Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From The Daily Mail
Fizzy drinks lethal toll: Scientists warn they kill 184,000 a year through diabetes, heart disease and cancer
- Study looked at sodas, fruit drinks, sports and energy drinks
- Found they have no benefits but contribute to thousands of deaths
- Urged world governments to eliminate such drinks from diets
Sugary drinks kill as many as 184,000 adults each year, scientists claim.
Fizzy soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks and sweetened iced teas are causing thousands of deaths and have no health benefits, they said.
And they warned that governments across the world should make it a priority to eliminate such drinks from people’s diets.
Researchers said sugary drinks were implicated in 133,000 diabetes deaths worldwide in one year. Another 45,000 died from cardiovascular disease and 6,450 from cancer. All three diseases have been linked to high sugar consumption.
From The Times of Israel
Pine Bush schools settle anti-Semitic lawsuit for $4.5 million
Students had accused education officials of failing to address repeated cases of anti-Semitism
NEW YORK — The Pine Bush Central School District in upstate New York has agreed to pay nearly $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging widespread anti-Semitic harassment.
The 2012 lawsuit by five former and current students was due to go to trial next month.
In the settlement, filed in court papers on Monday, according to The New York Times, district officials also agreed to make significant curriculum and training reforms.
The suit alleged that officials in the district, located about 90 miles north of Manhattan, long had failed to respond adequately to complaints by the students and their families of pervasive anti-Semitic bullying and harassment.
The students said they were forced to endure anti-Semitic epithets and jokes about the Holocaust, including Nazi salutes, and to retrieve coins from dumpsters. They also said they were subject to physical violence.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel signs $111 million deal to upgrade Argentinean tanks
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentina’s army signed a $111 million contract with Israel to upgrade 74 tanks made in Argentina.
The deal to upgrade the Argentinian Medium Tanks, or TAM, was signed in Buenos Aires by the Argentina’s Minister of Defense Agustin Rossi and Mishel Ben-Baruch, director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Division.
“This is an extremely important step, not only for the project but for the excellent relations between both countries. It’s also the beginning of a great friendship between the two ministries,” said Ben Baruch, who also praised the work done by Israeli and Argentinian technical teams to reach the agreement.
The agreement includes different tools designed to ensure that Argentina can develop its own technology and capabilities provided through co-production projects with Israel, and also human resources training and technical assistance to upgrade the tanks in Argentina.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Olmert appeals conviction, sentence in Talansky Affair
JERUSALEM Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appealed his conviction and prison sentence for accepting cash-filled envelopes from an American-Jewish businessman in the so-called Talansky Affair.
Olmert asked Israel’s Supreme Court to delay the start of his eight-month prison term pending his appeal, according to reports.
He also is currently in the midst of an appeal of his conviction for accepting bribes in the Holyland Affair, for which he was fined and sentenced to six years in prison. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that he could delay the start of his prison sentence pending all appeals.
In a second trial in March, Olmert was found guilty of accepting envelopes filled with money from American Jewish businessman Morris “Moshe” Talansky and using it for personal — not political — expenses.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Steven Salaita hired by American University of Beirut
(JTA) — Steven Salaita, whose appointment as a professor at the University of Illinois was rescinded over his anti-Israel tweets, announced that he will teach in the fall.
Salaita has been hired as the Edward W. Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut, he said Wednesday in a tweet.
“I’ve really missed the classroom. I’ll do my very best to honor the legacy of Dr. Said,” he also said in a tweet.
Said was a Palestinian-American academic who taught at Columbia University until his death in 2003.
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From The Times of Israel
US spying said to have gone beyond Merkel, to her ministers
New WikiLeaks documents show Washington surveilled broad swath of German government leadership in 2010-2012
BERLIN — New documents released by WikiLeaks show that the United States did not just tap German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone but also eavesdropped on several ministers, the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Wednesday.
German-US relations were badly strained after fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US foreign surveillance, although a probe into the alleged tapping of Merkel’s mobile phone was dropped last month over a lack of evidence.
But according to the latest revelations the US National Security Agency (NSA) did not limit its snooping activities to Merkel, and showed particular interest in the activities of the ministries of finance, economy and agriculture, Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
It said whistleblowing website WikiLeaks had shown it a list of 69 phone numbers that were reportedly targeted, belonging to ministers and senior officials. The list appears to date back to between 2010 and 2012.
Current Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel was among those spied on by the NSA, the report said, although it noted that he was in the opposition at the time.
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From The Times of Israel
Iran among states posing ‘serious security concerns,’ says US military
Quadrennial strategy report warns of Russia, China role in growing ‘global disorder,’ erosion in US technological edge over enemies
WASHINGTON — America’s new military strategy singles out states like China and Russia as aggressive and threatening to US security interests, while placing states such as Iran and North Korea in a list of opponents who pose “serious security concerns” to America and its allies.
It also warned of growing technological challenges and worsening global instability.
A somber report released Wednesday by General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warns of a “low but growing” probability of the United States fighting a war with a major power, with “immense” consequences.
Russia has “repeatedly demonstrated that it does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and it is willing to use force to achieve its goals,” the 2015 National Military Strategy says.
“Russia’s military actions are undermining regional security directly and through proxy forces.”
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From The Times of Israel
At least 70 killed in Islamic State offensive in Egypt’s Sinai
Gunmen withdraw from Sheikh Zuweid after 8 hours of fighting with police, soldiers; senior Muslim Brotherhood member killed in Cairo
CAIRO (AFP) — Islamic State group jihadists launched an unprecedented wave of attacks Wednesday on Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula that killed at least 70 people, in a major challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
F-16 warplanes bombarded the militants as they fought police and soldiers on the streets of the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid after striking military checkpoints in a surprise attack after dawn.
The militants withdrew from the town after almost eight hours of fighting, the officials said.
The violence came two days after state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a Cairo car bombing. He was the most senior government official killed in the jihadist insurgency.
In the capital on Wednesday, police killed senior Muslim Brotherhood member Nasser al-Houfi and eight others during a raid on an apartment, security officials and a member of the Islamist movement said.
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From The Times of Israel
Obama: Opening embassies marks ‘new chapter’ in US-Cuba ties
Full diplomatic missions in Washington and Havana slated to open July 20, 44 years after freeze in relations
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the US and Cuba will reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington, heralding a “new chapter” in relations after a half-century of hostility.
The embassy agreement marks the biggest tangible step toward normalizing relations since the surprise announcement in December that the two countries were restarting diplomatic ties. The posts in Washington and Havana are scheduled to open July 20, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said.
“We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said at the White House. “Americans and Cubans alike are ready to move forward.”
In a highly unusual move, Cuban state television broadcast Obama’s remarks live with translation in Spanish.
Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cuba for the opening of the US Embassy.
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From The Times of Israel
As UN vents on Gaza, Jews and Christians festively argue Israel’s case
Outside UN Human Rights Council debate in Geneva, demonstrators from across Europe commiserate about an irreparably biased organization
![Europeans demonstrate in support of Israel across from the UN building in Geneva, June 29, 2015 [courtesy/Michael Thaidigsmann]](http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2015/06/DSC_1509-e1435647135981.jpg "Europeans demonstrate in support of Israel across from the UN building in Geneva, June 29, 2015 [courtesy/Michael Thaidigsmann]")
GENEVA, Switzerland — As Jews and Christians from across Europe gathered at Place Des Nations across from the UN Human Rights Council building in Geneva on Monday to protest the latest Gaza report, a familiar Israeli tune played in the background.
Draped in Israeli and European flags and holding aloft signs reading “Israel wants peace, Hamas wants war,” and “We stand for Israel, we stand for democracy,” the crowd listened to the words of David Broza’s 1990 hit “Yihiyeh Tov” (“It Will be Good”).
Children wear wings / and fly to the army / and two years later / they return with no answers / people live in stress / looking for a reason to breathe / and between hatred and murder / talk about peace / … here comes the president of Egypt / how I was happy for his arrival / pyramids in his eyes and peace in his pipe / and we said ‘let’s make up and live like brothers’ / so he said ‘of course, just get out of the territories’
The ironic choice of music was lost on the crowd, however. In the sweltering heat of a Geneva afternoon, good old Israeli cynicism was nowhere to be found.
“It was my duty to come,” said Abramo Eman, who left Milan at 6:30 a.m. aboard one of five Italian buses chartered for the event. “We are one people, one heart, one problem.”
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From The Times of Israel
Obama signs anti-BDS bill into law
President approves provisions making rejection of Israel boycott a key objective in trade talks with EU
WASHINGTON — After a grueling legislative battle, US President Barack Obama signed into law a controversial trade measure that also contains landmark legislation combating the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in Europe.
The broader legislation faced an uphill battle after Obama’s usual allies — Democrats in the House of Representative — bucked his authority and voted against key provisions out of concern that liberalization of trade could impact American jobs.
But on Monday, Obama signed into law the so-called “fast track” authorization that will allow US trade negotiators to work out a long-awaited deal with Asian states known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Trade Promotion Authority legislation also contained the anti-BDS provisions, which make rejection of the phenomenon a top priority for US negotiators as they work on a more distant free trade agreement with the European Union.
These guidelines, sponsors hope, will discourage European governments from participating in BDS activities by leveraging the incentive of free trade with the US.
“This is an historic milestone in the fight against Israel’s enemies, as American opposition to insidious efforts to demonize and isolate the Jewish state is now the law of the land. The bipartisan bill enacted today conditions any free trade agreement with the European Union on its rejection of BDS,” said Rep. Peter Roskam, who, together with Rep. Juan Vargas sponsored one of two anti-BDS provisions in the law.
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