Politics

When I interviewed with extremists and their supporters four and five years ago - in London, Birmingham and Leeds - I found many young immigrant descent Muslims expressed similar concerns to the recent murderer of a British soldier, Michael Abedolajo. Many told me that they had distant relatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan and were deeply disturbed about them potentially being harmed by the British military. While most did not endorse attacking their own country nor resorting to terrorist "solutions" on UK soil - many said they would feel compelled to aid Muslims under attack in Iraq or Afghanistan - even if it meant working against their own military. And some told me that if push came to shove, they might even aid in an Afghani or Iraqi attack on British soldiers or a military installation inside the UK. It seems the nightmare they foretold has now occurred only days ago. The plot however is not completely new.In 2007, four British Pakistani men living in Birmingham were imprisoned over a militant jihadi plot to kidnap and kill a British Muslim soldier home on leave. Their plan was to film him in a blindfolded and handcuffed state - force him to demand the withdrawal of troops from Iraq - and then brutally behead him. The objective was to terrorize British society and deter Muslims from joining the British army.More...

As we look high and low for consistent signs of spring, our three offspring are well-entrenched in summer sports activities -- namely, baseball, softball, soccer and ball hockey. They love it and we love them loving it. It's all good. Mercifully, our boys are on the same soccer and baseball teams and are able to transport themselves when required, so the schedule is very manageable.What is increasingly unmanageable though, after all these years of participating in, watching my kids play and hearing about my friends' kids experiences, is parental behaviour. Questionable, largely unethical, disrespectful words, thoughts and actions are carried out by (thankfully) a minority of individuals, who are increasingly growing in number, ever so slowly.More...

PHOTOS - Si vous avez quelques instants, ces 10 illusions d'optiques valent définitivement le coup de les passer dans cet article.Faites travailler votre cerveau et testez votre capacité à troubler vos sens avec les images ci-dessous. N'hésitez pas à nous dire laquelle vous a le plus étonné.More...

How often do we go through our days feeling as though the whole world is against us? It can sometimes just take one minor incident to take us off track and we allow our entire day to go into a negative spiral at times.Remember, only YOU have the power to change YOUR life. By listening to your intuition it can literally create magic in your life.More...

American stocks hit an all-time high earlier this month. But it was a blip in the news; it came and went without much fanfare.It could be that the mainstream media establishment thought it would be in poor taste to trumpet this news to a nation that continues to cope with a moribund economy. Or it could be that some pundits are realizing that surging stocks are not a real indicator of economic health.More...

Courtesy of the J Sharpe AgencyMore...

From Mother Nature Network's Russell McLendon:Physicist Ernest Moniz was sworn in this week as U.S. Energy Secretary, and wasted little time laying out his priorities. Along with a major speech on energy efficiency, as well as pronouncements about nuclear power and natural gas, he issued a blunt warning to any opponents or obfuscators of climate science: The jig is up.More...

50 Years Later, the Birmingham Pledge of Nonviolence Still InspiresBy John DearMore...

I want to inspire my kids.Even as I write the words, though, I am cowed. I can just see them cover their ears and roll their eyes, hear their various protests.More...

As Spain seeks to rein in ballooning deficits, it has discovered some of its bloat surfacing from an unexpected place: under the sea.According to El Pais, the S-81 Isaac Peral -- the first of four state-of-the-art new submarines commissioned for the Spanish Navy -- is 75 to 100 tons overweight. That may not seem like a lot, considering the submarine's full weight when submerged is 2,430 tons, but according to engineers at Navantia, the Spanish shipbuilding company responsible for its design, that excess bulk is enough to prevent the Isaac Peral from successfully resurfacing once submerged.More...