MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Extremists welcome Qatar World Cup.EXTREMISTS welcomed FIFA's decision to have Qatar host the 2022 World Cup, predicting Al-Qaeda will establish an "Islamic State" in the Gulf region in the coming years, monitors said. "You fools, know that Al-Qaeda is on the threshold of establishing the shariah (Islamic law) of Allah the Almighty," a user who went by the name Hafeed al-Hussein posted on the Shumukh al-Islam online forum, according to the US-based SITE Intelligence Group."And who knows, Allah may empower al-Qaeda so that it takes control of matters after a year or two, or five years at most."In 2022, there is no country with the name Qatar, and there is no province called Kuwait and there is no Saudi (Arabia). Instead, there is an emirate called the Islamic State," the post added."In 2018, Russia will organise (the games) and the brothers in the emirate of the Caucasus, with permission from Allah, will make a case to cancel Qatar's" games, he wrote.A forum user who went by the name Huna al-Qaeda predicted 2022 "will be the first World Cup for the mujahideen, with permission from Allah."Hmmm....Thus spoke the almighty referee,entree cards to be bought at the nearest Al-Qaeda head office?Read the full story here.

• HT:BloggerBase.Warning:Two Devout Muslims Appointed to Homeland Security Posts.Well, boys and girls, the fox is guarding the hen house. The wolves will be herding the sheep! President Obama appointed two devout Muslims (Must Watch Video: "3 Things Everyone Should Know About Islam") to homeland security posts. Obama and Janet Napolitano appointed Arif Alikhan, a devout Muslim, as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano swore-in Kareem Shora, a devout Muslim, who was born in Damascus, Syria, as ADC National Executive Director as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). NOTE: Has anyone ever heard a new government official being identified as a devout Catholic, a devout Jew or a devout Protestant...? Just wondering. Devout Muslims being appointed to critical Homeland Security positions? Doesn't this make you feel safer already?? That should make our home land much safer, huh!? Was it not "Devout Muslim men" that flew planes into U.S. buildings 8 1/2 years ago? Was it not a Devout Muslim who killed 13 at Fort Hood ? Please forward this important information to any who cares about the future of our Country.Hmmm......You got to be kidding me!Merry Christmas America.Talk about the ennemy within?Read the full story here.Related : Obama appoints Muslim whose son was killed waging jihad against Russians.Source.

• HT:AmnonAndJonathan.Video : View from Haifa University!Location :- Haifa University Climatology lab. View :- South - West.Time :- 2/12/2010 Start 00:00:00 Stop 20:53:23.See the whole story here.

• Update.Blaze out of control; firemen rescued from flames.Massive blaze rages out of control Friday night; firefighters rescued from northern community of Nir Etzion. Fire brigades plan major operation for Saturday using some 30 firefighting aircraft. Israel’s deadliest fire, which claimed the lives of at least 41 people, continues to rage for second night in a row: Several firefighters were rescued from the flames in the northern community of Nir Etzion, where paramedics continued to search for possible casualties in the area. The fire raged of control late Friday, prompting authorities to block Highway 4. Residents of Nir Etzion as well as Ein Hod and Yemin Ord were ordered to leave their homes urgently as result of grave fears for their lives. The communities were evacuated Thursday, but some residents returned to their houses on Friday. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that the flames were nearing the Nir Etzion meat factory, which holds gas depots on site.Also Friday, the fire reached the Carmel Forest Spa resort, which was evacuated earlier, and engulfed it in flames. Dozens of firemen were forced to flee the resort earlier as flames approached them rapidly. The blaze was also moving closer to University of Haifa and to the Denia neighborhood in town, Israel’s third-largest city, and was raging in the Isfiya area as well.While the blaze rages on, officials at the fire command post are planning to renew major aerial firefighting efforts on Saturday after halting them at night. Authorities are preparing a complex operation utilizing some 30 firefighting aircraft. The effort will be coordinated by Air Force officials who enlisted for the cause.Firefighting and Rescue Services Spokesman Yoram Levy expressed optimism in a conversation with Ynet, saying that “tomorrow we’ll deliver a serious blow” to the blaze. Read the full story here.

• "The War on Christmas".'Christmas' Missing From School Calendar Angers Residents.Some people in New Hanover County are upset that school officials decided to use the word "holiday" instead of "Christmas" for their official school calendar.WECT reports the choice, made by the New Hanover County Board of Education, has angered some Christians.The 2011-2012 calendar also does not list Easter and the word "holiday" is used. Meanwhile all other holidays such as Veteran's Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day are clearly identified and labeled."I think that they've offended a lot of people," Theresa McCoy, owner of Cox Christian Bookstore, told WECT. "[They have offended] the Christians who love God and the Christians that want to talk about Christmas."Wake County Public Schools list all holidays as a simple "H"; Durham lists Good Friday as "spring holiday" and Christmas as "winter holiday", while wording all other holidays; Orange County names every individual holiday, including Good Friday, but lists Christmas as "winter vacation"; and Johnston County names every holiday, including Christmas and Good Friday.We want to know what you think. Should it be "Christmas" or "Holiday" and should parents be upset over which word is used? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.Hmmm....who declared war on Christianity?Read the full story here.

• Pakistan's Tourism Minister – 'Taliban are the True Followers of Islamic Ideology And America is the Biggest Terrorist of the World'.Pakistani Columnist – 'Minister's... Utterances Simply Confirm the Deeply Schizophrenic Country Pakistan has Become'.Tourism Minister: "It is America Which is Against the Interfaith Harmony to Maintain Its Hegemony on the World…""Ulema [Islamic scholars] and the Taliban are the true followers of Islamic ideology and America is the biggest terrorist of the world, which is creating hatred against them…""The ongoing spate of terrorism cannot be eliminated until the U.S. and the world gives equal rights and respect to the Muslims…""It is a misconception that Ulema and the Taliban are against coexistence of people with different religions; in fact it is America which is against the interfaith harmony to maintain its hegemony on the world…"Pakistani Columnist: "The Minister has Openly and Clearly Stated that Pakistan’s Religious Parties and Their Supporters are On the Same Wavelength as the Taliban".Hmmmmm.....perhaps give them another $5 Billion extra.Read the full story here.

• Rising Oil Prices Fuels Debate Over Offshore Drilling.With oil prices climbing near highs for the year above $88 a barrel Friday, energy analysts predicted that oil could rise to $120 a barrel before the end of 2012, adding more fuel to the debate over offshore drilling.It's hard to say exactly what that would mean for motorists buying gasoline since the price of gas depends upon a number of different variables, including the region, retail prices and local and state taxes, AAA told FoxNews.com.But the current national average price of gas is $2.90 as of Thursday, according to AAA's website. And in July 2008, when oil prices was above $145 a barrel, the national average price of gas was $4.11.The Obama administration's announcement reversed it's decision to hunt for oil and gas that the president himself announced three weeks before the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The oil and gas industry and many Republicans say the Obama administration is stifling domestic oil production and contradicting the will of recession-weary voters eager for new jobs."We're going to use OPEC's oil," he said. "The problem isn't doing business with OPEC. The problem is doing business in a world where OPEC is becoming less relevant."Hmmmm....Lets talk again in Januari,when Iran is chairman of the Opec?Read the full story here.

• Two nabbed on suspicion of lighting fires in North of Israel.Police chief: Main Carmel fire began from single site, will soon determine whether ignited as result of negligence or arson; new fire burning near Route 70 south of Haifa. Police chief: Main Carmel fire began from single site, will soon determine whether ignited as result of negligence or arson; new fire burning near Route 70 south of Haifa.Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen said that the two arson suspects arrested earlier in the day are not linked to the main fire on the Carmel Mountain, at a press conference Friday evening.Cohen said that investigators have determined that the large fire (Carmel) spread from a single ignition point. He added that the cause of the fire, either arson or negligence, would probably be determined by Saturday.The police inspector-general said that there were, however, a number of suspected arson attacks in the North, but that the cause of the large Carmel fire was still unknown.Police have said that additional fires in Kiryat Bialik and Tivon were both caused by arson.A separate wildfire was reported Friday afternoon in a field near Route 70, in the southern Carmel mountains near Bat Shlomo (south of Haifa). Route 70 was closed to traffic in both directions.Earlier on Friday, police found a bike, a bag, and a wig inside near a fire center in Tzur Shalom, leading them to believe that the fire was caused by an arsonist or arsonists. Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Post that there are 3 fire centers - Tzur Shalom, the Atlit - Tirat Hacarmel area, and the Carmel hillsides. In one, Tzur Shalom, north of Haifa, "we located suspicious items pointing to arson. As for the other two major fires, it is too early and the incidents are to large in scale to know their causes at this stage." The death toll in the fires rose to 42 on Friday according to Army Radio.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Turkish Journalist Society Says U.S. Embassy Must Disclose Names Of Turkish Reporters In Contact With U.S.The United States Embassy in Ankara should disclose the names of journalists who gave information to the embassy, the Turkish Journalist's Society said in a written statement today.The director of the society's press council said that no one had the right to make allegations leaving journalists under suspicion following the release of some WikiLeaks cables quoting Turkish journalists.“We consider it necessary that the allegations the U.S. ambassador to Turkey received information from some Turkish journalists are clarified,” the TGC statement said.“To evaluate the context in which journalists and the embassy are thought to have engaged and whether that is compatible with journalistic principles. The names of the journalists and the quality of the information should be disclosed. No one has the right to make allegations that would leave journalists in general under suspicion,” the statement read.Hmmm....ever heard of Freedom of the press and protecting sources?Ah yes this is Turkey we're talking about with more then 50 journalists in prison.Read the full story here.

• IPI’s Turkish National Committee, Says 50 Journalists Now in Prison in Turkey.The Steering Committe of the Brussels-based European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Friday 5 November lent its full support to a campaign by the Turkish ‘Freedom for Journalists Platform which seeks the release of all journalists currently imprisoned in Turkey. EFJ representatives, along with their colleagues from the NUJ branch and the AGJPB, demonstrated in front of the Turkish embassy in Brussels, to mark the organisation’s fifth annual “Stand Up for Journalism Day”.An EFJ letter to Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the EU, at the Turkish embassy in Brussels, Selim Kuneralp, noted that in Turkey journalists’ “fundamental rights to freedom of expression are violated on a daily basis.”Meanwhile, in the Turkish capital Ankara, members of the Freedom for Journalists Platform – which includes the International Press Institute’s Turkish National Committee - gathered opposite the offices of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and read out a press release.
  The press release – entitled “We Stand Up for Freedom for the Journalısts” – noted that as of 30 September, 2010, there were 50 press workers in Turkish prisons. Six of them have been sentenced.Hmmm....Turkey ....freedom of the press? Read the full story here.

• You Thought Passing Health Reform Was Hard? Try Repealing It.Critics of health care reform this week thought they would get their first win in the campaign to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Instead they got a lesson in just how politically challenging a wholesale repeal might be.At issue was an obscure, but unpopular, provision within the new health law that requires businesses to file 1099 tax forms anytime they purchase goods or services worth more than $600. The idea is to collect income taxes from the vendors producing those goods and services -- taxes many vendors avoid paying now. The change is supposed to produce $19 billion in new revenue. The money will help pay for the health overhaul's consumer protections and coverage expansions.But many businesses say that filing all the new 1099s will be a huge burden. Even some of the law's architects, like Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., say they are sympathetic to those complaints. For several months, they have been promising to strip the provision -- and to replace it with something better.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGoverment.Nothing Changed This Week-The FCC Still Has No Authority to Regulate the Internet.The news to be culled from this latest Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempt to usurp Internet regulatory authority and impose Network Neutrality is – there really is no news. At least in the broadest – and most important – sense.What was true before FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Tuesday midnight run to grab power over the Web remains true today – the FCC does not have the authority to do what they have just announced they will do on December 21st.Unless and until the Congress enacts law making it so, the FCC doesn’t have the authority to do anything. December’s vote to commandeer control of the Internet is no more legitimate than – and just as capricious as – if they were to vote themselves masters of all the nation’s pizza joints.The FCC – no government agency – can just decide they want to regulate an industry – and then vote themselves power over it. That’s not constitutional, representative, limited government – that’s Hugo Chavez-style expropriative despotism.And it’s not as if The Chairman has been suffering from a dearth of people pointing out his lack of authority. We have repeatedly pointed it out. And it hasn’t just been us.In April, the D.C. Circuit Court said so, unanimously ruling the obvious – that the Commission does not have the authority to do anything to the Internet.Then 302 members of Congress said the same – a large bipartisan majority. So then did more than 150 organizations, state legislators and bloggers , seventeen minority groups (that are usually almost always in Democrat lockstep) and many additional normally Democrat paragons including several large unions, several racial grievance groups and at least one anti-free market environmentalist group.And then The Chairman officially announced his intent to usurp authority.His Republican FCC colleagues – Commissioners Meredith Atwell-Baker and Robert McDowell – did not mince words. Commissioner Baker said it is a “mistake,” and rightly reasserted the evident: “We do not have authority to act.”Commissioner McDowell pointed out one of the uglier aspects of this utterly ugly power grab: “Pushing a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a ‘choice’ between a bad option (Title I Internet regulation) or a worse option (regulating the Internet like a monopoly phone company under Title II) smacks more of coercion than consensus or compromise.”All four potential Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman – the FCC-relevant House Committee – lambasted the move and vowed to undo it as soon as any one of them are sworn in as the new Majority in January. Notable here is that they plan to undo it legislatively, which is again the only proper way this should be done in the first place.So if it ain’t broke, why is The Chairman planning to execute a HUGE, overreaching Christmas power grab to “fix” it?Hmmmm.....Just to take controll of everything?Read the full story here.

• Israel cannot have access to NATO capabilities, Turkish president says.NATO capabilities could not be used by Israel, the Turkish president said, reaffirming a condition of the country’s support for the alliance’s United States-led missile defense project. “Israel is not a member of NATO and any cooperation is not a point in the issue. I explicitly say in principle this is not possible,” President Abdullah Gül told Euronews during an interview Friday.During talks prior to a recent NATO summit, Turkey said it would only support the defense project if the alliance agreed to the condition it would not share intelligence with non-NATO members. This was a veiled reference to Israel, given the U.S.’ alleged ambition that the project protect that country against a possible attack from Iran. In these most recent comments, Gül has explicitly ruled out the possibility of Israel accessing NATO resources and capabilities.Hmmmm....since when is Turkey the spokesperson for NATO?And behave like they own NATO?You can't single out Iran, but Israel is no problem?Read the full story here.

• Pakistan's flood aid 'unspent and mismanaged'.Mismanagement and misuse of cash are hampering relief efforts for Pakistan's flood victims with nearly 60 million dollars in a prime minister's fund still unspent, officials say.Foreign donors have stumped up just half of a U.N. appeal target of $1.93 billion, sparking fears for 6.8 million who need emergency shelter as winter sets in, while farmland could remain flooded for another six months.But officials say efforts to rebuild 1.6 million homes are being compromised by infighting between federal and provincial authorities, and express amazement that a $58.5 million prime minister's fund remains entirely unspent.Read the full story here.

• Pakistan - Christian and Muslim religious leaders call for changes to blasphemy law.Participants at a seminar titled “The Blasphemy Laws, A call for Review”, organised by the Jinnah Institute on Wednesday, agreed that the blasphemy law is discriminatory and is being used by individuals as a tool for revenge in personal disputes. Christian and Muslim religious leaders as well as representatives of NGOs and civil society were present. Pakistan’s Federal Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, was also there.Participants discussed a draft bill by former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman that would modify sections 295A and C of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as section 298 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The bill intends to ensure that all citizens of Pakistan have an equal right to constitutional protection and that miscarriages of justice in the name of blasphemy are avoided at all costs.Javed Ahmad Ghamdi, a Muslim religious scholar, also criticised the law for discriminating against minorities. In his view, the law must be reviewed in accordance with the real teachings of Islam so as to prevent judges from using any loopholes. According to data from the Catholic Church’s National Commission on Justice and Peace, at least 964 people were charged between 1986 and 2009 with desecrating the Qur‘an or defaming the Prophet Muhammad. They include 479 Muslim, 340 Ahmadis, 119 Christians, 14 Hindus and 10 people from other religions. The blasphemy law is often used as a pretext for attacks, personal vendettas or extra-judicial murders. Since it came into effect, 33 people have been killed by individuals or angry mobs.Hmmm......The Religion of Peace.Read the full story here.

• Iran arrests suspects 'linked to foreign spy agencies' over bomb attack which killed nuclear scientist.Iranian intelligence has said it has made a number of arrests over the murder of a nuclear scientist, state television reported.The unspecified number of those arrested have been linked to foreign spy agencies in Israel, the United States and Britain, according to reports.Nuclear scientist Dr Majid Sharuyari was killed in a bomb attack on his car in Tehran on Monday, his wife was also wounded.A second blast seriously wounded another nuclear scientist Dr Fereidoun Abbasi-Davani and his wife was also injured in the city on the same day.Intelligence Minister, Heydar Moslehi, said: 'A part of a group behind the recent terrorist attacks have been arrested. 'Mossad, CIA and MI6 have played a role in this incident and by arresting these people we have found new clues,' television quoted Iranian minister Moslehi as saying. 'Those who cooperated with these spy agencies ... had more plans, but they were stopped,' he added, without giving the number of those arrested or any other further details.Hmmmm...."It's a Zionist plot"?Read the full story here.

• ADL calls on universities to strip former White House correspondent Helen Thomas of all professional honors following anti-Jewish speech.In response to former White House correspondent Helen Thomas’s latest anti-Jewish comments, the Anti-Defamation League is calling on all journalism schools and professional organizations to rescind the honors they have granted her.On Thursday in Dearborn, Mich., Thomas defended the comments that resulted in her abrupt resignation from Hearst Newspapers (telling the Jews to get out of Israel) and went on to assert that Zionists controlled America’s foreign policy and institutions.“Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. No question, in my opinion,” Thomas said. “They put their money where their mouth is. We’re being pushed into a wrong direction in every way.”Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, expressed his displeasure and called on those who have honored Thomas to revoke their support in a statement released Friday“Helen Thomas has clearly, unequivocally revealed herself as a vulgar anti-Semite,” Foxman said. “Her suggestion that Zionists control government, finance and Hollywood is nothing less than classic, garden-variety anti-Semitism. This is a sad final chapter to an otherwise illustrious career. Unlike her previous, spontaneous remarks into a camera, these words were carefully thought out and conscious. It shows a prejudice that is deep-seated and obsessive.Hmmmm.....finally the Truth!Read the full "story" here.

• Churches organise day of fasting on 9 December to remember the martyrs of Baghdad’s cathedral.The Council of Christian Religious Leaders in Iraq has called on the faithful from all Churches to commemorate the martyrs of Baghdad’s Syriac-Orthodox Cathedral on 9 December. On 31 October, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists stormed Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the Iraqi capital, as the liturgy was underway. Because of the attack and the subsequent gun battle between hostage takers and Iraqi security forces, 58 people were killed and more than 70 were wounded. Forty-six Christians, including women, children and two priests, were among the dead.On Wednesday, Christian leaders turned down an invitation to participate in a meeting in Erbil on “Coexistence and social tolerance” organised by the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights. By refusing to take part in the event, they wanted to tell the government that it has shown inadequate concern for the security of Christians.Hmmmm.....Outrage of the American President....silence....crickets.Read the full story here.

• CITIBANK sues Ground Zero Victory Mosque developer for default on $100,000 business loan.Citibank has sued Ground Zero mosque developer, Sharif El-Gamal and his real estate firm, Soho Properties, over failure to pay back nearly $100,000 ($99,489) borrowed from a business credit account last year, according to a complaint filed in a Manhattan court.This is not the first time that the developer of the controversial Ground Zero mosque has come under the purview of such charges. El-Gamal has been hounded by other creditors. In October, Valley National Bank sued El-Gamal and Soho Properties for $95,778 plus interest after they defaulted on a loan in 2009, the suit charges.In August, a Manhattan landlord sued El-Gamal and Soho Properties for $39,000 in back rent. The suit was later withdrawn, and the matter was resolved out of court.Hmmm....Meanwhile applying for a $ 5 Million taxpayer loan from the city?Ah but yes he's  was just made NBC’s Person of the Year.Read the full story here.

• HT:Israpundit.One paperclip at a time. Children at a small Tennessee school find a unique way to honor Holocaust victims.After learning that Hitler killed six million Jews, a group of 8th graders tried to understand what a number that big looked like. The students decided to collect a paper clip for each Jew who died in the Holocaust, after learning that a Norwegian Jew invented the paper clip, and Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a symbol of solidarity against Nazi occupation in World War II.“When I heard about the project and was asked to help, I was so excited I couldn’t say ‘yes’ quick enough!” Sandra Roberts, an 8th grade teacher recalls in Paper Clips.“We set out to teach our children that not everyone is white and Protestant and lives in a rural community. That is all we wanted to do! Just a nice simple thing,” said Linda Hooper, former principal of Whitwell Middle School.The project began slowly, when the students mailed out letters requesting paperclips and responses came back explaining the reasons for those sending one in. Over several years, thousands of paperclips and letters were received from all over the world, including from Tom Hanks, Bill Cosby and former president George H. Bush and his son, George W.Bush. One jewelry designer in California sent a shipment of 100,000 paper clips. But the students still needed millions more to reach their goal.Hmmm....something tells me probably the current President has not send a paperclip ...... yet?Read and see the full story here.

• Disappointing Job Growth in U.S. as Jobless Rate Hits 9.8%.In a jolting surprise to the economic recovery and market expectations, the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, according to the Department of Labor. November’s numbers were far below the consensus forecast of close to 150,000 jobs added and an unchanged unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. More than 15 million people remained out of work last month, and 6.3 million of them have been unemployed for six months or longer.Retail jobs declined by 28,000 in November, while manufacturing, which had showed some strength earlier in the year, lost 13,000 jobs. Government jobs dropped by 11,000 in the month. Hmmmm.....Solution from the planbureau....Install bodyscanners everywhere and hire people to man them?Read the full story here.

• Pakistani cleric calls for Christian to be killed.PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A hardline Pakistani cleric offered a cash reward Friday for anyone who kills a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy against Islam. A Pakistani court sentenced Asia Bibi to death on Nov. 8, triggering protests from human rights groups and Christian organizations in Pakistan and abroad. Islamist political parties have demonstrated in support of the sentence and the blasphemy laws. Yousef Qureshi made the call for her murder at a rally in the northwestern town of Peshawar. "The Mohabat Khan mosque of Peshawar will pay a reward of 500,000 rupees ($5,800) to those who kill Asia Bibi," Qureshi told around 300 people, referring to the mosque he preaches at. City authorities were not immediately available for comment on his remarks.Later, Qureshi told reporters that his first demand was for the government to execute Bibi. If not, he said, "then we appeal to the mujahedeen, the Taliban and all those who love the Prophet to come forward and kill this woman."Hm.......Obama...."Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:WZ.CNN Reporter Placed on TSA Terror Watch List After Criticizing The… TSA…Read and see the full story here.

• More horror stories from Russian child hospitals.On the eve of a large-scale rally planned to promote improved healthcare for children in Novosibirsk, two more incidents highlight the parlous state of Russia’s hospitals.In Zabaikalsk Region, deep in Siberia, parents are planning legal action against the doctors who they believe failed to save their son’s life.Meanwhile a blogger has launched an online appeal to President Dmitry Medvedev over the “nightmare” conditions in a Moscow children’s hospital.In a case which echoes the death of eight-month-old Maxim Makarov in Novosibirsk earlier this month, the family of Andrei Kotenok are taking legal action after the six-year-old’s death following kidney surgery.According to gzt.ru the family found one hospital could provide neither specialist staff nor appropriate medicine when he needed surgery after a cycling accident in June 2010, and it took a 10-hour drive to get the boy to a hospital which could help.That delay contributed to the boy’s death the next day, his relatives believe.It is also claimed that a shortage of suitable blood for a transfusion and a faulty monitor further hindered Andrei’s hopes of recovery.And, referring to the presidential address Medvedev made on Tuesday, which focused on children and modernisation, Yanissimo asked: “Do you have any ideas about children in general?“We are cut off from our culture. From education, from medicine, from science," he said sarcastically.“But we have Skolkovo, and we are proud of you"Hmmm.....medicare by the goverment...Obama's dream..or is it a nightmare?Read the full story here.

• At least 60 killed by cold snap across Europe.London's Gatwick airport reopened on Friday, but others including London Heathrow and Glasgow warned of more cancellations and delays.At least 60 people have died across Europe during the current cold snap, as snow plagued transport in Britain on Friday and serious flooding prompted mass evacuations in the Balkans.Seventeen people died in Central Europe in the last 24 hours from the cold, bringing the total this week to 45. A further 11 died in Russia, plus three in France and one in Germany, according to local authorities.At least 30 people, mainly homeless men, have died in Poland in the past week, and temperatures dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.Temperatures plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit) in Braemar, Scotland, while Britain struggled to get back to its feet after days of transport chaos.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Bruised, tied up and caged: The desperate plight of starving orangutans forced into villages to look for food as their rainforest home is destroyed.Arms wrapped dejectedly around his mother, this baby orangutan can only cling on to her for comfort after being tied up in a cage.The pitiful creatures were captured after going into a village in Sungai Pinyuh, Indonesia, in a desperate search for food.They were then beaten by villagers so badly one of the primates died before being locked in the tiny cage without food or water.Hmmm...who's are the animals?Read the full story here.