Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday 4 April 2015

The European Union Times



Posted: 03 Apr 2015 04:05 AM PDT

By 2050, followers of Islam will match those following Christianity, with the number of Muslims surpassing Christians globally by 2070, the Pew Research Center projects, citing current differences in fertility rates, youth populations and conversions.
The study said that Christianity was the world’s largest religion in 2010, with an estimated 2.2 billion followers representing nearly a third (31 percent) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. Islam had 1.6 billion followers representing 23 percent of the global population.
If current demographic trends continue, however, Pew said that by mid-century, the Muslim population is projected to increase by 73 percent and make up 30 percent of the world’s population (2.8 billion). Christians will make up 31 percent of the population (2.9 billion).
“The main reason Muslims are growing not only in number but in share worldwide is because of where they live,” Alan Cooperman, Pew’s director of religion research, told NPR. “Muslim populations are concentrated in some of the fastest-growing parts of the world.”
The reason for this trend is tied to several factors: Fertility, youthful populations and people switching faiths. The study said Muslims have the highest fertility rate, with an average of 3.1 children per woman, compared with Christians at 2.7 children per woman.
In 2010, more than quarter of the world’s total population was under the age of 15. The highest percentage of children younger than 15 years belong to the Muslim population, which made up 34 percent compared to Hindus at 30 percent and Christians at 27 percent.
These bulging populations are among the reasons Muslim are projected to grow faster than Hindus and Christians.
The growth in these dominant religions is also partly attributable to where the booms are happening. For instance, India will displace Indonesia as the home of the world’s largest Muslim population, even with its Hindu majority, and Pew says, “Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Absent from the report, because the data wasn’t available, is an inclusion of how China’s population will affect these trajectories. If China’s 1.3 billion population was included, which currently is five percent Christian, and more Chinese were to switch to Christianity it could have an effect on the number of Christians tabulated worldwide.
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Posted: 03 Apr 2015 03:42 AM PDT

UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage said the United Kingdom’s EU membership restricts the country’s control over its immigration policies.
The United Kingdom has limited control over its borders because it is a member of the European Union, which is causing significant immigration problems in the county, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage announced during live TV debates.
“As members of the EU, what can we do to control immigration? Let me tell you – nothing,” Farage stressed, adding that the United Kingdom needs to “take back control of our borders” in order to “choose the quantity and quality of who comes to Britain.”
According Farage, UKIP is different from the other six UK parties that participated in the debates because, unlike them, it is against the open door policy.
“All six of them support Britain’s membership of the European Union. They all support open door immigration. I represent UKIP and we believe in Britain,” Farage said, adding that UKIP also believes “that open door immigration has compressed wages” and “has not been good for this country.”
The UKIP leader stressed that contrary to what other parties claim, the United Kingdom will have no control over its deepening immigration problem while it is a member of the European Union.
“We have to build a new house every seven minutes just to cope with the level of immigration,” Farage said.
According to him, 77 percent of British people want “something done” about the immigration problem.
The ITV debates took place on Thursday ahead of the general election to be held in the United Kingdom in May. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Farage, Labour party leader Edward Miliband, Plaid Cymru Welsh party leader Leanne Wood, Scottish National Party’s Nicola Sturgeon and Green Party leader Natalie Bennett took part in the event.
No clear winner emerged in the debates, according to opinion poll results released on Thursday.
The debates follow the Monday launch of UK election campaigns. EU membership and immigration are one of the key issues that will influence the result of the May election.
In January 2013, Cameron lied again just like he did in 2009 and Gordon Brown in 2005 about holding a referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Now, Cameron is lying about holding a referendum in 2017, if the ruling Conservative Party wins an outright majority in the May election.
So it’s lie after lie after lie, with years passing by and with no one ever holding a referendum. Of course by now, it should be only common sense that both Tories and Labour are lying and the only way to ever have a referendum in Britain is through either UKIP or BNP.
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Posted: 03 Apr 2015 02:59 AM PDT


Two black males who attacked a white train passenger for refusing to discuss the Mike Brown shooting did not commit a hate crime according to the City of St. Louis.
The victim, who has thus far kept his identity private, was approached by the men last Monday and asked about his feelings on the Mike Brown incident.
After responding that he was “too tired to think about it,” the train passenger was violently assaulted by two of the young men in the group.
“I think it was disgusting that people were sort of laughing and smiling about it,” the man told CNN. “And no one offered to help.”
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney has since charged one individual, 20-year-old Ronald Williams, with misdemeanor assault for throwing a single punch at the end of the attack.
The main individual in the red shirt who initiated the violent encounter, a 15-year-old, is currently being processed by the juvenile court system.
Responding to questions, Chief Warrant Officer Ed Postawko explained why the city did not consider the attack a hate crime.
“We have to prove that the reason, the motivating factor for this specific crime, was not any of these other reasons, it was simply because of the factor of race or religion or national origin,” Postawko said.
Speaking with CBS St. Louis, local ADL Director Karen Aoresty argued that the incident should be investigated more closely.
“If in fact those kids did choose their victim because he was white, then there’s a legitimate question to ask whether or not hate crime enhancement is appropriate,” Aoresty said.
While some outright reject the basis of hate crime laws to begin with, noting that the motivation behind a crime does not change the crime itself, many others feel the law is selectively used in a politically correct fashion.
Police in St. Louis also refused to file hate crime charges last December when a group of black males killed a white Bosnian immigrant with a hammer shortly after residents began chanting “f*ck the white people” and “kill the white people.”
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Posted: 03 Apr 2015 02:21 AM PDT

The outcome of marathon talks between Iran and global powers has angered the Israeli regime with warmongers in Tel Aviv calling it a historic mistake and a dangerous step.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday voiced his opposition to the mutual understanding newly reached between Iran and P5+1 states, claiming that the framework agreement seriously endangers the very existence of the regime in Tel Aviv.
A final deal “based on this framework would threaten the survival of Israel,” Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, quoted the Israeli premier as telling US President Barack Obama in a phone conversation.
During the phone call, Netanyahu rehashed his aggressive rhetoric against Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, claiming that the framework agreement reached in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Thursday “would increase the risks of nuclear proliferation and the risks of a horrific war.”
Obama, however, rejected the claims, telling him that the mutual understanding represented a “significant progress towards a lasting, comprehensive solution” on Iran’s nuclear program, according to statement by White House on Friday.
Last month, after Netanyahu’s speech at the US Congress aimed at derailing the Iran-P5+1 talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Israeli premier and his supporters are trying to create “an atmosphere of hysteria” and “fear-mongering.”
“The only explanation that you can have here is that some people consider peace and stability as an existential threat,” Zarif said on March 6, adding, “Because a deal cannot be threatening to anybody unless you want conflict and tension and mistrust and crises.”
Iran and P5+1 group of countries, Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany, along with officials from the European Union finally reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program after eight days of marathon talks in Lausanne.
The solutions will serve as a guideline in future the talks to lay the ground for a broader, more comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear activities by the end of June, according to the joint statement read out by Zarif and EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, following the Lausanne talks.
Israel’s ire comes while the joint statement was hailed by many countries and international organizations as a major achievement, with many calling it a big victory for proponents of diplomacy across the world.
Earlier in the day, Israeli officials described the deal as a “historic mistake” and dangerous.
In similar comments before the release of the joint statement, Netanyahu said that the potential framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program would ensure what he called a “bad deal,” a term he has frequently used over the past months in his desperate attempts to throw a wrench in the nuclear negotiations.
Netanyahu slammed the concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne, saying the international community must insist on a better agreement that would roll back Iran’s nuclear activities.
Meanwhile, Yuval Steinitz, the minister of Israel’s intelligence affairs, also tried to downgrade the framework agreement by saying that joint statement in Lausanne were “detached from reality.”
The reality of Iran’s nuclear activity is that it has refused to make “any concession” and keeps threatening Israeli regime, he claimed.
Steinitz said in a written statement that Tel Aviv regime will continue with efforts aimed at preventing what he called a bad final deal between Iran and the world powers.
France repeats warnings on Iran
Meanwhile, France, immediately after the announcement of the joint statement, warned Iran that the sanctions which are supposed to be lifted as a result of the final deal between Iran and P5+1, could be re-imposed if the accord is not implemented.
“Sanctions that are lifted can be re-imposed if the deal is not applied,” read a statement by the office of the French President Francois Hollande on Thursday, adding that Paris would continue pressing for a final deal which will put maximum limitations on Iran’s nuclear work.
The statement also said the job is not over and there still remains some work.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius later tried to tone down the statement, calling the Thursday understanding between Iran and P5+1 as “positive.”
“Now, possibly, we are at the start of a new process. We’re trying to proceed but we’re not yet at the end of the road,” said Fabius.
Iran-P5+1 joint statement
The statement released by Iran and its negotiating sides in Lausanne on Thursday calls, among other things, for the removal of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
According to the statement, none of Iran’s nuclear facilities will be stopped, shut down or suspended and Iran’s nuclear activities in all its nuclear facilities including Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Arak will continue.
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Posted: 03 Apr 2015 01:47 AM PDT

A group of British exploration companies have found oil and gas in an area north of the Falkland Islands. The Argentine government has threatened to challenge all exploration and drilling efforts in court.
The discoveries by the Zebedee exploration well were described by companies involved as “better than expected”.
The oil explorers said they found 27.9 meters of net-oil bearing reservoir and 18.5 meters of net gas-bearing reservoir. The license area being explored is 40 percent owned by Falklands Oil and Gas, 36 percent by Premiere Oil and 24 percent by Rockhopper Exploration.
“This is a fantastic start to the 2015 Falklands drilling campaign and provides early proof of the significant remaining potential of the North Falklands Basin,” said Samuel Moody, chief executive at Rockhopper, in a statement.
The oil was found by the Eirik Raude floating drilling rig as part of an eight month exploration campaign. After this it is due to drill an exploration well at the Elaine/Isobel fan complex in the southern part of the North Falkland Basin. The rig will then move to sites to the east and south of the Falkland Islands.
Argentina has predictably not been happy about the exploration activity, which is bound to further inflame tensions over the island’s disputed ownership.
The Malvinas, as the the Falklands are called in Argentina, Islands Affairs Secretary Daniel Filmus told the state run agency Telam that the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Planning Ministry are going to carry out a joint legal case against the oil and gas exploration.
“A new offshore oil platform has just arrived in the islands to carry out some of the most important exploration efforts to try to find hydrocarbons in the area, which carries a huge environmental risk. We want the owners of the companies to be tried according to Argentine laws and international statutes,” Filmus said, as cited by the Buenos Aires Herald.
Argentina claims that drilling for oil off the Falkland Islands is illegal and the Argentinian embassy in London issued a statement in November 2013 that British oil executives face up to 15 years in prison and fines equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil as well as the confiscation of equipment and any hydrocarbons extracted.
The UK Foreign Office disputed the claim and said “the UK government unequivocally supports the right of the Falkland Islanders to develop their natural resources for their own economic benefit.”
As tensions continue to mount over the islands, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon announced in March an increase in the island’s defenses, including boosting the 1,200 troops already stationed there and modernizing the Rapier anti-aircraft missile battery.
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