Muslims resolute on NYC mosque

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Muslim leaders want the planned Islamic center with a mosque near Ground Zero in New York to "reflect America," the head of an Islamic organization said.

The leaders say the issue has become a test of their First Amendment right to build mosques anywhere in the country, the Christian Science Monitor reported Monday.

"From the discussion we had with the developer, they are committing to expedite the process, of making sure this project is coherent, has an advisory board from the Muslim community so this project will reflect America in terms of its spirit and its look at the future," Zaheer Uddin, executive director of the Islamic Leadership Council in New York, said.

The Islamic leaders' resolve puts pressure on the Muslim developer of the property, Sharif El-Gamal, to go through with the project, the newspaper said. Others are offering lucrative bids to the developer.

Developer Donald Trump offered $6 million for the property, which was bought for almost $2 million less, the newspaper said.

UPI

Obama economic adviser Summers leaving White House

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama's top economic adviser is going back to Harvard University at year's end, the White House announced Tuesday after hints of a shakeup of the administration's team.

Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary who led Obama's National Economic Council, will return to academia at the end of 2010, the White House announced. In a written statement on the move, Obama praised Summers for his "brilliance, experience and judgment".

"Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth," Obama said. "And while we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry's wise counsel".

Summers, who was Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006, said he will miss the White House and the "daily challenges of economic policymaking," but was looking forward to teaching again. His departure is the third high-profile exit from the president's economic team since the beginning of summer, and it comes as the administration grapples with poor reviews of its policies after a deep recession that has unemployment at nearly 10 percent.

Congressional elections are six weeks away, and a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early September found nearly 60 percent of Americans disapproved of the administration's handling of the economy. Fewer than 20 percent had a positive view of conditions, the survey found.

CNN

Lockerbie bomber 'very sick,' victim's father says

London, England (CNN) -- Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset al-Megrahi is "a very sick man," but there is no way to tell how long he will live, according to the father of one of the people who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the terror attack, saw al-Megrahi a week ago in Libya, he said Tuesday.

He also criticized U.S. senators who tried to hold hearings this summer into questions surrounding the release of al-Megrahi.

He said he had written to them to say it was more important to let Scottish legal proceedings run their course, since a review commission had found possible miscarriages of justice in the case.

"They didn't want to know about that," he said of the senators, saying they had not replied to his letter.

The Scottish government released al-Megrahi from prison just over a year ago on the grounds that he had cancer and was not likely to live more than three more months.

Swire, who does not believe that al-Megrahi is guilty, defended the decision.

"At three months, just over half [of people with his cancer] would be dead," Swire said.

CNN

Official: Yemen launches fierce offensive against al Qaeda

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Yemen has launched a wide-scale offensive against al Qaeda in the country's southeastern province, a government official said Tuesday.

The Yemeni government "dispatched forces backed by heavy weaponry, jets and choppers to surround a mountainous area," said the official, who asked for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said the offensive was in response to a militant attack last week on a pipeline carrying liquefied natural gas. The official described the multibillion-dollar pipeline as a "lifeline of the region."

The official added that militants have occupied homes and barricaded themselves in. He challenged claims that 80,000 people had been displaced.

A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. military has been providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance help during the offensive but stressed that Yemeni forces were primarily responsible for its planning and execution.

"The Yemeni government understands the threat within its own borders, to themselves and their people," the defense official said.

The Yemeni government has been fighting a growing al Qaeda element in Yemen called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The militant offshoot group grabbed the attention of the West with the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines trans-Atlantic flight as it landed in Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.

The suspect, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who has pleaded not guilty to six federal terrorism charges, was reportedly trained and armed in Yemen.

CNN

Senate halts 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

Washington (CNN) -- In a graphic example of election-year politics at work, a defense bill that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy got blocked Tuesday in the U.S. Senate by a Republican-led filibuster.

The bill stalled on a 56-43 vote, four short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, changed his vote to "no" as a tactical move, allowing him to bring the measure up later.

Reid and other Democrats accused Republicans of stalling the National Defense Authorization Act, which traditionally passes with bipartisan support, to undermine the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal and an immigration provision offering a path to citizenship for students and soldiers who are children of illegal immigrants.

Republicans countered that Democrats were trying to use defense policy act that authorizes $725 billion in military spending to force through provisions popular with their political base ahead of the November 2 congressional elections.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed disappointment at the vote but said "we'll keep trying" to get Congress to approve the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.

CNN

Google: Internet freedom is declining

(CNN) -- Think internet censorship only happens in China and Iran?

Think again, says Google.

The search company this week released a new online tool to highlight specific instances of government censorship of the internet in countries from Germany to Turkey and Australia to Thailand.

Called Google Transparency, the online report shows that internet censorship around the world is increasing over time, and not always in the countries you'd expect, said Dorothy Chou, a Google policy analyst who worked on the project.

"The threat to internet freedom has actually been growing over the past few years," she said, noting that the United States generally bucks that trend by supporting open online communication.

Google Transparency includes an interactive map where users can see how many requests countries have made for Google to block or remove content.

The online tool also lets users explore internet up-time in specific countries for specific Google-owned websites. Using the tool, for example, people can see that Iran blocked YouTube after a disputed election in 2009 and hasn't let its internet users see that video website since. After "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" -- an online protest in support of free speech -- earlier this year, Pakistan similarly blocked YouTube for 10 days, the data show.

Countries that would be thought less likely to filter the internet also try, Chou said.

Thailand, for example, asked Google to remove YouTube videos that showed the Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, with feet near his head. A national law bans such offensive representations, Chou said, and Google agreed not to show such videos within Thailand, although they are still available elsewhere in the world.

Germany bans neo-Nazi content, and Google has agreed to remove such sites from its Google.de search engine in that country, Chou said. Turkey, meanwhile, blocks YouTube, she said, because the company refused to take down all potentially offensive videos about Ataturk, the Turkish political hero.

Australia is considering a law that would block some websites in an effort to prevent the trafficking of child porn, she said.

Google said it hopes Transparency will shed light on how the internet differs from country to country, and on the efforts of nations to block internet content.

CNN

21-year-old admits killing 4

FARMVILLE, Va., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- An aspiring so-called horrorcore musician from California has pleaded guilty to killing his 16-year-old girlfriend, her parents and her best friend in Virginia.

Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 21, pleaded guilty Monday to capital murder and first-degree murder, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Under his plea agreement, he will be sentenced to life with no possibility of parole, avoiding the death penalty.

"What it really means is death in prison," James Ennis, Commonwealth's attorney for Prince Edward County, said after Monday's hearing. "It's a guaranteed outcome, and hopefully it will bring some measure of closure to the family".

McCroskey met Emma Niederbrock, who was 16 when he killed her, online. A year later, in September 2009, he visited her in Farmville, Va., and traveled with her, her parents and her friend, Melanie Wells, 18, to a horrorcore festival in Michigan.

Because he was finding the relationship unsatisfactory, McCroskey decided to kill Emma. He used a maul to attack Wells, Niederbrock and her mother, Debra Kelley, killing them in their sleep back in Virginia.

He killed Mark Niederbrock, who was separated from his wife, when he came to the house two days later.

UPI

US Supreme Court allows execution of Virginia woman

The US Supreme Court has refused to halt the Virginia execution of Teresa Lewis, scheduled for Thursday.

She is the first woman to face the death penalty in the US for five years.

Teresa Lewis, who has learning difficulties, conspired with two men to kill her husband and stepson in 2002, leaving a door unlocked so the gunmen could enter the family home.

Two of three women in the nine-judge court voted to halt the execution.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted against. but there was no other comment from the court.

Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell has said he will not commute the death penalty, despite claims Lewis, who pleaded guilty, has learning disabilities.

The two gunmen who carried out the killings received life sentences.

Lewis - due to die by lethal injection on Thursday - will be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912.

Her lawyers filed a petition for executive clemency on 25 August 2010.

Declining to commute the sentence, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell said: "Lewis does not deny that she committed these heinous crimes.

"Numerous psychiatrists and psychologists have analysed Lewis, both before and after her sentencing.

"After numerous evaluations, no medical professional has concluded that Teresa Lewis meets the medical or statutory definition of mentally retarded".

Lewis's husband, Julian Lewis, and stepson, Charles Lewis, were killed with shotgun blasts by Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller at their home in Danville, Virginia.

BBC News

Twins celebrate 100th birthday together

TYLER, Texas, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A Texas woman said it was "wonderful" to celebrate her 100th birthday alongside her fraternal twin brother.

Twins Hazel "Memaw" Pangburn Vick and Howard "Bubby" Pangburn crossed the century mark Monday in Tyler with family members, including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, KLTV, Tyler, reported Tuesday.

"It's wonderful to have your friends and all your family to come visit you," Vick said. "I've been looking forward to it".

Vick said she still drives to nearby locations while Pangburn, who lives near Houston, said he has given up driving but still has a license.

UPI

Virus infects D.C. tweeters

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Count the powerful in Washington among the many Twitter users powerless against a virus that infested the popular micro-blogging site.

Twitter accounts of both White House spokesman Robert Gibbs and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., were attacked, The Hill reported Tuesday.

Across the pond, Sarah Cameron, the wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, also was victimized.

After her account posted an infected tweet, she sent a warning to her followers "Don't touch the earlier tweet -- this Twoter (sic) feed has something very odd going on," The Washington Times reported.

Another social media site, Mashable, reported the bug was caused by a security flaw on Twitter.com, The Hill said. Users unknowingly were being directed to third-party Web sites, including pornography sites, by mousing over infected links.

UPI

Commonwealth Games: India vows to fix Delhi village

Senior officials in Delhi have insisted that the Indian capital will be ready to host the Commonwealth Games.

The comments come after the athletes' accommodation was criticised and branded as unfit for human habitation.

International delegates have said the facilities are filthy and unhygienic, just days before athletes arrive.

A senior official said Westerners had "different standards" of hygiene, but that the site was being thoroughly cleaned before the opening.

Delegates who visited the tower blocks where athletes will live during the games had described them as filthy, with rubble lying in doorways, dogs inside the buildings, toilets not working and excrement "in places it shouldn't be".

Speaking at a news conference in Delhi, Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the Delhi organising committee, said the authorities understood the concerns shown by some member countries and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

But he suggested that the complaints could be due to "cultural differences".

"Everyone has different standards about cleanliness. The Westerners have different standards, we have different standards," he said.

Mr Bhanot said the situation was "under control" and that he was "sure and confident" that cleaning in the residential areas would be complete by the time teams start arriving on 23 September.

He said he had visited many athletes' villages over the years and had never known one of such high quality.

"This is a world-class village, probably one of the best ever," he said.

BBC News

US Senate blocks debate on repeal of gay military policy

US senators have rejected attempts to open a debate on a bill which proposed lifting the ban on openly gay people serving in the US military.

Just 56 senators voted in favour of debating the defence authorisation bill, four short of the 60 required.

Gay people can serve in the military, but face expulsion if they reveal their sexuality. US President Barack Obama has promised to scrap the policy.

Democrats could still try again later this year to pass the legislation.

Opponents say repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law could adversely affect morale in the armed forces.

Earlier, the only Republican senator to support repealing the law, Susan Collins, now said she was withdrawing her support.

Her vote was seen as the crucial 60th vote needed to limit debate and advance the bill in the 100-seat Senate.

BBC News

Washington irked by Myanmar elections

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A decision by the military junta in Myanmar to disband political parties ahead of the November election is a sign the process is a farce, a U.S. official said.

The state-run election commission in Myanmar announced last week that 10 political parties were dissolved, making them ineligible to compete in November elections.

State television said the decision extended to the National League for Democracy, which was led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She led her National League for Democracy to a decisive victory in 1990, though the military junta never accepted the results.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, told reporters during his regular briefing that democracy wasn't taking hold in Myanmar.

UPI

The Most Bizarre Rituals in Human History

Warning: Some of the images in this post cannot be unseen. If you are someone who is offended, scared or grossed out by images that are of graphic nature, we strongly recommend you do not proceed.

Murder, eating dead bodies, self-castration…the making of a horror movie? No, these are just some examples of strange rituals practiced around the world. Although most of these have ceased, some of these rather gruesome rituals are still being practiced in third world countries.  And after reading through some of these, you’ll be quite glad you live in the modern world.

Masai Spitting

Among the Masai tribesmen of East Central Africa, spitting is considered an act of respect and friendship.  A newborn Masai child is spit upon by friends and relatives wishing to give the child good luck.  Masai tribesmen spit at each other when they meet, just as we say “Hello,” and spit again to say “Good-bye.” When two Masai make a trade in business, they spit at each other to seal the bargain.   Gee, I hate to see how these people date each other!

Yanomamo Ash Eating

Located in Veuzuela and Brazil, the Yanomamo tribe forbids keeping any part of the body of  a deceased person. When a person dies, the body is cremated and the crushed bones are added to the ashes.  The ashes are then given to the family and must be eaten.

Human Sacrifice

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual.  Human sacrifice has been practiced in various cultures throughout history with the Mayans and the Aztecs being most notorious for their ritual killings.  Victims were typically ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods, the spirits or the deceased.  Victims ranged from prisoners to infants to Vestal Virgins who suffered such fates as burning, beheading and being buried alive.

While this practice has become less common in developing worlds, it is actually still being practiced in the least developed areas of the world where traditional beliefs still persist. (Note to self: before I go on my next vacation I must thoroughly research just where these countries are so that I don’t become some tribesman next dinner.)

Seppuku

Seppuku (or as it’s commonly known “harakiri”) is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. As part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely suffer torture), as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed for other reasons that had brought shame to them.

The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a tanto, into the abdomen and moving the blade from left to right in a slicing motion. The samurai’s attendant would then perform daki-kubi, a cut in which the warrior was all but decapitated.

Dueling

As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons (usually a sword or pistols). The duel usually developed out of the desire of one party (the challenger) to redress a perceived insult to his honor. The goal of the duel was not so much to kill the opponent as to gain “satisfaction,” i.e., to restore one’s honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one’s life for it. To decline a challenge was often equated to defeat by forfeiture, and sometimes regarded as dishonorable.

Eunuchs

A eunuch is simply a man who has been castrated. Typically the man was castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. In ancient China castration was both a traditional punishment (and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were 70,000 eunuchs in the Imperial palace. The value of such employment—certain eunuchs gained immense power that may have superseded that of the prime ministers—was such that self-castration had to be made illegal.  Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch. Such eunuchs were known as castrati.

Concubinage

A concubine is generally a woman in an ongoing, matrimonial-like relationship with a man, whom she cannot marry for a specific reason. The reason may be because she is of lower social rank than the man or because the man is already married. Generally, only men of high economic and social status have concubines. Many historical rulers maintained concubines as well as wives. As concubines, these women have limited rights of support from the men, and while their offspring were publically acknowleldged as the man’s children, they were however, deemed having lower social status than the children born by the official wife or wives.

Foot Binding

Foot binding  was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century. Multiple theories attempt to explain the origin of foot binding: from the desire to emulate the naturally tiny feet of a favored concubine of a prince, to a story of an empress who had club-like feet, which became viewed as a desirable fashion.

Yet whatever the reason for it, the process is nothing short of barbaric.  First, each foot would be soaked in a warm mixture of herbs and animal blood. This concoction caused any necrotised flesh to fall off. Then her toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent ingrowth and subsequent infections. To prepare her for what was to come next the girl’s feet were delicately massaged. Silk or cotton bandages, ten feet long and two inches wide, were prepared by soaking in the same blood and herb mix as before. Each of the toes were then broken and wrapped in the wet bandages, which would constrict when drying, and pulled tightly downwards toward the heel.

There may have been deep cuts made in the sole to facilitate this.  Needless to say feet binding could lead to serious infections, possibly gangrene, and was generally painful for life. Thankfully the ban on foot binding was enacted by the Japanese government in 1915 and the prohibition remains in effect today.

Sati

What a lovely word for such a gruesome practice!  Sati is a religious funeral practice among some Hindu communities in which a recently widowed Hindu woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion  throws herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in oder to commit suicide. The act of sati was supposed to take place voluntarily, and from the existing accounts, most of them were indeed voluntary. The act may have been expected of widows in some communities. The extent to which any social pressures or expectations should be considered as compulsion has been the matter of much debate in modern times. It is frequently stated that a widow could expect little of life after her husband’s death, especially if she was childless. However, there were also instances where the wish of the widow to commit sati was not welcomed by others, and where efforts were made to prevent the death. Thankfully,  this practice is now considered rare and has been outlawed in India since 1829.

Self Mummification

Of all the bizarre rituals, this one has to be one of the most horrific!  The procedure of  self mummification is exactly what it sounds like (and much more tortorous!)  For three years the Buddhist monks or priests who performed this ritual would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat.

They then ate only bark and roots for another three years and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it killed off any maggots that might cause the body to decay after death.

Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.

When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed for all eternity.  To date, between only 16 and 24 such mummifications have been discovered.

Tibetan Sky Burial

Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhutaand animals – especially to birds of prey.  To Tibetans, many of whom adhere to Buddhism, their belief is in the rebirth of  soul.  Therefore to them, there is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel.

Birds are encouraged eat it, or nature may let it decompose. So the function of the sky burial is simply the disposal of the remains.  The preparation of  the body for this ritual is fairly simple and yet, rather gruesome: the flesh is stripped from the body with the bones being  broken up with sledgehammers and then fed to vultures.

While Communist China outlawed this practice in the 1960s, it was legalized again in the 1980s and is still being practiced today.

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