The European Union Times |
- Orthodox Church slams Eye of Sauron in Moscow
- Ebola still flaming in West Africa says UN
- Thousands of Cellphone Users Receive Government “Emergency Alert”
- Hunger in UK at alarming levels: Top priest
- Real-life ‘Eye of Sauron’ will open up over Moscow skyscraper tower
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Posted: 09 Dec 2014 02:58 PM PST
 Russian Orthodox Church has slammed plans to erect a real-life ‘Eye of Sauron’ in Moscow, saying that the art project dedicated to the premiere of the final part of the “Hobbit” movie trilogy may have bad consequences for the Russian capital. ‘Eye of Sauron’ is “in any case, a demonic symbol,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a senior church official in charge of relations with the society, stressed. “Such a symbol of triumphant evil rising above Moscow and becoming one of the tallest objects in the city…is it good or bad? I am afraid it’s mostly bad. One shouldn’t be surprised if something goes wrong with the city after that,” Chaplin told Govorit Moskva radio station. Russian art-group ‘Svechenie’ plan to create the scary installation which will be in place for some 9 hours is a tribute to British novelist J. R. R. Tolkien and film adaptations of his most famous works “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” A giant orb, with the projection of the fiery ‘Eye of Sauron’ on it, will be lit on the roof of one of the towers of the Moscow-City International Business Center on Wednesday, a day ahead of the Russian premiere of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” According to Chaplin, such installations must be discussed “if not with the population of the capital, then with some cultural authority” before being erected. In Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” saga the ‘Eye of Sauron’ Eye was the symbol of power and fear through which the Dark Lord Sauron was able to exert his will over Middle-earth. The epic fantasy adventure film trilogy based on Tolkien’s novel was directed by New Zealand filmmaker, Peter Jackson. The three movies, which were released between 2001 and 2004, won 17 Oscars and grossed $2.92 billion worldwide. Following the global success of the “The Lord of the Rings,” Tolkien’s prequel novel “The Hobbit. Or There and Back Again” was also turned into a movie trilogy, with Jackson returning in the director’s chair. Source           |
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Posted: 09 Dec 2014 02:37 PM PST
 David Nabarro made the remarks during a news conference on Tuesday in the Swiss city of Geneva. “We know the outbreak is still flaming strongly in western Sierra Leone and some parts of the interior of Guinea,” Nabarro said. The UN official added that more foreign health workers and specialists were needed in the areas still battling the virus, calling on the international community to provide more treatment units and beds. “We can’t sit back and say the job is even partially done because…as long as there is infection in a part of an area that could easily spread, it could even spread to places where current infections levels are zero,” Nabarro warned. The UN Ebola envoy also pointed out that there was a drop in transmission rates in Liberia. Sierra Leone faces the most serious outbreak of the disease with reports of up to 100 new cases every day. Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses. More than 6,300 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia have lost their lives to the virus. Over 17,800 people have been infected by Ebola. Source      |
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Posted: 09 Dec 2014 02:24 PM PST
 Thousands of cellphone users in Kentucky were surprised to receive an “emergency alert” from the federal government warning them to “prepare for action,” a message local authorities later blamed on “human error” during testing. The alert, which was was sent out to people in the Corbin and London areas of Southern Kentucky earlier today, came from the Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort via the Federal Communication Commission’s Wireless Emergency Alert system. The messages are designed to warn local residents of immediate safety threats in their area, but some have criticized the “government alerts” as being invasive. Frankfort Emergency Operations spokesman Buddy Rogers said that the alert was mistakenly sent out “during testing” and was the result of “a computer error, followed by a human error.” Back in 2011, the FCC began to roll out emergency government alerts to cellphone users in major citiesbefore the program was made mandatory on all new smartphones. Although a user can opt out of some of the alerts, presidential messages direct from the White House cannot be turned off. This is not the first time that erroneous messages sent out via the government’s emergency alert system have caused consternation. Early tests of the cellphone emergency alert system in New Jersey caused panic after Verizon customers received text messages warning them that a “civil emergency” was in progress and to “take shelter,” prompting alarmed citizens to flood 911 lines with anxious calls. Verizon Wireless later apologized to its customers for causing alarm, admitting that the confusion was caused by a “test” of the PLAN emergency alert system. Back in October we also reported on how television viewers in several different states were interrupted by an emergency alert from the White House warning them to stand by for an emergency message and not to use their phones. AT&T subsequently blamed a nationally syndicated radio station for triggering the alert message, although this explanation was questioned by some given that only the federal government has the capability of sending out EAS alerts. Source      |
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Posted: 09 Dec 2014 02:05 PM PST
 The head of the Church of England has expressed shock over the scale of hunger in the UK, calling for reforms aimed at providing support for the have-nots. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he was more appalled by the plight of poor British families relying on food charity than starvation in Africa because the phenomenon is unexpected. Welby warned that hunger “stalks large parts” of the UK, while the scale of waste in the country is “astonishing.” He called for reforms that would allow food companies to provide the poor with the items they could no longer sell. The archbishop has voiced support for a parliamentary report aimed at eliminating hunger in the UK by 2020. The parliamentary bid, expected to be published Monday, has reportedly called for a new publicly-funded body, known as Feeding Britain, to achieve that aim. Earlier in 2014, charities running food banks criticized the government for its economic policies which have led to a dramatic rise in the number of food banks in Britain. In February the government was accused of “taking food from the mouths of children” after it blocked millions of pounds of EU funding allocated to food bank use in the UK. The government says any food aid must be decided nationally, not by Brussels. On October 16, the Age UK charity organization released a report which revealed that 1.6 million pensioners in Britain live in poverty, as many of them miss out on entitled government benefits. According to a report by Credit Suisse, the UK’s richest 10 percent control 54.1 percent of the country’s wealth compared to the 51.5 percent in 2000. Source      |
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Posted: 09 Dec 2014 01:07 PM PST
 Tolkien fans rejoice! The ‘Eye of Sauron’ now is not just fiction, it will light up the skyline of Moscow-City to ominously watch down on the Russian capital as the latest “Hobbit” movie premiers in Russia on Thursday night. Fans of the British fiction novelist J. R. R. Tolkien will re-create the Eye of the Dark Lord Sauron from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy on Wednesday night, according to The Hollywood Reporter Russia. The creators from a Russian art-group ‘Svechenie’ dreamed up this wild installation as a tribute to the great saga and its film adaptation. They said that the installation of a real life Eye of the Dark Lord of Mordor will “let millions of fans visit Middle-earth” – the fictional world where the adventures of the trilogy take place. The light installation of the perilous Eye engulfed in flames will be set up on the roof of the “IQ-quarter” complex at the Gals-development company in Moscow International Business Center “Moscow-City”. In Tolkien’s saga the lidless Eye was the symbol of power and fear though which the Dark Lord Sauron was able to exert his will over Middle-earth. It was stationed atop the Barad-dûr tower – the fortress from which Sauron watched over the world. The All Seeing Eye is an allusion to mass surveillance and control. The epic fantasy adventure films based on Tolkien’s novel were directed by Peter Jackson. The first part of the trilogy – The Fellowship of the Ring – was released in 2001. Following the global success Jackson filmed Tolkien’s prequel novel “The Hobbit. Or There and Back Again.” The movie series features three parts, the last of which was released in December. Source     |
