Europe: Greenpeace joins Catholic church in attacking biology

Network for Church Monitoring

Scientists in Britain face being barred from developing life-saving treatments after a court ruled it is ‘immoral’ to use embryos to produce stem cells.

The European Court of Justice has decreed that patenting any treatment using the cells is ‘commercial exploitation’ and ‘contrary to morality’.

Scientists warned the ‘devastating decision’ will stop pioneering treatments for degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s being developed in the UK, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the multi-million pound biotechnology industry…

Professor Brüstle filed a patent with the German government in 1997 to convert embryonic stem cells into nerve cells to help patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Greenpeace challenged it and the case went to the highest court in Germany and then Luxembourg.

First they came for the ‘deniers’. Then they came for the scientists…

US: Women — to the back of the bus!

NYTimes.com

The B110 bus, which runs between Williamsburg and Borough Park, has been run by Private Transportation Corporation since 1973, under a franchise with the city. And to many in the area, the bus’s tradition of separation comes with little surprise or indignation.

But this week, the bus’s practices gained widespread publicity after The New York World, a Columbia Journalism School publication, reported that a female rider was told by other riders that she had to leave the front. The story was quickly picked up by bloggers and even came to the attention of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, the mayor said that segregating men and women was “obviously not permitted” on public buses. “Private people: you can have a private bus,” he added. “Go rent a bus, and do what you want on it.”

Even though a private operator runs the bus, it was awarded the route through a public and competitive bidding process. Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said the bus was supposed to be “available for public use” and could not discriminate.

Sound familiar?

Religion — proudly learning nothing in fifty-six years!

Yemen: 16, 17-year-olds killed by drone strike

SMH

The American son of the al-Qaeda militant Anwar al-Awlaki was only 16 when he was killed by a US drone in Yemen…

Abdel-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki was among several people killed in a missile strike near the town of Azzan in southern Yemen last Friday. US officials said the target was the Egyptian-born Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior figure in al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate, who also was reported killed…

US officials ”had no idea” Abdel-Rahman was with Banna, but ”this was a military-aged male travelling with a high-value target”, a senior Obama administration official said.

In the Facebook statement, the Awlaki family said Anwar al-Awlaki’s younger brother, 17-year-old Ahmed Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki, also was killed in the air strike last week.

Libya: Islamic tyrant reported dead

SMH

Muammar Gaddafi – the dictator who ruled Libya with an iron fist for nearly 42 years before being driven from power in a bloody uprising – has been killed as he tried to flee his hometown of Sirte.

There were conflicting reports of how he was killed – there were initial reports that he was killed in a gun battle, but NATO has since confirmed it hit a convoy of Gaddafi loyalists fleeing Sirte on Thursday. It could not say whether the former Libyan leader was in the convoy, Associated Press reported.