“With an ever-growing population in the Öresund region, a Swedish construction company wants to improve cross-country commuting with a speedy new metro line and ‘super bike tunnel’ to Copenhagen,” The Local reports. It’s a brilliant idea. Malmö—where I live—is only fourteen kilometres (8.5 miles) from Copenhagen, but the bridge connecting the two cities only transports cars and trains. A bike ride to Copenhagen would be great.
I’m trying to figure out how to apply a nicer design to my feed using XSL. I like the challenge of learning new code, but it’s frustrating when you can’t get it to work the way you want it to. Anyhow, if you read this, I probably did something right.
Update: Arrrh! The XSL file is doing my head in, so I give it up for now. I take some comfort in the fact that most people will never see the result of an XSL file anyway since browsers and feed readers normally apply their own style to XML files. But it still bugs be that I can’t get it to work properly.
I have just been reading the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights on France’s so-called burqa ban. I find it troubling to say the least. The court recognises that the ban explicitly targets women of a Muslim minority, but it still comes to the conclusion that the law is not in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. From the press release:
While the Court was aware that the disputed ban mainly affected certain Muslim women, it nevertheless noted that there was no restriction on the freedom to wear in public any item of clothing which did not have the effect of concealing the face and that the ban was not expressly based on the religious connotation of the clothing in question but solely on the fact that it concealed the face.
To me, this is absurd. Assume that the Taliban took power in a European country and they wanted to enforce the Islamic prohibition of monasticism. All they had to do to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights would be to design the ban as general rules. They could for example make a law that prohibits groups of adult people living together in single-sex units and then legitimise the effects on nuns and monks by saying it’s a rule that applies to everyone.
What makes state secularism great is its unique ability to tolerate people regardless of religion. In an ideal secularism, the state remains mute on religious matters. But what this ruling makes legal is a state secularism that does the opposite.
(Seen in the picture is a group of Afghan women wearing burqas outside a USAID-supported health-care clinic.)
“A group of faith leaders is urging the Obama administration to include a religious exemption in a forthcoming LGBT anti-discrimination action,” Molly Ball of the Atlantic writes. “We are asking that an extension of protection for one group not come at the expense of faith communities whose religious identity and beliefs motivate them to serve those in need,” the letter states. That’s one fancy way of describing discrimination. It’s obvious that homophobia is more important to these people than serving the needy. But this also illustrates the problem with government interference, where laws that are meant to help people often result in blunt discrimination.
Wow! I’m not a huge fan of Pride events, but this is impressive.
Swedish media reports that a 38-year-old man in Malmö has been severely beaten with an iron bar by a gang after displaying an Israeli flag.
Update: The Local has more.
From The Economist:
France adheres to a strict form of secularism, known as laïcité, which is designed to keep religion out of public life. This principle was entrenched by law in 1905, after fierce anti-clerical struggles with the Roman Catholic church. Today, the lines are in some ways blurred. The French maintain, for instance, certain Catholic public holidays, such as Ascension. But secular rules on the whole prevail. It would be unthinkable in France, for example, to hold a nativity play in a state primary school, or for a president to be sworn in on a Bible.
Over the past 30 years, in response to a growing assertiveness among the country’s 5m-6m Muslims, the focus of this effort to balance religious and secular needs has shifted to Islam. After a decade of legal uncertainty over the wearing of the headscarf in state schools, the French government in 2004 banned all “conspicuous” religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf, from public institutions such as state schools or town halls. This was followed in 2010 by what the French call the “burqa ban”, outlawing the full face covering in public. Critics accuse France of illiberalism, of curbing freedom of religious expression, and of imposing a Western interpretation of female oppression. Amnesty International, for example, called the recent European court ruling “a profound retreat for the right to freedom of expression and religion”. For the French, however, it is part of an unapologetic effort to keep religious expression private, and to uphold the country’s republican secular identity.
My take on the burqa ban here.
“Dubai is planning to build a temperature-controlled city,” AFP reports. The indoors is the new outdoors.
“A Russian Orthodox Priest has claimed that the World Cup is an abomination because players wear brightly-coloured shoes,” Pink News reports.
“This is the shocking moment ISIS militants took sledgehammers to Iraqi tombstones—smashing them to pieces.” Daily Mail reports. “The rebels, who are members of the Islamic State terror group, were filmed attacking centuries-old graves in the north-west city of Mosul in Ninevah province.”
The picture is from Jami’ al-tawarikh and depicts Jonah and the whale.
This image illustrated the problem that Israel has to deal with. Hamas fires rockets from Gaza into Israel and then hide in civilian homes. It’s disgraceful.
The cynicism of the Palestinian propaganda war is staggering. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is right when he says, “We use missiles to defend civilians, Hamas uses civilians to defend missiles.”
It’s not often that I watch football as much as I have in the past few days, but with so many great European teams in the top, I just had to. Germany won tonight’s game against Argentina, and the Netherlands won yesterday’s game against Brazil. Germany is now number one in the world, and the Netherlands is number three. Europe rules!
As always, Israel is treated differently from other countries. When the Chinese government sends troops to occupied Tibet, no one in Europe would even think of harassing the local Chinese restaurateurs. But whenever Israel is doing something similar, the Jews of Europe are targeted by angry mobs. It’s something about this particular conflict that makes people go mad. My only explanation is that it brings Europe’s millennia-old anti-Semitism alive. Hating the Jews comes natural to many Europeans in a way that hating the Chinese does not.
“It means same-sex couples will now enjoy equal inheritance rights, social benefits and tax deductions,” Pink News reports.
“A Swedish nurse who was fired for refusing to perform abortions due to her religious beliefs has enlisted the help of an American Christian legal organisation as she takes her dismissal case to court,” The Local reports. This could potentially be a major court case with great implications for Sweden’s abortion law.
Dr Joep Lange, a Dutch researcher whose work towards finding prevention and treatment of HIV is unmatched, and partner Jacqueline von Tongeren, were amongst the 298 killed in the Russian attack on the civilian aeroplane over Ukraine. Russia has a lot to answer for.
I love fruit—it is tasty and it is healthy. Lifespan lists ten fruits with medicinal benefits. On the list, tart cherries are my favourite. Yum!
Adiv Sterman of the Times of Israel writes about the many protests that have turned racist. These racist outbreaks poison every attempt to have a sane discussion about the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which is now hurting the Palestinian civilians as well as the Israeli ones.
By coincident, I came across this article about Technorati from 16 June. The one website that all of the blogosphere was relating to a few years ago is suddenly gone without anyone really noticing. It was then the world’s largest blog directory. It’s fascinating how quickly things move nowadays. What was the big new thing a couple of years ago is suddenly gone and no one cares. In a way, it’s the same with the blogosphere itself. It’s not what it used to be.
It’s been rumoured for years now, but the large iPhone now seems to be a reality pretty soon as Apple places an order for 80 million devices.
The Times of Israel reports on the real reason for the many deaths in Gaza—the terror organisations dirty trick of using civilian homes, schools, and hospitals as military bases. As long as Hamas and others play this dirty, Gaza’s civilian population will suffer. Israel has no choice. It simply is not tolerable to have a neighbouring territory sending thousands of rockets at civilian Israelis year in and year out. It must come to an end, and the Hamas leadership could end this today if it wanted to.
It’s heart breaking to watch the ceremony at an Eindhoven airport where Dutch officials are now receiving some of the victims of the Russian-backed terrorist attack on a civilian aeroplane.
This woman is so mad it’s funny. Her take on sports is hilarious: “The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport. Most sports are sublimated warfare.” Read her rant in full here.
“The label ‘foreign agent’ implies that a group carries out work on behalf of foreign countries, and restricts the work they can do and messages communicated,” Pink News reports. Leading gay-rights organisation Coming Out has been told by a St Petersburg court that it now must register as a foreign agent. The absurdity of Putin’s Russia is hard to comprehend.
The sun is about to disappear on the sky above Malmö and I prepare mentally for the Shabbat. I try to focus on the positive, such as the warm and sunny weather we are enjoying here at the moment. But the outside world seems more frightening than usual with a devastating war between Israel and the Gaza terrorists, with civilians trapped in the fire on both sides of the border. And as if this was not bad enough, the war in Ukraine seems to escalate by the day and I have a feeling that it might turn really ugly very soon as Russia acts increasingly hostile towards its western neighbours. I’m not much for prayer, but I really wish that the world will come to its senses and stop the madness before it’s too late.
The official blog of the Israel Defence Forces explains how Hamas sacrifices civilian Palestinians. It’s so dirty and evil.
“Marks & Spencer has been criticised for excluding Israel from its online international delivery scheme, despite the service being on offer to shoppers in Libya, Syria and Lebanon,” the Jewish Chronicle reports. I bet the retailer has some fancy explanation that would mask the racism behind this special treatment of the Jewish State. I bet Marks & Spencer has no problem with China either, despite its ongoing occupation of Tibet.
“Russia is set to revive a Soviet version of Eurovision, following the fact that bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, won the competition this year,” Pink News reports. The nations taking part will, apart from Russia, be China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Oh dear, how will Europe cope without the music wonders of Kyrgyzstan?
“The ever-controversial pronoun ‘hen’ has won its battle and is set to officially become part of the Swedish language,” The Local reports. I think it’s great. There are, after all, contexts in which a gender-specific pronoun is archaically sexist.
“UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday that a stockpile of Hamas rockets was found in one of UNRWA’s Gaza schools—for the third time,” The Times of Israel reports.
Jarrett Maupin, a priest and a candidate for the American Congress, is trying to win his primary with the endorsement of a Phoenix strip club.