The violence in Syria escalated sharply this week when
government forces apparently used chemical weapons on a rebel-held area,
killing 1400 people. It’s been described as the most serious chemical weapons
attack since Saddam Hussein used poison gas against the (Kurdish) citizens of
his country.
It has been revealed that LinkedIn, the “social network for
professionals”, is hosting a lot of profiles relating to the world’s oldest
profession, despite such details being officially banned from the site. With
LinkedIn planning to reduce its minimum age from 18 to 13, the question of how
to enforce its ban on escort agencies and sex services has become more urgent.
The president of Biola University, a Christian university in
Southern California has apologised to a female nursing student who was
unofficially disciplined for mounting a pro-life demonstration on campus that
included graphic images of abortion. A campus security guard threatened the
student with arrest, and the student’s Director of Studies ordered staff not to write letters of
recommendation on the student’s behalf. Biola’s president plans to educate
staff and students on the importance of showing “the graphic reality of
abortion”, and to ensure that all courses are “infused with pro-life teaching”.
The first big-name Premier League footballer to leave his
club was, surprisingly, Nicolas Anelka.
Anelka had been with West Bromwich Albion for only two months, and had
played only one Premier League game for them.
Sources suggest his departure is connected with a recent personal
tragedy, and he may now retire from football.
An Italian factory owner waved goodbye to his employees for
their long summer holiday, then moved the factory lock, stock and barrel to
Poland. “If I had told the unions”, he said, “they would have tried to
confiscate my property.” He says he took the action because of Italy’s
uncompetitive social insurance, health insurance and pensions: “an employee who
gets paid 12 000 euros costs the company 30 000 euros. We haven’t made a profit
since 2008.”
An argument has developed within Britain’s governing coalition
over wind farms. The (Tory) Environment Secretary commissioned a report to see
if building wind turbines drives down house prices in adjacent rural areas. The
(Liberal Democrat) Energy Secretary is trying to prevent the report from being
published.
The leaders of a Girl Guide troop based at a United Reformed
church in Harrogate have said in a letter to the local press that they will not
adopt the new Girl Guide promise, which removes references to God. However,
another (atheist) leader in the troop has complained that she is being
discriminated against, and is being supported by the National Secular Society.
The church’s minister has said that Guides at the church will be free to use
either the old or the new pledge; the Girl Guide association has said only the
new pledge is acceptable, and threatened the Harrogate leaders with expulsion;
and the local Anglican bishop has spoken out in favour of keeping the old
promise. It has also emerged that the change in the promise was engineered by
the former government head of Family Planning, who is now Chief Executive of
Girlguiding UK.
And finally, the oddest
sports headline of the week was “UEFA urged to ban animal sacrifice”, as
it emerged that Kazakh side Shakhter Karagandy had ritually slaughtered a sheep
before their Champions League match against Celtic. Shakhter won the match 2-0
and plan to sacrifice another sheep when they arrive in Glasgow for the second
leg.
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