Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The first ever full-genome analysis of Ancient Egyptians shows that they were more Turkish and European than African

Scientists analyzed ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies dating from 1400 BC to 400 AD and discovered that they shared genes with people from the Mediterranean. They found that ancient Egyptians were closely related to ancient populations in the Levant - now modern day Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. They were also genetically similar to Neolithic populations from the Anatolian Peninsula and Europe. The study found that modern Egyptians share more ancestry with Sub-Saharan Africans than ancient Egyptians did. The data shows that modern Egyptians share approximately 8% more ancestry on the nuclear level with Sub-Saharan African populations than with ancient Egyptians. In the last 1,500 years, Egypt became more genetically African, whereas the ancient Egyptians showed almost no sub-Saharan African ancestry and had a high affinity to ancient Near Eastern and European populations.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

A Jewish teenager from Britain says that he feared for his life at a top Berlin school because of violent bullying by Muslim classmates

“I was terrified and just went to the ground” when the bullies pulled a fake gun and threatened to kill him, the 14-year-old boy said. “Everyone burst into laughter and called me gay,” the Jewish teen — who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors — said of his classmates at the Friedenau Gemeinschaftsschule. The Jewish teen said that he suffered daily taunts and frequent painful kicking and punching attacks by students of Middle Eastern and Turkish origin. The bullying continued even after Ferdinand’s grandparents gave a speech at the school describing how they survived the Holocaust. The boy has since been moved to a new school and prosecutors are investigating.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

The majority of Britons believe that ethnic minorities living in Britain are a threat to their culture

Up to a quarter of the population thinks that immigrants are stealing jobs, while just over a third (34%) believe that they take more from the nation than they contribute, according to the latest Aurora Humanitarian Index survey. The study also found that respondents believe Brexit will have an impact on Britain’s ability to deal with the flood of refugees flowing into Europe from war-torn areas. A large number of people lack confidence in world leaders to tackle the refugee crisis, the survey found, and when it comes to Prime Minister Theresa May only a minority (15%) think that she is the best figure to resolve the issue. Announcing their general election manifesto in Halifax recently, the Tories renewed their pledge to cut net migration to the tens of thousands, a commitment first made by former Prime Minister David Cameron back in 2010. Net migration levels in 2016, however, stood at 248,000, leading many opposition figures to question the viability of the Tory pledge. The 2017 Aurora Humanitarian Index surveyed 6,500 people from 12 countries. In Britain specifically, it found that 56% of UK nationals believe that “Britishness” is at stake because of ethnic minorities. Although the survey was taken prior to the recent suicide bomb attack in Manchester which took the lives of 22 people and injured up to 64, it found that two-thirds of respondents believe terrorism is currently one of the biggest global challenges.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Two men in Indonesia's Aceh province have been publicly caned dozens of times for consensual gay sex, a punishment that rights advocates denounced as "medieval torture" and that has escalated an anti-gay backlash

Hundreds packed the courtyard of a mosque to witness the caning of the men for homosexuality. The caning took place in Aceh, a province in Indonesia that practices Shariah law. The men, aged 20 and 23, were arrested in March 2017 after vigilantes broke into their rented room to catch them having sex. A Shariah court sentenced each man to 85 lashes. Indonesia's LGBT community has been under siege in the past year. Prejudice has been fanned by stridently anti-gay comments from politicians and Islamic hard-liners.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Report: Black men with a bachelor’s degree are more than twice as likely as black women to intermarry

Black men and Asian women are more likely to marry someone of a different race. Asians are most likely to intermarry, with 29% of newlywed Asians married to someone of a different race or ethnicity, followed by Hispanics at 27%, blacks at 18% and whites at 11%. While about one-fourth of recently married black men (24%) have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, this share is 12% among recently married black women. And the difference between black men and women regarding intermarriage also increases with education. For those with a high school diploma or less, 17% of men vs. 10% of women are intermarried, while among those with a bachelor’s degree, black men are more than twice as likely as black women to intermarry (30% vs. 13%). A large percentage of black women with college degrees remain unmarried because they seek to only wed a black, college-educated man. Married Black women who are college graduates are much more likely to have a husband with a lower level of education (58%), compared to whites of a similar background (48%). Asian women are far more likely to intermarry than Asian men. In 2015, just over one-third (36%) of newlywed Asian women had a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, while 21% of newlywed Asian men had a spouse of a different race. About half (49%) of Democrats and Independents who lean toward the Democratic Party say that the growing number of people of different races marrying each other is a good thing for society. Only 28% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents share that view. The most common intermarriages were between a Hispanic and white spouse, at 42%. The next most common was between a white and Asian spouse at 15%, followed by a multiracial and white spouse at 12%.

Authorities in Bangladesh have arrested 27 men in a crackdown on homosexuality, a criminal offense in the Muslim-majority country, and plan to charge them with drug possession

A commander of the elite police unit that made the arrests says the suspects, mostly students aged 20-30 years, had traveled from across the country and were picked up in a raid on a community center at Keraniganj, outside the nation's capital. Zahangir Hossain Matobbar says that they recovered illegal drugs and condoms in their possession and plan to charge them with drug offenses and not homosexuality because they were detained before they engaged in sex. "We've arrested 27 people for homosexuality," one major is quoted as saying. The agency also arrested the owner of the community center where the suspects used to gather every two months and stay overnight for partying. Homosexuality is a crime in Bangladesh. In 2016, suspected militants killed a leading LGBT activist and his friend in Dhaka. The 35-year-old Xulhaz Mannan, a USAID official, was hacked to death at his home. He had founded the country's only LGBT magazine and was a leading organizer of gays. Since then, many gays and lesbians have left the country after they received death threats.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

A black man is accused of luring an 8-year-old girl into his home and sexually battering her, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office

Sydney Allan Markland, 68, told deputies that the child was "wearing provocative clothing" during the July 2016 assault. The victim told authorities that she knew Markland in passing because they live in the same neighborhood, so when he appeared injured and asked her if she would help him carry some fried chicken into the house, she agreed, deputies said. Markland, who goes by the nickname "Dread," sexually battered the victim and told her not to tell anyone. The girl told a parent, who called law enforcement. DNA samples were collected from the victim's and after several months, they proved to be a match with Markland. Detectives wrote in their report that the girl told them Markland "told her not to tell anyone, kissed her on the cheek and read from the Bible" after the assault. Deputies said Markland told them that in his culture his actions are considered acceptable. He also said that the child's clothing and "actions" suggested consent, officials said. "She was wearing provocative clothing," Markland said during his confession, according to what detectives wrote in their report. "Her actions suggested that she was consenting to sexual contact." After his arrest Friday, Markland admitted to detectives that he sexually battered the girl after eating chicken wings and praying with her, detectives said.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

White working-class voters who favored deporting immigrants living in the United States illegally were 3.3 times more likely to express a preference for Trump than those who did not

In addition, based on surveys conducted before and after the 2016 election, white working-class voters who say that they often feel like a stranger in their own land and who believe that the United States needs protecting against foreign influence were 3.5 times more likely to favor Trump than those who did not share these concerns.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Jakarta's Christian governor has been jailed for two years after being found guilty of committing blasphemy, capping a saga seen as a test of religious tolerance in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation

Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto told the Jakarta court that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was "convincingly guilty of committing blasphemy and is sentenced to two years in prison". He ordered Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, to be detained. Purnama said: "We will file an appeal." Islamic hardliners outside the court cheered as news of verdict emerged and shouted "God is greatest". Purnama was hauled into court to face trial for allegedly insulting Islam while campaigning for re-election in a case that critics said was politically motivated. The trial came after a series of major protests against the capital's leader that drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets. His once unassailable opinion poll lead shrank amid the controversy and he lost the race to lead Jakarta to a Muslim challenger, a result that fueled fears of Indonesia's moderate brand of Islam coming under threat from increasingly influential radicals.

A video of an imam appearing to call for the murder of Jews in a sermon during Friday prayers at a Copenhagen mosque has caused outrage in Denmark

Mundhir Abdallah was reported to police after being filmed citing in Arabic a hadith - a teaching of the Prophet Muhammad - considered anti-Semitic. The hadith says that the Day of Judgment "will not come unless the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them". A Jewish community leader said that his words were a "thinly-veiled" threat. Videos of the sermon were posted on YouTube and Facebook by the Al-Faruq Mosque. A part of the 30-minute address was later translated by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri). In the video, Abdallah is seen standing in front of a black flag with the Shahadah written on it, similar to those used by jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda. He declares there will soon be a "caliphate" - a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia - that will wage jihad to unite the Muslim community and liberate the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem "from the filth of the Zionists". Then, he says, "the words of the Prophet Muhammad will be fulfilled" and cites the hadith. Jewish community leader Dan Rosenberg said: "We are concerned weak and impressionable people may perceive this kind of preaching as a clear call to violence and terror against Jews." Immigration and Integration Minister Inger Stojberg also expressed outrage. "This is completely preposterous, undemocratic and awful," the center-right Venstre politician wrote on Facebook. "But it also shows why we need to lead a harsh and consistent policy. We cannot and should not accept this!"

Saturday, May 6, 2017