ website said.

The new sanctions do not yet mean that Washington has abandoned commitments it made to lift measures aimed at Iran’s nuclear programme, US officials said.

But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday’s measures would not be the last.

Iran’s vice president on Saturday urged calm heads to prevail.

“These are worn-out accusations against Iran and even the (accuser) himself is ashamed of saying it,” state news agency IRNA quoted Eshagh Jahangiri as saying.

“If this nation is talked to respectfully and issues are resolved through negotiations and dialogue… it can be a win for everyone.”

But General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is overseeing the drills, struck a more strident tone.

“If the enemy makes a mistake, our missiles will land on them,” he was quoted as saying by the Guards’ official site.

Iran is one of seven mainly Muslim countries targeted by the visa ban Trump ordered last week and its government has reacted angrily.

The order, which caused mayhem worldwide, was suspended by a federal judge on Friday but only after Tehran ordered tit-for-tat action against a US wrestling team due to take part in an international tournament in Iran later this month.

Tehran also vowed to impose “legal limitations” on Americans it says are involved in creating and supporting “extreme terrorist groups.”

It said it would publish a list of names later.

US intelligence and Treasury officials are constantly scrutinising Iran’s networks, looking for evidence of extremist funding and advanced weapons procurement.

A defence official said the US Navy had sent a destroyer to waters off Yemen in response to the attack on the Saudi frigate.

The USS Cole, which had been conducting operations in the Gulf, is now stationed in the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Tehran says its missiles do not breach UN resolutions because they are for defence purposes only and are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that Iran would “never initiate a war”, despite facing threats, “but we can only rely on our own means of defence.”

The missile row is just one of a raft of issues souring relations between Tehran and the Trump White House.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Democracy at work here-France 24: Romania PM announces graft law repeal after mass demonstrations

Romania PM announces graft law repeal after mass demonstrations

http://f24.my/2l93IY7

Romania’s prime minister said Saturday the government would repeal a contentious corruption decree that has sparked the biggest protests since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

“Tomorrow (Sunday) we will hold a government meeting to repeal this decree,” Sorin Grindeanu told a news conference. “I do not want to divideRomania. It can’t be divided in two.”

The decree, passed on Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, makes abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceed 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, $47,500).

The left-wing government, which has been in office barely a month, also wants in a separate decree to free from prison some 2,500 people serving sentences of less than five years.

This prompted five straight days of protests including up to an estimated 300,000 on Wednesday night nationwide, the biggest since the ouster of Ceausescu and the communist system in 1989.

Grindeanu says that the measures are to bring penal law into line with the constitution and reduce overcrowding in prisons.

But critics say that the real aim is to let off some of the several thousand officials and politicians ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive in recent years, many of them from Grindeanu’s Social Democrats (PSD).

Earlier this week Brussels, which had previously praised European Union member Romania for its efforts on graft, warned against “backtracking”.

The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned” that the new measures “undermine rule of law and weaken accountability for financial and corruption-related crimes”.

Grindeanu said Saturday that the penal code still had to be brought into line with the constitution.

“We will probably eliminate the 200,000-lei ceiling and send a bill to parliament as soon as possible,” he said.

“There has been a lot of confusion and distortion created. Things have not been well explained.”

(AFP)

France 24 : US court rejects immediate overturn of Trump travel ban

US court rejects immediate overturn of Trump travel ban

http://f24.my/2laXu9Y

A US federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.

“Appellants’ request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied,” the ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

It said a reply from the Justice Department in support of the emergency appeal was due on Monday.

The government had moved late Saturday to reverse a federal judge’s Friday order that lifted the travel ban, saying that the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and second-guessed the president’s national security judgment.

Friday’s ruling prompted Trump to denounce the “so-called” judge in a series of tweets on Saturday.

The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at anytime to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing.

The Department filed the appeal a day after the federal judge in Seattle ordered Trump’s travel ban to be lifted. The president’s Jan. 27 order had barred admission of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen for 90 days.

Seattle US District Judge James Robart’s ruling barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.

Trump, whose personal attack on Robart went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail.

“We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” he told reporters in Florida.
Robart’s ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington State and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.

The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide.

The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart’s legal reasoning and said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and didn’t identify any legal defect in the order.

State lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at US airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president’s directive.

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart’s order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

A decision to reinstate Trump’s order could again cause havoc at US airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on Jan. 27.

As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travelers from the seven countries who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes three judges appointed by former Republican president George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

(FRANCE with AFP and REUTERS)

France 24 : Philippine president Duterte ends peace talks with Maoist rebels

Philippine president Duterte ends peace talks with Maoist rebels

http://f24.my/2lb1CXq

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has scrapped peace talks with communist insurgents after both the government and the rebels called off unilateral ceasefires aimed at ending a decades-long conflict.

Duterte, a self-described socialist who had previously freed top communist leaders to jump-start the peace talks, angrily condemned the insurgents for resuming hostilities, saying he was ready for a prolonged conflict.

“I told the soldiers to prepare for a long war. I said (peace) will not come during our generation,” he said late Saturday.

The two sides separately declared ceasefires in August, and the informal arrangement largely held as they continued discussions in Rome.

The president said he was now ordering government negotiators to “fold their tents and return home from overseas talks with the rebel leaders.

“I am not interested in talking to them (the rebel leaders). I will refuse to talk about it anymore,” he told reporters.

“We have been fighting for 50 years. If you want to extend it for another 50 years, so be it, we will be happy to accommodate you.”

His order came after the rebels announced an end to their five-month-old ceasefire last week, accusing Duterte’s government of treachery and human rights abuses.

The government responded by calling off its own unilateral ceasefire with the rebels.

Duterte also denounced the 4,000-strong communist New People’s Army for killing four soldiers in attacks last week, saying one of the victims had been riddled with 76 bullets.

The communist insurgency in the poverty-stricken country, that began in 1968, is one of the longest running in the world and has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, according to the military.

(AFP)

Turkey detains hundreds of IS group suspects

Turkey detains hundreds of IS group suspects

http://f24.my/2kGjA6w

Turkish police on Sunday detained hundreds of suspected members of the Islamic State extremist group in nationwide raids, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the jihadists.

Among around 400 detained in the biggest operation so far against IS after the New Year attack were foreigners and those suspected of planning attacks in Turkey, the Dogan and Anadolu news agencies reported.

The operation around the country saw 150 suspects detained in Sanliurfa in the southeast and 47 in the nearby city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, which has a known jihadist presence, Dogan said.

Sixty suspects, mostly foreigners, were detained in four districts in the capital Ankara.

Dozens more arrests were made in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

In the usually peaceful Aegean city of Izmir, nine people suspected of travelling to and from Syria and planning attacks in the city were detained, Anadolu said.

Eighteen people were detained in Istanbul and the neighbouring province of Kocaeli on suspicion of planning attacks. Another 14 foreigners were due to be deported, including 10 children.

Thirty-nine people were killed, mainly foreigners, on New Year’s night when a gunman went on the rampage inside a plush Istanbul night club.

IS claimed the massacre, its first clear claim for a major attack in Turkey although it had been blamed for several bombings in 2016.

Police detained the suspected attacker, Abdulgadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on January 16 after over two weeks on the run and authorities say he has confessed to the massacre.

The Hurriyet daily reported after the attack that IS also planned a simultaneous New Year’s strike in Ankara but dropped the plot after arrests by the Turkish authorities.

Turkey was in 2016 shaken by a string of attacks blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.

It is also engaged in a battle with IS to take the Syrian town of Al-Bab, in the fiercest fighting yet of the Turkish military’s campaign inside Syria that started in August.

(AFP)

French police question Louvre attack suspect

French police question Louvre attack suspect

http://f24.my/2kGGvi5

French investigators Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak, a judicial source said.

The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldierswith two machetes on Friday.

Investigators decided to question him in hospital after his condition improved, the source said.

The man “is refusing to speak to investigators for now”, the source added.

The suspect has been held at a Paris hospital since Friday’s attack near the historic museum, which thrust the issue of security back into the headlines three months ahead of the French presidential election.

Based on his phone and visa records, he is thought to be Abdallah El-Hamahmy, a 29-year-old Egyptian national living in the United Arab Emirates, who entered France legally on a flight from Dubai on January 26.

Investigators believe Hamahmy rented an expensive apartment near the Champs Elysees.

‘No sign of radicalisation’

Police were examining Hamahmy’s Twitter account after around a dozen messages were posted in Arabic just minutes before the attack.

“In the name of Allah… for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world,” he wrote, before referring to the Islamic State jihadist group in another tweet a minute later.

Speaking to AFP in Cairo on Saturday, a retired police general, Reda El-Hamahmy, said he believed the wounded suspect was his son, Abdallah, who had been in Paris on a business trip.

But he said there were no signs his son had been radicalised.

“He went on a company trip and when it was over visited the museum. He was supposed to leave on Saturday,” he told AFP, saying his son was married and his pregnant wife was currently staying in Saudi Arabia with their seven-month-old son.

“He is a simple guy,” he said. “I can show you pictures where he has no beard,” he said. Beards are often grown by devout Muslims.

Over the past two years, France has suffered a string of bloody attacks by Islamic extremists and has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

Security, immigration and the economy are all major issues for voters ahead of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections which are expected to confirm the country’s shift to the right after five years of Socialist rule.

(AFP)

US court rejects immediate overturn of Trump travel ban

US court rejects immediate overturn of Trump travel ban

http://f24.my/2laXu9Y

A US federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.

“Appellants’ request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied,” the ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

It said a reply from the Justice Department in support of the emergency appeal was due on Monday.

The government had moved late Saturday to reverse a federal judge’s Friday order that lifted the travel ban, saying that the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and second-guessed the president’s national security judgment.

Friday’s ruling prompted Trump to denounce the “so-called” judge in a series of tweets on Saturday.

The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at anytime to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing.

The Department filed the appeal a day after the federal judge in Seattle ordered Trump’s travel ban to be lifted. The president’s Jan. 27 order had barred admission of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen for 90 days.

Seattle US District Judge James Robart’s ruling barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.

Trump, whose personal attack on Robart went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail.

“We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” he told reporters in Florida.
Robart’s ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington State and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.

The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide.

The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart’s legal reasoning and said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and didn’t identify any legal defect in the order.

State lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at US airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president’s directive.

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart’s order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

A decision to reinstate Trump’s order could again cause havoc at US airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on Jan. 27.

As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travelers from the seven countries who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes three judges appointed by former Republican president George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

(FRANCE with AFP and REUTERS)

BBC News: White House makes ultimatum to diplomats

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

White House makes ultimatum to diplomats – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38804464

BBC News: Ukraine: Inside civilians’ living nightmare

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

Ukraine: Inside civilians’ living nightmare – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38862480

Today’s Holiday:Roger Williams Day

Today’s Holiday:
Roger Williams Day
Roger Williams was the founder of the American Baptist Church. Born in Wales, he arrived in the Massachusetts colony on this day in 1631 and soon found himself in profound disagreement with the local Puritans. He fled south to what is now called Providence and founded the Rhode Island colony. Under his leadership, the people of Rhode Island were the first to establish a Baptist congregation on American soil (in 1638) and the first to build a community based on this principle of religious liberty.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Today’s Birthday:Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron (1934)

Today’s Birthday:
Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron (1934)
Aaron was the first US baseball player to hit more career home runs than Babe Ruth. After playing briefly in the Negro leagues and then in the minor leagues, Aaron moved up to the majors as an outfielder with the Milwaukee—later Atlanta—Braves in 1954 and was National League MVP in 1957. Upon breaking Ruth’s record in 1974, he was besieged by the media and badgered by racist letter-writers, and retired just two years later. Aaron’s home run record remained unbroken until when?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

This Day in History:United Artists Film Studio Is Founded (1919)

This Day in History:
United Artists Film Studio Is Founded (1919)
In 1919, four of the leading figures in Hollywood—Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Douglas Fairbanks—decided to form their own film studio to better control their own work. Though initially successful, United Artists foundered as films became more expensive to produce. It was taken over in the 1950s and began to thrive again until the 80s, when it was bought by the studio MGM. What famous actor announced plans to resurrect United Artists in 2006 as part owner of the company?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Quote of the Day:John Milton

Quote of the Day:
John Milton
Deep versed in books and shallow in himself.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Article of the Day:Simulated Reality

Article of the Day:
Simulated Reality
The idea that reality could be simulated to a such a degree that it becomes indistinguishable from “true” reality raises a number of questions, including whether the reality we experience is in fact a simulated reality, whether it is possible to determine if we are in a simulated reality, and whether a simulated reality differs from a “real” one. What common phenomenon, which leads many people to believe that a false reality is true, is cited as proof that people will accept simulated realities?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Word of the day:Tutelage

Word of the day:

Tutelage

Definition: (noun) The capacity or activity of a tutor; instruction or teaching.
Synonyms: tuition
Usage: Michael’s crowning achievement, under Daughtry’s tutelage, in the first days in the stateroom, was to learn to count up to five.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch