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Two weeks ago, the British medical journal, Lancet, considered to be one of the world's leading medical publications, published "An open letter for the people in Gaza." Signed by four European doctors on behalf of 20 others (17 from Italy and three from the United Kingdom), the letter had virtually nothing to do with medicine. Rather, it was a grotesque attack on Israel. Some excerpts: "We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression." "Israel's behaviour has insulted our humanity, intelligence, and dignity as well as our professional ethics and efforts. We challenge the perversity...

On July 23rd, The Lancet published an Open Letter describing the situation in Gaza (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61044-8/fulltext). The Lancet, a top tier scientific journal by all accounts, did a great dis-service to the medical community. The publication of an extremely biased one-sided analysis of such a complex situation is outrageous and full of lies. The authors (who deceitfully disclosed no conflict of interest) are members of biased pro-Palestinian groups who are hostile to Israel. And while individuals are definitely entitled to their opinions, hiding behind an MD degree does not entitle one to defame under the pretense of a publication in a...

Two weeks ago, the British medical journal Lancet, considered to be one of the world’s leading medical publications, published “An open letter for the people in Gaza.” Signed by four European doctors on behalf of 20 others (17 from Italy and three from the UK), the letter had virtually nothing to do with medicine. Rather, it was a grotesque attack on Israel. Some excerpts: “We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression.” “Israel’s behaviour has insulted our humanity, intelligence, and dignity as well as our professional ethics and efforts.” “We challenge the perversity of a...

The Lancet was once one of the world’s premier medical journals, but it has been captured by anti-Israel extremists, who are now banning letters of rejoinder from Israeli academics.  This is part of an effort to isolate and ultimate strangle Israel through capture of world institutions of information, science, culture, finance, and trade. The general model used is the effort to topple the apartheid regime in South Africa.  But this time around, instead of support for the values of democracy, human equality, human rights, andn tolerance, the activists are supporting a murderous, intolerant, woman- and homosexual-hating regime that seeks to...

A row has broken out in Italy after a photographer dressed up a famous 2,500-year-old statue in a leopard-skin thong and pink feather boa. The Riace Bronzes, of Greek warriors, are two of the nation's greatest archaeological treasures. Photographer Gerald Bruneau was given permission to shoot the warriors at their museum in Reggio Calabria. However, work was halted when he was discovered dressing the statues. The museum called the images "terrible". A local politician has now demanded a judicial inquiry. The images were published on Italy's Dagospia website.

An Italian politician has suggested migrants who reach the Mediterranean country from northern Africa should be put under quarantine over the risk of Ebola contagion. Fabio Rolfi, a councillor with the xenophobic, anti-immigration Northern League party, urged health authorities in Milan's Lombardy region to apply the preventive measure to the thousands of migrants who travel to the industrialised north of Italy after arriving in the south via boat. The suggestion sparked widespread criticism and was labelled as "racist" and "useless" by other councillors. Alessandro Alfieri, the regional secretary for the centre-left Democratic Party said the proposal was "a scaremongering proclaim...

Italy said Tuesday it is expelling a Moroccan imam caught on video inciting violence against Jews during Israel's offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, as reported by Arutz Sheva Monday. The cleric was filmed during a Friday sermon in a mosque near Venice last month calling for Jews to be killed "one by one", according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which published the video on its website. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said he had ordered the expulsion of Raoudi Aldelbar "for seriously disturbing public order, being a danger to national security and for religious discrimination," after experts...

A couple whose two dogs mauled a jogger on a rural Michigan road have been charged with murder, reports CBS Detroit....In addition to the murder charges, federal authorities said Quagliata and Lucaj are Albanians living in the U.S. illegally. A report in the Detroit Free Press stated they were facing imminent deportation at the time of the attack. It is unclear if their citizenship status will affect their trial.Authorities said it was the third attack by the dogs in the past two years. The couple was apparently breeding dogs at their property, officials said.

The owners of two dogs that mauled and killed jogger from Livonia last week are in the country illegally and have been fighting deportation proceedings for several years, according to media reports. Now, Albania national Valbona Lacaj, 44, and her Italian husband, Sebastiano Quagliata, 45, may face involuntary manslaughter charges, the Detroit Free Press reports. Their Cane Corso dogs attacked and killed Craig Sytsma, 46, as he jogged past the couple’s Metamora home on July 23. It was the third attack by the large Italian dogs – mastiff-type dogs the American Kennel Club describes as “noble, majestic and powerful in...

An Italian journalist who until Tuesday was embedded in Gaza has backed the IDF’s account of a rocket strike on a school playground in central Gaza’s Shati refugee camp on Monday. At least 10 people were killed in the attack—most of them children—and some sources claimed the death toll was as high as 30. Palestinian sources were quick to blame Israel, claiming that an Israeli fighter jet fired missiles directly at the playground and nearby hospital. Israel denied the accusations, saying that Hamas rockets aimed at Israel from the area misfired, and struck both the school and the hospital. Verifying...

The Tea Party favorite loves to needle Team Obama. But in an interview, Cruz also reveals a new kind of conservative foreign policy: American exceptionalism without the nation building.One way to understand Ted Cruz’s foreign policy, particularly if you are a Democrat, is through the prism of the social media phenomenon known as trolling. The best trolls are provocateurs. Their language is meant to expose a fallacy or weakness in the opponent’s position as opposed to offering a constructive alternative. In a wide-ranging interview with the junior senator from Texas, there was a lot of trolling. Of Obama’s recent attempt...

Rome’s mayor has denounced anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas that have appeared across the city, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday. Some of the graffiti referred to the escalating violence in Gaza and included taunts such as “Jews, the end is near.” […] The head of Rome’s Jewish Community, Riccardo Pacifici, was quoted by AP as having said, “Rome cannot become like Paris where Jews are assaulted, synagogues are surrounded and where wearing the yarmulke is a concrete danger.” …

Pope Francis walks onstage with Giovanni Traettino, a Protestant pastor and his friend, in Caserta, Italy, July 28. Pope Francis said he knew people would be shocked that he would make such a trip outside of Rome to visit a group of Pentecostals, "but I went to visit my friends." (CNS photo/ L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters) VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- His voice breaking with emotion, Giovanni Traettino, a Pentecostal pastor in southern Italy and longtime friend of Pope Francis, welcomed the pope, "my beloved brother," to his partially built church in Caserta. Pope Francis said he knows some people were...

Actually, the word camerata means comrade, but specifically refers to Mussolini’s fascists: “Other posters depicting a Palestinian throwing a rock towards an Israeli tank were attached on walls in Cola di Rienzo street, in the leafy Prati neighbourhood. The latter was accompanied with a Celtic cross and the slogan ‘Each Palestinian is a camerata [the Italian word for members of Mussolini's fascist movement] Same enemy, same barricade.’” In the West, Leftists and Islamic supremacists like to smear opponents of jihad terror as fascists, but this shows yet again that the real fascists are on their side. “Gaza Crisis: Rome’s Historic...

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

Beretta U.S.A. announced Tuesday that company concerns over a strict gun-control law enacted in Maryland last year have made it necessary to move its weapons making out of the state to Tennessee. The well-known gun maker said it will move to a new production facility it is building in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin that is set to open in mid-2015. Beretta general manager Jeff Cooper said that a sweeping gun-control measure that was passed last year initially contained provisions that would have prohibited the Italian gun maker from being able to produce, store or even import into Maryland the...

As world leaders demand answers on the alleged shooting down of a jet plane over eastern Ukraine, commentators examine how the tragedy could affect foreign minister Federica Mogherini’s already fragile path to becoming EU foreign policy chief. The disaster, which left 298 people dead, is going to “put a huge amount of pressure, not only on Russia, but on people who have been soft on Russia,” Edward Lucas, a British journalist and author, told The Local. He was referring to Federica Mogherini, whose chances of getting the EU foreign policy job already took a battering this week when she was...

Milan (AFP) - An Italian appeals court on Friday cleared Silvio Berlusconi of having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power in a surprise ruling that will strengthen the former prime minister on the political scene. "The defendant is acquitted," presiding judge Enrico Tranfa said, requesting silence after gasps from the courtroom. The effectively scraps Berlusconi's seven-year sentence and lifelong ban from holding public office. The judge said there was "no crime" on the abuse of power charge and that Berlusconi's actions "did not constitute a crime" on the prostitution one, promising to publish a detailed explanation within...

Over the centuries, they’ve been scorned, persecuted and marginalized. But it was an example of modern-day disdain towards redheads that prompted an Italian photographer’s mission to safeguard their diversity, The Local has learned. Let’s face it, redheads get a tough time, especially in the early years of their life. I should know, because I am one. But more on that later. Marina Rosso, a 29-year-old fine art photographer and researcher from Udine, is not a redhead as the English translation of her surname might suggest. But after hearing in 2011 that flame-haired men were being rejected from the world’s largest...