My favorite creatures these days are squirrels. They like my yard. They look like very small humans with lots of hair.

BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-57200062

We asked our readers to send in their best pictures on the theme "woodland walk". Here are some of the pictures we received from around the world.

Are there any Muslim assholes who don't call themselves "Mohammed"? Muslims, besides their love for killing people, are just plain fucking stupid.

BBC News

Israel's army says it has targeted the head of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Deif, during the ongoing strikes on Gaza.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Brig Gen Hidai Zilberman, said Israel had tried to assassinate Deif, the head of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Deif, who has been on the Israeli army's most-wanted list for over two decades, has survived repeated attempts on his life over the years, including in the last major conflict in 2014.

Israeli news website Ynet reported that in one of the operations, Deif had been in his bunker when Israel hit the location.

He tends to stay in the background and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Hamas has not confirmed the reports.

Religions are good for nothing but never-ending violence. BBC News has a very interesting video. Click the link then scroll down to "Contains some violence". The problem is Muslim assholes as usual.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57053074

Cowardly Muslims like to kill women, children, and babies. I'm not making this up. Muslim scum are disgusting.

BBC News

Kabul attack: Families bury schoolchildren of blast that killed dozens.

Afghan families have been burying their children who were killed in explosions outside a secondary school in the capital, Kabul, on Saturday.

More than 60 people, mostly girls, are now known to have died in the attack that hit students as they left class.

No-one has admitted carrying out the attack in Dasht-e-Barchi, an area often hit by Sunni Islamist militants.

The Afghan government blamed Taliban militants for the attack, but the group denied involvement.

The exact target for Saturday's bloodshed is unclear. The blasts come against a backdrop of rising violence as the US looks to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by 11 September.

The neighbourhood in western Kabul where the blasts occurred is home to many from the Hazara minority community, who are of Mongolian and Central Asian descent and are mainly Shia Muslims.

Almost exactly a year ago, a maternity unit at the local hospital was attacked, leaving 24 women, children and babies dead.

Click the BBC News link if you're interested in the never ending violence here in Idiot America. Thank goodness I live in a northwestern Illinois farm town where people are civilized. We don't have any "drive-by shootings".

BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56806961

How is the US preparing for the verdict?

The footage of Mr Chauvin, who is white, restraining Mr Floyd, a black man, on the floor as he shouted "I can't breathe" spurred months of global protests in 2020.

On Monday the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, requested security assistance from the states of Ohio and Nebraska ahead of the verdict.

The Democrat was heavily criticised after more than 1,000 buildings and businesses were damaged in rioting last year.

In the early hours of Sunday, two National Guard members who were providing neighbourhood security in Minneapolis escaped with minor injuries when they were shot at in a drive-by shooting.

A teacher in the UK showed his students a picture of Fucktard Muhammad. Muslim crybabies complained because they're stupid fucking assholes. I never met a Muslim who wasn't a fucking retard.

BBC News

Batley school protests: Probe into Prophet Muhammad row

A school where a teacher showed pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad is to be the subject of an independent probe, the trust which runs it has announced.

Protests were held at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire after the image was used in a lesson on 22 March.

A staff member was later suspended after complaints were made.

In a statement, Batley Multi Academy Trust said the investigation would review how "the materials [which caused offense] were used".

The issue of depicting the Prophet Muhammad

More stories from Yorkshire

The statement from the trust also said the investigation into the use of the image depicting the founder of Islam "would make recommendations in relation to the Religious Studies curriculum".

An independent panel would be appointed to start work on 12 April, with any outcomes expected by the end of May, it added.

The trust runs five schools in West Yorkshire.

The school's head teacher Gary Kibble previously apologised "unequivocally" for the caricature being shown, adding that the member of staff had "given their most sincere apologies" and been suspended pending an investigation.

Demonstrators gathered outside the school on Thursday and Friday.

Some had demanded the teacher's sacking and accused the school of failing to take the issue seriously.

One of the protesters, a local resident who gave his name as Abdullah and who said he was not a parent but had relatives at the school, said the cartoon had offended "the whole Muslim community".

A petition has been set up calling for the school to reinstate the teacher.

Related Topics

• Islam
• Batley

More on this story

• Petition calls for prophet row teacher to keep job

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• Watchdog warns against naming prophet row teacher

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• The issue of depicting the Prophet Muhammad

  Published

  4 days ago

• Prophet Muhammad cartoon sparks protest at school

  Published

  5 days ago

Two Muslim morons blew themselves up to kill Catholics. Everyone wins when both Muslims and Catholics drop dead.

ASIA

Indonesia Church Bombing Wounds 20 On Palm Sunday

March 28, 2021

A police officer stands guard outside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, Indonesia, on Sunday. Two suicide bombers attacked the Roman Catholic compound, injuring at least 20 people.

Two suicide bombers attacked a Roman Catholic church compound in Makassar, Indonesia, on Sunday morning, injuring at least 20 people, according to state officials. While no deaths among the churchgoers have been reported, police say both attackers died in the blast.

The attack happened at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral around 10:30 a.m., as a round of mass was wrapping up at the church. The bombers attempted to enter the church compound on motorbike and detonated at least one bomb by an entrance to the compound, according to news reports.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo condemned the attack as an "act of terrorism," and said he had ordered the police "to thoroughly investigate the perpetrators' networks and tear down the networks to their roots."

The attacks happened on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Holy Week leading up to Easter. In a televised address, Joko called on people to remain calm and said "the state guarantees the safety of religious people to worship without fear."

Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas encouraged police to improve security at places of worship. "Whatever the motive is, this attack cannot be justified by any religion because it only does harm to other people," he said.


Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, home to around 13% of the world's Muslim population. In recent years, it has been challenged by rising religious extremism.

No organization has claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack. Authorities are investigating possible ties between the bombers and radical networks, national police spokesman Argo Yuwono said, according to Reuters.

In 2018, a series of coordinated suicide bombings targeting churches and a police post in the port city of Surabaya killed dozens of people. Police blamed the attacks on the ISIS-affiliated group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.

Indonesia

BBC News: It's "$1,400 checks" not "$1,400 cheques"

BBC News

Biden leaves Republicans behind to fast track $1.9tn bill

Under the Biden-backed "American Rescue Plan", $1,400 cheques would be sent directly to most Americans.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

My comment: Thank goodness Biden won the election.

BBC News - Everything you always wanted to know about Botswana, Africa. It is a fantastic place. A very successful country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37274670

This is a strange religion and it's bullshit but it's interesting.

BBC - Jainism at a glance

Jainism is an ancient religion from India that teaches that the way to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation.

The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe and for the health of the universe itself.

• Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls. Each of these souls is considered of equal value and should be treated with respect and compassion.
• Jains are strict vegetarians and live in a way that minimises their use of the world's resources.
• Jains believe in reincarnation and seek to attain ultimate liberation - which means escaping the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth so that the immortal soul lives for ever in a state of bliss.
• Liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul.
• Jainism is a religion of self-help.
• There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings.
• The three guiding principles of Jainism, the 'three jewels', are right belief, right knowledge and right conduct.
• The supreme principle of Jain living is non violence (ahimsa).
• This is one of the 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows). The other mahavratas are non-attachment to possessions, not lying, not stealing, and sexual restraint (with celibacy as the ideal).
• Mahavira is regarded as the man who gave Jainism its present-day form.
• The texts containing the teachings of Mahavira are called the Agamas.
• Jains are divided into two major sects; the Digambara (meaning "sky clad") sect and the Svetambara (meaning "white clad") sect.
• Jainism has no priests. Its professional religious people are monks and nuns, who lead strict and ascetic lives.

Most Jains live in India, and according to the 2001 Census of India there are around 4.2 million living there. However, the Oxford Handbook of Global Religions, published in 2006, suggests that census figures may provide lower than the true number of followers as many Jains identify themselves as Hindu. The Handbook also states that there are around 25,000 Jains in Britain. 

If I was the President of the United State I would put my desktop computer on my desk so I could play chess all day. I would keep the Benjamin Franklin painting because he was a chess player.

Biden's new-look Oval Office is a nod to past US leadership

This blog has 15 posts about Benjamin Franklin at Benjamin Franklin.

BBC News - Storm Filomena: Spain sees 'exceptional' snowfall

This blog has 11 posts about Spain at Spain.

Sir David Attenborough is 93 years old.

BBC News - Sir David Attenborough on Joe Biden, Christmas wrapping... and flamingos

Attenborough: 'I cheered when Biden was elected'

"America is the most powerful country in the world and has a huge influence," he says during our Zoom interview, telling of his delight at Joe Biden's pledge to re-join the Paris climate agreement.

Sir David demonstrates his joyful reaction on hearing President-elect Biden's statement.

"I did this! (Sir David gets up, raises his hands in the air and cheers). I can't ever remember getting out of my seat and cheering - I've never done it before!"

Japan, well done! This is fantastic.

BBC News

Science

Asteroid capsule located in Australian desert

By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website

December 5, 2020

A recovery team in Australia has found a space capsule carrying the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid.

The capsule, containing material from a space rock called Ryugu, parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia.

The samples were originally collected by a Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa-2, which spent more than a year investigating the object.

The container detached from Hayabusa-2, later entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The official Hayabusa-2 Twitter account reported that the capsule and its parachute had been found at 19:47 GMT.

Earlier on Saturday, the capsule was picked up by cameras as a dazzling fireball streaking over Australia's Coober Pedy region.

Rocks from an asteroid set for delivery to Earth

Asteroid mission exploring a 'rubble pile'

Screaming towards Earth at 11km/s, it deployed parachutes to slow its descent. The capsule then began transmitting a beacon with information about its position.

The spacecraft touched down on the vast Woomera range, operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.

At around 18:07 GMT, the recovering team identified where the capsule had landed. A helicopter, equipped with an antenna to pick up the beacon, took to the air shortly afterwards to hunt for the container.

The capsule is now being taken to a "quick-look facility" for inspection before being airlifted to Japan.

The 16kg container will be transported to a curation chamber at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) in Sagamihara for analysis and storage.

The mission planned to collect a sample of more than 100mg from the asteroid Ryugu.

Japan probe touches down on asteroid

New asteroid rover images released

Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's University Belfast, said the sample would "reveal a huge amount, not only about the history of the Solar System, but about these particular objects as well".

Asteroids are essentially leftover building materials from the formation of the Solar System. They're made of the same stuff that went into building worlds like Earth, but they avoided being incorporated into planets.

"Having samples from an asteroid like Ryugu will be really exciting for our field. We think Ryugu is made up of super-ancient rocks that will tell us how the Solar System formed," Prof Sara Russell, leader of the planetary materials group at London's Natural History Museum, told BBC News.

Studying the samples grabbed from Ryugu could tell us how water and the ingredients for life were delivered to the early Earth.

It had long been thought that comets delivered much of the Earth's water in the early days of the Solar System. Alan Fitzsimmons said the chemical profile of water in comets was sometimes different from the profile of water in our planet's oceans.

The water composition of some asteroids in the outer Solar System, however, is a much closer match. Ryugu probably originated in this cold zone, before migrating inwards to its current orbit, closer to Earth.

"It may be that we've been looking to comets all this time for delivering water to Earth in the early Solar System. Perhaps we should have been looking a bit closer to home, at these primitive but rather rocky asteroids," Prof Fitzsimmons told BBC News.

"Indeed that's something that will be looked at very carefully in these Ryugu samples."

Follow Paul on Twitter.

Related Topics

University of Manchester
Asteroids
Hayabusa-2
Japan
Australia
Space exploration
University of Glasgow
Space
Natural History Museum

                    A capsule of asteroid dust dropped to Earth in Australia on Sunday.

Dr Joseph Varon believes he is fighting two wars. A war against coronavirus and a war against stupidity.

I can't find the YouTube video. Please click this link to see this. It's important.

BBC News - Coronavirus: US doctor who has worked 258 days straight goes viral

You're in a hospital fighting for your life. Not to worry. This guy will fix your problem.

Thank goodness Joe Biden defeated Trump.

BBC News

US election 2020: ‘America is back’, says Biden as he unveils team

Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday, the president-elect highlighted the need to rebuild alliances, as well as tackling coronavirus and climate change.

He said his team would "tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know".

The appointments suggest a move away from the "America First" narrative of President Trump.

"We cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits," Mr Biden said.

The president-elect also noted that he was struck by his calls with world leaders "by how much they're looking forward to the United States reasserting its historic role as a global leader over the Pacific, as well as the Atlantic, all across the world".

"BBC News - How others left the White House after losing." Compare these presidents to Trump. What Trump has been doing is very unusual. Trump is disgracing America.

Muslim scum like to cut off heads. If you're a Muslim moron, get off my planet you stupid fucking asshole.

BBC News

Militant Islamists 'behead more than 50' in Mozambique

November 9, 2020

More than 50 people have been beheaded in northern Mozambique by militant Islamists, state media report.

The militants turned a football pitch in a village into an "execution ground", where they decapitated and chopped bodies, other reports said.

Several people were also beheaded in another village, state media reported.

The beheadings are the latest in a series of gruesome attacks that the militants have carried out in gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017.

Africa Live: Updates from around the continent

Is Mozambique the latest outpost of Islamic State?

How ruby smugglers nurtured jihadists

Up to 2,000 people have been killed and about 430,000 have been left homeless in the conflict in the mainly-Muslim province.

The militants are linked to the Islamic State (IS) group, giving it a foothold in southern Africa.

The group has exploited poverty and unemployment to recruit youth in their fight to establish Islamic rule in the area.

Many locals complain that they have benefited little from the province's ruby and gas industries.

The BBC's Jose Tembe reports from the capital, Maputo, that the latest attack was probably the worst carried out by the militants.

Many people are shocked, and they are calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he adds.

The gunmen chanted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest", in English), fired shots, and set homes alight when they raided Nanjaba village on Friday night, the state-owned Mozambique News Agency quoted survivors as saying.

Two people were beheaded in the village and several women abducted, the news agency added.

A separate group of militants carried out another brutal attack on Muatide village, where they beheaded more than 50 people, the news agency reported.

Villagers who tried to flee were caught, and taken to the local football pitch where they were beheaded and chopped to pieces in an atrocity carried out from Friday night to Sunday, privately-run Pinnancle News reported.

Mozambique's government has appealed for international help to curb the insurgency, saying its troops need specialised training.

In April, more than 50 people were beheaded or shot dead in an attack on a village in Cabo Delgado and earlier this month, nine people were beheaded in the same province.

Human rights groups say Mozambican security forces have also carried human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests, torture and killings, during operations to curb the insurgency.

Related Topics

Mozambique

More on this story

Mozambique: Is Cabo Delgado the latest Islamic State outpost?

How Mozambique’s smuggling barons nurtured jihadists

BBC News: These people in India were married recently.