A bill legalizing polygamy for men in Kenya was signed into law yesterday by President Uhuru Kenyatta, bringing civil law into line with customary law in which some Kenyan cultures allow a man to have more than one wife, the UPI website reports today (April 30, 2014).
A controversial amendment was added in the bill, requiring no consultation of prior wives before a man takes additional wives. Last month, female members of parliament walked out in disgust as male members approved the amendment.
The bill was also opposed by Christian leaders in Kenya, claiming it undermines Christian and family values, as well as equality. The law "would be demeaning to women since it does not respect the principle of equality of spouses in the institution of marriage," Archbishop Timothy Ndambuki of the National Council of Churches in Kenya said.
The new law ends the practice of unofficial and unregistered traditional marriages, and sets the minimum age for marriage at 18, regardless of the tribe or culture.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Kidnapped Nigerian Girls Forced to Marry Thugs; Islamic Extremists Sell Over 200 Girls as Slaves
A civil society group reported today (April 30, 2014) that scores of girls and young women -- among the more than 200 kidnapped by Islamic extremists from a school in Nigeria two weeks ago -- have been forced to marry their abductors or other thugs, according to the Huffington Post website.
Parents say the girls are being sold into marriage to Boko Haram militants for 2,000 naira ($12), Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum told the Associated Press. She said the parents' information about mass weddings is coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts.
"The latest reports are that they have been taken across the borders, some to Cameroon and Chad," Aliyu said.
"Some of them (the kidnapped girls) have been married off to insurgents. A medieval kind of slavery. You go and capture women and sell them off," said community elder Pogu Bitrus of Chibok town, the town where the girls were abducted.
Parents say the girls are being sold into marriage to Boko Haram militants for 2,000 naira ($12), Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum told the Associated Press. She said the parents' information about mass weddings is coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts.
"The latest reports are that they have been taken across the borders, some to Cameroon and Chad," Aliyu said.
"Some of them (the kidnapped girls) have been married off to insurgents. A medieval kind of slavery. You go and capture women and sell them off," said community elder Pogu Bitrus of Chibok town, the town where the girls were abducted.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Teacher in UK Is Stabbed to Death by Student,15; Ann Maguire, 61, Taught at the School for 40 Yrs.
A school in northern England is in mourning after a much-respected long-serving teacher was stabbed to death in class, the Euro News website reports today (April 29, 2014).
Ann Maguire, 61, had taught at the school in Leeds for 40 years and was planning to retire this summer. She was married with two adult children.
A 15-year-old boy is in police custody after the Spanish teacher was stabbed in the back and neck yesterday morning.
A mass has been held at a nearby Catholic church. The school has remained open for staff and pupils who are being given specialist support.
Ann Maguire, 61, had taught at the school in Leeds for 40 years and was planning to retire this summer. She was married with two adult children.
A 15-year-old boy is in police custody after the Spanish teacher was stabbed in the back and neck yesterday morning.
A mass has been held at a nearby Catholic church. The school has remained open for staff and pupils who are being given specialist support.
Kerry: US Has Proof Russia Runs Spies in Ukraine; Intel Tapes Affirm Moscow Seeks Chaos in Ukraine
The U.S. has proof that the Russian government in Moscow is running a network of spies inside eastern Ukraine because the U.S. government has recordings of their conversations, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a closed door meeting last Friday, The Daily Beast website reveals today (April 29, 2014).
"Intel is producing taped conversations of intelligence operations taking their orders from Moscow and everybody can tell the difference in the accents, in the idioms, in the language. We know exactly who is giving those orders, we know where they are coming from," Kerry said at a private meeting of the Trilateral Commission in Washington.
Kerry claimed that the intercepts provided proof of the Russians deliberately fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine -- and lying about it to U.S. officials and the public.
The intercepts also come as more proof has mounted inside Ukraine that Russia is behind the provocations, uprisings, and other actions aimed at ripping Ukraine apart.
"Intel is producing taped conversations of intelligence operations taking their orders from Moscow and everybody can tell the difference in the accents, in the idioms, in the language. We know exactly who is giving those orders, we know where they are coming from," Kerry said at a private meeting of the Trilateral Commission in Washington.
Kerry claimed that the intercepts provided proof of the Russians deliberately fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine -- and lying about it to U.S. officials and the public.
The intercepts also come as more proof has mounted inside Ukraine that Russia is behind the provocations, uprisings, and other actions aimed at ripping Ukraine apart.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Syria's Pres. Assad Will Seek Re-Election June 3; Runs for Pres. Despite a 3-Year War Against Him
Syria's Bashar al Assad will seek re-election in the June 3 presidential vote, the speaker of Syria's parliament announced today (April 28, 2014), the France 24 website reports.
Assad is expected to win the presidential election, despite a three-year civil war against his rule that continues to rage and has resulted in more than 150,000 deaths of Syrians.
Six other candidates -- mostly unknowns -- are also running in Syria's upcoming presidential election.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a mortar attack by rebels in Allepo yesterday (April 27) on government-held parts of the northern city killed at least 21 people, as Syria's civil war shows no signs of abating.
Assad is expected to win the presidential election, despite a three-year civil war against his rule that continues to rage and has resulted in more than 150,000 deaths of Syrians.
Six other candidates -- mostly unknowns -- are also running in Syria's upcoming presidential election.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a mortar attack by rebels in Allepo yesterday (April 27) on government-held parts of the northern city killed at least 21 people, as Syria's civil war shows no signs of abating.
Ukrainian Jewish Mayor Shot, Critically Wounded; Fights for His Life in Hospital for Anti-Semitic Act
The Jewish mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city was shot today (April 28, 2014) in a suspected anti-Semitic assassination attempt that left him in critical condition, according to the JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) website.
Gennady Kernes, mayor of Kharkiv, "sustained a gunshot wound to the back," officials from the eastern Ukraine city said in a statement issued today. "Now he is in the hospital emergency room, on the operating table. Doctors are fighting for his life."
Kernes was on his routine morning jog when he was shot. The CEO of the National Television Company of Ukraine, Zurab Alsasnia, said that evidence suggested Kernes had been ambushed during his jog by a sniper who studied the mayor's habits.
According to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the 2009 election campaign -- in which Kernes became mayor -- was tarnished with anti-Semitic hate speech targeting him and other Jewish candidates.
Gennady Kernes, mayor of Kharkiv, "sustained a gunshot wound to the back," officials from the eastern Ukraine city said in a statement issued today. "Now he is in the hospital emergency room, on the operating table. Doctors are fighting for his life."
Kernes was on his routine morning jog when he was shot. The CEO of the National Television Company of Ukraine, Zurab Alsasnia, said that evidence suggested Kernes had been ambushed during his jog by a sniper who studied the mayor's habits.
According to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the 2009 election campaign -- in which Kernes became mayor -- was tarnished with anti-Semitic hate speech targeting him and other Jewish candidates.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
New Report: Sharp Rise in Anti-Semitism in 2013; No. of Attacks Against Jews Is Steadily Increasing
An annual report on anti-Semitism worldwide during 2013 was released today (April 27, 2014), a day before Israel marks Yom HaShoah -- Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day -- the Jewish Press website reports.
The report -- compiled by Prof. Dina Porat of the Moshe Kantor database for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress -- describes a severe escalation in the worldwide anti-Jewish atmosphere in 2013, as anti-Semitism continues to infiltrate the mainstream from the extreme left and right fringes, and its manifestations have become an almost daily phenomenon.
The major conclusion of the research conducted by the Kantor Center team and supported by both community reports and independent surveys by non-Jewish sources, is that the anxiety felt by Jews around the world -- both as individuals and as communities -- originates in the growing intensity and the increase in insults, abusive language and behavior, threats and harassment, but not necessarily in an increase in the number of physical violent incidents.
During 2013, the Kantor Center team registered and analyzed 554 violent anti-Semitic acts perpetrated with weapons or without, by arson, vandalism or direct threats against Jewish persons or institutions such as synagogues, community centers, schools, cemeteries and monuments, as well as private property. Physically violent incidents decreased in 2013 by 19 percent to 554 attacks, yet the number of direct attacks against Jewish persons is steadily increasing.
The report -- compiled by Prof. Dina Porat of the Moshe Kantor database for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress -- describes a severe escalation in the worldwide anti-Jewish atmosphere in 2013, as anti-Semitism continues to infiltrate the mainstream from the extreme left and right fringes, and its manifestations have become an almost daily phenomenon.
The major conclusion of the research conducted by the Kantor Center team and supported by both community reports and independent surveys by non-Jewish sources, is that the anxiety felt by Jews around the world -- both as individuals and as communities -- originates in the growing intensity and the increase in insults, abusive language and behavior, threats and harassment, but not necessarily in an increase in the number of physical violent incidents.
During 2013, the Kantor Center team registered and analyzed 554 violent anti-Semitic acts perpetrated with weapons or without, by arson, vandalism or direct threats against Jewish persons or institutions such as synagogues, community centers, schools, cemeteries and monuments, as well as private property. Physically violent incidents decreased in 2013 by 19 percent to 554 attacks, yet the number of direct attacks against Jewish persons is steadily increasing.
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