‘Jesus Wife’ Fragment Holds Questions for Christians

‘Jesus Wife’ Fragment Holds Questions for Christians

IleJadi - Twelve centuries ago, an Egyptian community thought Jesus had a wife. Our reaction says as much about modern faith as any ancient one

Scholars at the Harvard Theological Review announced Thursday that they see no evidence of forgery in an ancient text mentioning “Jesus’ wife.” The fragment of parchment made waves 18 months ago when scholars first made its discovery public. But before jumping to any conclusions, here’s what’s most important to keep in mind.

Carbon dating of the “Jesus Wife” fragment dates the text to the 8th century in Egypt. That is some five hundred years after the official Biblical text was already agreed upon, even by the latest dating estimates. The point of the fragment has never been to prove that Jesus was or wasn’t married—the gospels themselves, written within a hundred or so years of Jesus’ death, are silent on that point.

Today it is easy to imagine that the Bible has always been one cohesive book. But it actually took centuries for early church leaders and theologians to agree on what letters, gospels, and writings counted as “canonical,” allowed to be counted as the official Word of God. Hundreds of different gospel writers and authors wrote hundreds of texts about God and Jesus. Today we have fragments upon fragments of these documents, some are quite long, some are no more than a word, or a half a word.

While not all of them were accepted as Scripture, they do tell us something about how communities worshiped and what was important to them. So, if the parchment fragment is indeed authentic, it tells us that there was at least one community of believers that imagined that Jesus did have a wife, and it meant enough to how they lived their spiritual lives that they recorded it in a parchment. Without more information, we are left to imagine what that meant for how they allowed women to work in churches or what role they gave women in society.

It also tells us something about our own contemporary views about God. We are fascinated with the idea that maybe, a God made human could have married. We wonder what implications that has for how we should view women, especially in a time when Pope Francis seems to be nudging the door open for women in the Catholic Church.

And, one thing is for certain: everyone wishes the fragment could have been bigger (time)

This Waitress Becomes The Victim Of A Life Changing Prank

This Waitress Becomes The Victim Of A Life Changing Prank

IleJadi - From putting a stock cube into the shower head so your flatmate smells like veg broth, to sticking tape over the laser on a colleague’s mouse so it doesn’t work, April fool’s day pranks are notoriously nasty.

So, to show that pranks don’t have to be cruel, a popular YouTube channel tricked a hardworking waitress by giving her the best shift ever.

In the introduction to the heart-warming video, which will see its makers Break donate money to charity with every view it receives, presenter Kevin Brueck explains why Springstreet Smoke House waitress Chelsea Roff deserves a ‘positive prank’.

“She struggled financially, had to raise her little sister from when she was just a girl, overcame a severe eating disorder, and her car is a complete piece of junk," he says.

 “The limited free time that Chelsea does have is spent running her own non-profit that helps people recover from eating disorders through yoga. If anybody could use a break, it’s Chelsea.

“So today we’re going to ‘prank it forward’ by sending in some of the best tippers we’ve got to see if we can give Chelsea the best shift ever,” he adds.

During the prank, fake customers tip Chelsea $1,000, an all-expenses paid trip for two to Hawaii, a dream job offer, and a free car.

When her old friend and first yoga teacher Diana Roehl gets out of the new car she is given by a customer, Chelsea realises she has been fooled.

“You’ve just had the best shift ever!” says the 'customer', as Chelsea screams and leaps outside the restaurant.

Official: Indonesia needs to anticipate ASEAN Open Sky Policy

Official: Indonesia needs to anticipate ASEAN Open Sky Policy

IleJadi - Indonesia needs to anticipate the ASEAN Open Sky Policy in the aviation sector in the Southeast Asian region in 2015.

"The Roadmap of the ASEAN Single Aviation Market will be in place in 2015. It includes economic and technical sectgors so that Indonesia needs to take anticipatory steps in the national level," Director for Air Transportation Affairs of the Ministry of Transportation Djoko Murjatmodjo said on Sunday.

According to Djoko, the Research and Development Agency of the Ministry of Transportation has concluded that in terms of regulations in Law No.1/2009 on Aviation, Indonesia is now ready to face the "ASEAN Open Sky" policy. However, he said, Indonesia needed to sharpen its research, by not only preparing a law but also improving or revising a number of regulations.

Among others, he said, Indonesia needed to anticipate the possibility of the uniformity of security and management standards of aviation traffic in the ASEAN region. Besides regulations, Indonesia also needs to prepare infrastructure and facilities as well as adequate human resources like pilots.

In March, Director General of Air Transportation Herry Bakti said that Indonesia's aviation sector needed some 800 pilots per annum. According to Airbus company research, Indonesia can only produce 400 pilots a year or only about half of the needs of its aviation sector. The data also says Asia Pacific region, including Indonesia, is the fastest growing market and is expected to need 11,000 airplanes in the coming 20 years.

"There is no doubt that the Asia Pacific region is a very important region now and in the future," Chief Operating Officer and Customers of Airbus John Leahy said.(rol)

Angelina Jolie in Bosnia to campaign against war rape

Angelina Jolie in Bosnia to campaign against war rape

IleJadi - Actress Angelina Jolie was brought to tears while talking to rape victims of the Bosnian war during a visit on Friday to promote a campaign to end sexual violence against women in war.

"There can be no peace while women in conflict or post-conflict zones are raped with impunity," the Oscar-winning actress said in Sarajevo.

Jolie was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, with whom she will co-host a global conference in London in June on preventing rape being used a tactic in war.

She said she hoped the initiative would help break down taboos about war rape.

Witnesses said Jolie cried while listening to victims in the town of Srebrenica.

"Our tradition is not to talk about the rape," said Munira Subasic, the head of the association of Srebrenica mothers.

"Many women have been through it but don't talk about it. That is why this visit is important, to show them they don't have to cope with it alone," Subasic said.

The initiative was partly inspired by Jolie's film "In the Land of Blood and Honey", which dealt with sexual violence inflicted on a woman during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

Scientists unveil dinosaur dubbed the 'chicken from hell'

Scientists unveil dinosaur dubbed the 'chicken from hell'

IleJadi - For a Tyrannosaurus rex looking for a snack, nothing might have tasted quite like the "chicken from hell." That's one way Matt Lamanna describes Anzu wyliei, the species of dinosaur that he and fellow paleontologists unveiled Wednesday.

It's not the only way, though. Feathered demon also works, which is why Anzu - derived from Sumerian mythology - was chosen as a name. Or you could characterize it, as Lamanna also told CNN, as a 600-pound cross between an ostrich and a velociraptor. And it's "pretty damn close" to looking like the 6-foot-tall turkey a child famously referred to in the movie "Jurassic Park," except a lot stranger and meaner looking.

"You might think this was a really, really weird-looking bird," Lamanna said. "... But, in fact, this was a very bird-like dinosaur ... with a really long bony tail, very large hands and really sharp claws."

Lamanna, from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, detailed the finding Wednesday with fellow scientists from the University of Utah, the Smithsonian Institution in the scientific journal PLOS One. This study came about not from one excavation but from three dating to Cretaceous period and from a rock formation known as Hell Creek in North and South Dakota.

The "chicken from hell" moniker aside, what makes Anzu wylie especially exciting to paleontologists is that it's the largest species of egg-stealing oviraptors yet found in North America, said Emma Schachner, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Utah.

It's also "the first largely complete skeleton I think anyone has found of these guys," she said.

Lamanna's predecessor at Carnegie - Hans-Dieter Sues, now with the Smithsonian -- had acquired two fossils that were dug up in the late 1990s in South Dakota by commercial fossil hunters. Lamanna said that he and Sues decided to work together to figure out what they had.

Their breakthrough came at a 2005 conference in Canada, where it became "abundantly clear" that a presentation from Schachner and colleague Tyler Lyson detailed the same species. Collectively, they pieced together 75% to 80% of the skeleton, which is a very large percentage in paleontology circles, according to Lamanna.

Rather than race to publish their finding first, the four scientists teamed up and by doing so, "learned more ... than we would all have learned independently," said Lamanna.

What they learned was that the 11½-foot-long, roughly 10-foot-tall Anzu wyliei had a bird-like beak and apparent feathers, with a large crest atop its skull and less of a tail than a T. rex. It munched on vegetation, small animals and perhaps eggs.

A replication of its skeleton is on display inside Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum. That's a very different environment from the lush, warm, humid, almost bayou-like conditions that it enjoyed roughly 66 million years ago in what's now a very different North and South Dakota.

Not that it was an easy life. Schachner noted that one specimen appeared to have a broken rib, while another had a busted toe. And those injuries are nothing compared with Anzu wyliei's likely efforts dodging the so-called King of the Dinosaurs.

"It probably spent a lot of its life," Lamanna pointed out, "on the lookout for T. rex." (cnn)

Google Doodle Celebrates the Spring Equinox

Google Doodle Celebrates the Spring Equinox

IleJadi - It's finally Spring! But it's still pretty chill across the U.S. March 20th marks the Spring Equinox, better known as the first day of Spring. And after a brutal winter season bummed out much of the U.S. for six straight months, the equinox is a welcome sign that hey, it might actually get warmer.

The happy news is already trending on Twitter, and Google is celebrating the occasion with an awesome animated Doodle showing a cartoon man watering seeds, which blossom into flowers that spell out GOOGLE:

Meanwhile, some businesses are offering promotions to mark the equinox. Rita’s Ice, for example, is holding its 22nd annual First Day of Spring Celebration, where you can go get a free water ice.

So what exactly is the Vernal Equinox? TIME writer Harry Swartout explains:

Twice a year, the earth’s axis is angled such that the world gets an equal amount of daylight and night. As the axis tilts further, the northern hemisphere receives more direct sunlight, leading to spring and summer’s warmer temperatures. The Equinox helps mark important celebrations around the world like Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Easter, and Passover.
It also means you can officially wear white–but only until Labor Day.

So though it’s technically the first day of Spring, it’s looking pretty cold out there across much of the country. The Weather Channel’s temperature map is basically coated in blue:

Those temps should warm up throughout the day, though: in NYC we’re looking at a high of 57, which–considering the winter we’ve had–is practically tropical.

Now put on your best pastel outfit and maybe even think about having lunch outside (but decide against it because it’s probably still too cold). It’s SPRING. (time)

Thai military radar data bolsters belief that Flight 370 changed its path

Thai military radar data bolsters belief that Flight 370 changed its path

IleJadi - New information from the Thai government bolsters the belief that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took a sharp westward turn after communication was lost.

The Thai military was receiving normal flight path and communication data from the Boeing 777-200 on its planned March 8 route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing until 1:22 a.m., when it disappeared from its radar.

Six minutes later, the Thai military detected an unknown signal, a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman told CNN. This unknown aircraft, possibly Flight 370, was heading the opposite direction.

Malaysia says the evidence gathered so far suggests the plane was deliberately flown off course, turning west and traveling back over the Malay Peninsula and out into the Indian Ocean.

But investigators don't know who was at the controls or why whoever it was took the plane far away from its original destination.

The Thai data is the second radar evidence that the plane did indeed turn around toward the Strait of Malacca.

It follows information from the Malaysian Air Force that its military radar tracked the plane as it passed over the small island of Pulau Perak in the Strait of Malacca.

"The unknown aircraft's signal was sending out intermittently, on and off, and on and off," the spokesman said. The Thai military lost the unknown aircraft's signal because of the limits of its military radar, he said.

The radar data is an encouraging sign that investigators are on the right track, but they still are not sure where the plane ended up.

The latest findings say the plane's last known location detected by a satellite is somewhere along two wide arcs: one stretching north over Asia and the other south into the Indian Ocean. The plane's last electronic connection with the satellite was about six hours after it last showed up on Malaysian military radar.

The total area now being searched stands at 2.24 million square nautical miles, Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defense and transport minister, said at a news conference Tuesday.

That's an area nearly the size of the continental United States.

"This is an enormous search area," Hishammuddin said. "And it is something that Malaysia cannot possibly search on its own. I am therefore very pleased that so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and support to the search and rescue operation."

China clears citizens

China says it has found no evidence that any of its citizens on board the missing plane were involved in hijacking or terrorism.
Background checks on all passengers from the Chinese mainland on the plane have found nothing to support such suspicions, Huang Huikang, the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, said Tuesday, according to the state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Authorities have said they are investigating all 239 people who were on board the flight, which disappeared more than 10 days ago.

According to the airline, 153 of the 227 passengers on board the plane came from mainland China or Hong Kong.

By effectively ruling out suspicions for a large majority of the passengers, Chinese authorities appear to have significantly shortened the list of possible suspects in the investigation.
The Chinese ambassador's statement is also likely to greatly dampen speculation that Uyghur separatists from China's far western region of Xinjiang might have been involved in the plane's disappearance.

One of the two long corridors where authorities say the plane was last detected stretched over Xinjiang, and unconfirmed reports had suggested the possibility that Uyghurs might be connected to the case.

Chinese authorities have accused separatists from Xinjiang of carrying out a terrorist attack this month in which eight attackers armed with long knives stormed a train station in Kunming, a city in southwestern China, killing 29 people and wounding more than 140.

China said Tuesday that it had begun to search for the plane in the parts of its territory that fall under the northern corridor, deploying satellite and radar resources.

Experts are analyzing past and present data along the arc stretching through Chinese territory, Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a news briefing Tuesday in Beijing.
Turn made by computer?

The pilot and first officer of the missing plane, both of them Malaysian, have come under particular scrutiny in the search for clues. Investigators say that whoever flew the plane off course for hours appeared to know what they were doing.

But officials have so far reported no evidence to tie the pilot and first officer to the plane's disappearance.

Supporting the case that whoever took the plane off course had considerable aviation expertise, The New York Times reported that the aircraft's first turn to the west was carried out through a computer system that was most likely programmed by somebody in the cockpit.

An aviation expert, writing an op-ed for CNN.com, floated the idea last week that whoever changed the plane's course was an expert.

The person who programmed the change of course would have been somebody "knowledgeable about airplane systems," The Times reported, citing unidentified American officials.

The information has increased investigators' focus on the pilot and first officer, the newspaper reported. CNN wasn't immediately able to confirm the report.

Asked about the report Tuesday, Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said: "As far as we're concerned, the aircraft was programmed to fly to Beijing. That's the standard procedure."

But he didn't rule out the possibility the flight path had been reprogrammed.

"Once you're in the aircraft, anything is possible," he said.

Missing Malaysia plane: Chinese territory searched

Missing Malaysia plane: Chinese territory searched

IleJadi - China has started searching its territory within the northern corridor for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, state media report.

The international search for the plane has extended into two vast air corridors, north and south of the plane's last known location.

China said no evidence of terror links had been found in Chinese passengers.

The plane went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board. Some 26 countries are involved in search efforts.

Malaysia says the plane was intentionally diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position in the Malacca Straits.

Search efforts are focused on two corridors - one stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and another from Indonesia to the Indian Ocean.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that the aircraft's crew - or other individuals on the plane - were involved in its disappearance.

A total of 153 Chinese nationals were on board the missing aircraft, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Based on background checks, there was no evidence to suggest that the mainland Chinese passengers on the plane were involved in hijacking or launching a terror attack, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang said, according to Xinhua.

'Huge challenge'
Meanwhile, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said it would lead a new search in an area in the southern Indian Ocean.

"This search will be difficult," Amsa Emergency Response General Manager John Young said. "The sheer size of the search area poses a huge challenge - the search area is more than 600,000 square kilometres (230,000 sq miles)."

Late on Monday, US officials said the US navy ship USS Kidd had been taken off the search because the enlarged search area meant that "long-range patrol aircraft" were "more suited" to the mission.

The move was made "in consultation with the Malaysian government", officials said in a statement. USS Kidd had searched the Andaman Sea but found "no debris or wreckage associated with an aircraft", they

The US says it is using patrol aircraft including the P-8A Poseidon and P-3C Orion to continue search efforts, with the P-8 taking part in search efforts in the south corridor.

'Breaches rejected'
The Malaysia Airlines plane left Kuala Lumpur at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on 8 March. The last transmission from the plane's Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was received at 01:07.

A transmission expected 30 minutes later did not come through, Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahy told reporters. Officials believe the communications systems were deliberately disabled.

The last words from the plane - "all right, good night" - were believed to have been said by co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid to air traffic controllers at 01:19 as the plane left Malaysian airspace.

It then disappeared from air traffic controllers' screens at 01:21, when it was over the South China Sea, but was last spotted by military radar at 02:15 over the Malacca Straits - the opposite direction from its planned flight path.

Satellite communication at 08:11 showed that the plane could have continued flying for a further seven hours in a northern or southern arc.

Several countries have already rejected the suggestion that their airspace might have been breached, the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Kuala Lumpur reports.

After 11 days of a huge multinational investigation and search, almost all options for the fate of flight MH370 are still being considered, our correspondent adds.(bbc)

Elderly Japanese couple meet family of daughter kidnapped by N Korea

Elderly Japanese couple meet family of daughter kidnapped by N Korea

IleJadi - Parents of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, have emotional first encounter with her daughter - and her baby girl

The mother of a Japanese woman kidnapped and taken to North Korea as a schoolgirl has hailed a "miraculous" first meeting in Mongolia with her long-lost granddaughter.
Megumi Yokota who was only 13 years old when she was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1977 on her way home from school.

The secretive state insists that Yokota killed herself in 1994, an explanation that Tokyo has long refused to accept.

Yokota's parents - father Shigeru, 81, and mother Sakie, 78 - spent five days last week with their granddaughter, 26-year-old Kim Eun-Gyong, and her family in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, Japan's foreign ministry said Sunday.

"What we have dreamt about for such a long time has come true - they were miraculous days for us," Yokota's mother told a press briefing Monday near Tokyo.

Abductee's parents finally meet North Korean granddaughter

Abductee's parents finally meet North Korean granddaughter

IleJadi - Megumi Yokota was only 13 when she was abducted by a North Korean agent in the 1970s. Now, almost 40 years after her disappearance, her aging parents, Shigeru and Sakie Yokota, have traveled to Mongolia to meet her daughter -their granddaughter.

In a series of meetings in Ulan Bator arranged by Japanese and North Korean foreign ministry officials, the Japanese couple met 26-year-old Kim Eun-gyong, her husband and 10-month-old daughter.

"Our long-cherished dream had come true," Shigeru Yokota said at a press conference. "It was actually first time to meet her although I've been seeing her on TV (since she was) 14 or 15."

Yokota, who was kidnapped from the port city of Niigata in 1977, was not present at the meeting. North Korean authorities insist that she committed suicide, although this is disputed in Japan and repatriated ashes proved not to be a DNA match.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Monday morning that he was "glad" to hear that the meeting was conducted safely.
"We are determined to resolve the abduction issue at any cost," he said.

The abductee issue is a considerable sticking point in Japan-North Korea relations. The reclusive state has admitted to kidnapping a number of Japanese nationals, mostly to help train spies in Japanese language and culture.

The Yokotas said that they were unable to confirm their daughter's safety with Kim, as political matters were off the table. However, her mother said, "I spent time with them believing Megumi is still safe somewhere."

The meeting took place as North Korea's bellicosity is once again on the rise, with reports that the Stalinist state has fired a number of short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast.

Navy SEALs take back control of hijacked tanker

Navy SEALs take back control of hijacked tanker

IleJadi - U.S. Navy SEALs have taken control of a commercial tanker that had been seized by three armed Libyans this month.

No one was hurt in the Sunday night operation, the Pentagon said.

The tanker, Morning Glory, is carrying oil owned by Libya's National Oil Company.

The ship was returning to Libya, according to a written statement from the interim prime minister, which said Tripoli asked for help from countries in the area.

The statement thanked the United States and Cyprus.
The Morning Glory sailed last week from the rebel-held port of As-Sidra in eastern Libya

Libyan forces fired on the vessel but were called off by the U.S. Navy, fearing an environmental disaster. The SEALs boarded the ship in international waters southeast of Cyprus, the Pentagon said.

The situation remains unsettled in the North African nation, which the government is struggling to control more than two years after the ouster of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

In this case, the issue centers around the oil-rich eastern part of the country and one man in particular, Ibrahim Jadran. The militia leader was entrusted by the government to safeguard crucial oil ports. But in July, Jadran and his men seized them, blocking oil exports, and demanded more autonomy and shared revenues for his eastern region.

He said he acted because the government is corrupt.

The conflict over oil wealth is stoking fears that Libya may slide deeper into chaos as the fragile government fails to rein in the armed brigades that helped oust Gadhafi in 2011 but now do as they please.(bbc)

China: Cash reward for rescuing Yangtze finless porpoises

China: Cash reward for rescuing Yangtze finless porpoises

IleJadi - People who save a rare freshwater mammal found only in China's Yangtze River basin can claim a cash prize from the local fisheries bureau, it appears.

Reporting that a Yangtze finless porpoise has been injured or is at risk - and helping save the animal before officials arrive - could be rewarded with 300 yuan ($48, £29), the People's Daily newspaper says. A smaller reward of 100 yuan could be given to residents who report the death of a porpoise, or supply tips.

It is thought only about 1,000 of these freshwater animals remain in the wild. About half the population lives in Poyang Lake, which supplies the Yangtze River. The population has seen a dramatic crash recently, falling by nearly 14% each year since 2006, according to an official report from 2013.

Experts say pollution and low water levels are harming the fragile species. Poyang Lake used to be China's largest freshwater lake, but the construction of a dam and recent droughts have reportedly reduced its size by nearly 95%.(bbc)

Egypt unrest: Six soldiers shot dead in Cairo

Egypt unrest: Six soldiers shot dead in Cairo

IleJadi - Six Egyptian soldiers have been killed by gunmen at a checkpoint in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra al-Khayma, state media reports.

A security official said two bombs left behind by the attackers had been defused.

The violence comes two days after another soldier was shot dead in an attack on an army bus in eastern Cairo.

There has been an upsurge in violence since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.

Islamist militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in numerous attacks.

The military accused Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of carrying out this latest attack, which was carried out as the soldiers took part in dawn prayers.

The Brotherhood denies involvement in violence, saying it is committed to peaceful campaigning.

Trials
It was designated a terrorist group in December and thousands of its members have been put on trial.

A series of high-profile attacks on security forces in Cairo and the Sinai peninsula have been claimed by another group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which it says are in revenge for the military-backed government's repression of Mr Morsi's supporters.

Mr Morsi, elected in 2012 following the overthrow of veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak, was ousted by the military amid huge streets protests against him, after a year in power marred by deep political and social divisions.

Mr Morsi is in jail facing four separate trials. The charges, which he denies, include the killing of opposition protesters, espionage and conspiring to commit acts of terror.

Military chief Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is expected to stand in presidential elections which are due to be held in April.(bbc)

Berkin Elvan: Turkish PM accuses dead boy of terror links

Berkin Elvan: Turkish PM accuses dead boy of terror links

IleJadi - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said a 15-year-old boy who died on Tuesday from injuries sustained in last year's anti-government protests had links to terrorism.

Berkin Elvan spent nine months in a coma after being hit by a tear gas canister as he went to buy bread.

His death triggered more clashes with the police in over 30 towns and cities.

Mr Erdogan's comments could further inflame political tensions, correspondents say.

In a campaign speech ahead of local elections on 30 March, Mr Erdogan said the teenager was connected to "terrorist organisations".

"This kid with steel marbles in his pockets, with a slingshot in his hand, his face covered with a scarf, who had been taken up into terror organisations, was unfortunately subjected to pepper gas," he said in the speech broadcast on state TV.

Berkin Elvan's funeral took place in Istanbul on Wednesday, providing a focus for further expressions of discontent with Mr Erdogan.

Police fired water cannon and tear gas at protesters near Taksim Square, while his coffin was carried through the city's streets.

Tens of thousands of mourners chanted anti-government slogans and his mother accused Mr Erdogan of killing her son.

No tolerance

Berkin Elvan's death brought to at least eight the toll from last year's unrest, including one policeman.

The protests began over plans to develop Istanbul's Gezi Park into a new mosque and shopping centre, but escalated into national demonstrations against what opponents see as Mr Erdogan's growing authoritarianism.

Speaking to supporters on Saturday, Mr Erdogan said violence would no longer be tolerated.

"We will never let the streets become battlegrounds," he said, accusing opponents of causing disruption ahead of local elections.

Mr Erdogan has promised to step down if the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) does badly in the elections.

However, the AKP, in power since 2002, is expected to do better than its rivals in the polls.(bbc)

Exclusive: Radar data suggests missing Malaysia plane deliberately flown way off course - sources

Exclusive: Radar data suggests missing Malaysia plane deliberately flown way off course - sources

IleJadi - Military radar data suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course, heightening suspicions of foul play among investigators, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said.

The last plot on the military radar's tracking suggested the plane was flying toward India's Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.

Waypoints are geographic locations, worked out by calculating longitude and latitude, that help pilots navigate along established air corridors.

A third source familiar with the investigation said inquiries were focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight.

POSSIBLE SABOTAGE OR HIJACK

"What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards," said that source, a senior Malaysian police official.

All three sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media and due to the sensitivity of the investigation.

Officials at Malaysia's Ministry of Transport, the official point of contact for information on the investigation, did not return calls seeking comment.

Malaysian police have previously said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

As a result of the new evidence, the sources said, multinational search efforts were being stepped up in the Andaman Sea and also the Indian Ocean.

LAST SIGHTING

In one of the most baffling mysteries in modern aviation, no trace of the plane nor any sign of wreckage has been found despite a search by the navies and military aircraft of more than a dozen countries.

The last sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. Malaysian time last Saturday (1730 GMT Friday), less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur, as the plane flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand. That put the plane on Malaysia's east coast.

Malaysia's air force chief said on Wednesday an aircraft that could have been the missing plane was plotted on military radar at 2:15 a.m., 200 miles northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia's west coast.

This position marks the limit of Malaysia's military radar in that part of the country, a fourth source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

When asked about the range of military radar at a news conference on Thursday, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said it was "a sensitive issue" that he was not going to reveal.

"Even if it doesn't extend beyond that, we can get the co-operation of the neighboring countries," he said.

The fact that the aircraft - if it was MH370 - had lost contact with air traffic control and was invisible to civilian radar suggested someone on board had turned off its communication systems, the first two sources said.

They also gave new details on the direction in which the unidentified aircraft was heading - following aviation corridors identified on maps used by pilots as N571 and P628. These routes are taken by commercial planes flying from Southeast Asia to the Middle East or Europe and can be found in public documents issued by regional aviation authorities.

In a far more detailed description of the military radar plotting than has been publicly revealed, the first two sources said the last confirmed position of MH370 was at 35,000 feet about 90 miles off the east coast of Malaysia, heading towards Vietnam, near a navigational waypoint called "Igari". The time was 1:21 a.m..

The military track suggests it then turned sharply westwards, heading towards a waypoint called "Vampi", northeast of Indonesia's Aceh province and a navigational point used for planes following route N571 to the Middle East.

From there, the plot indicates the plane flew towards a waypoint called "Gival", south of the Thai island of Phuket, and was last plotted heading northwest towards another waypoint called "Igrex", on route P628 that would take it over the Andaman Islands and which carriers use to fly towards Europe.

The time was then 2:15 a.m. That is the same time given by the air force chief on Wednesday, who gave no information on that plane's possible direction.

The sources said Malaysia was requesting raw radar data from neighbours Thailand, Indonesia and India, which has a naval base in the Andaman Islands.(Reuters)

Is Crimea's referendum legal?

Is Crimea's referendum legal?

IleJadi - On Sunday, Crimeans will vote on whether they want their autonomous republic to break away from Ukraine and join Russia.

Ukraine and the West have dismissed the referendum as illegal and one that will be held at gunpoint, but Russia supports it.

Why is this referendum being held?

Crimea's parliament has elected a pro-Russian prime minister and voted to break away from Ukraine, following the ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych by pro-Western and nationalist protesters. The referendum is designed to show public endorsement for the decision.

Parliament says it needs to protect Crimeans from "extremists" who came to power in Kiev and now threaten their lives as well as the right to speak the Russian language.

But the new government in Kiev says the referendum is being held to legitimise the presence of Russian troops in Crimea and its annexation to Russia.


What will people see on the ballot?

There are two questions being put to the vote:

1. Are you in favour of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reuniting with Russia as a constituent part of the Russian Federation?

2. Are you in favour of restoring the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea of 1992 and of Crimea's status as part of Ukraine?

However, the referendum rules do not state whether there is a threshold number of votes needed for the result to be enacted.

What does Ukraine say?

Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov
It has called for a boycott of the vote, which it says would be illegal.

Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov annulled the Crimean parliament's decision to hold the vote and pledged to disband the republic's legislature.

Kiev has issued arrest warrants for Crimean parliament speaker Volodymyr Konstantynov and Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov on charges of attempting to seize state power.

But since pro-Russian forces are in control in Crimea, Ukraine is not in a position to stop the referendum going forward.


What does the outside world think?

Western leaders have branded the poll illegal. US President Barack Obama has called it a "slapdash" vote which "ignores" the constitution. The leaders of the G7 industrialised nations said they would not recognise the outcome of the vote.

But President Vladimir Putin said the referendum is "based on international law".

Russia's parliament has said it will respect the outcome of the vote and is considering a bill on a procedure to admit parts of a foreign state to Russia.

Who can vote?

According to the provisional rules approved by the Crimean parliament, Ukrainian citizens aged 18 or older and registered as residents of Crimea can vote.

They must produce a Ukrainian passport or any other identification document issued by the migration service. The referendum rules make no mention of Russian passports. Some residents of Crimea are believed to hold both Ukrainian and Russian passports, contrary to Ukrainian legislation.

But Ukraine has blocked Crimean officials' access to voter lists, so the electoral rolls will have to be compiled by local councils all over Crimea.


What kind of campaign is going on?

Ukrainian citizens registered in Crimea are "free to discuss the referendum questions" and to campaign in public, according to the rules.

But campaigning has been almost entirely pro-Russian, often featuring swastikas to portray the authorities in Kiev as neo-Nazis. Shortly after the referendum was called, Ukrainian TV channels were removed from both terrestrial broadcasts and cable networks in Crimea. Some of them were replaced with Russian stations.

There have also been reports of violence against pro-Ukrainian activists.

Will there be observers?

The Crimean parliament has formally invited OSCE election monitors, but the OSCE does not plan to send any because of its stance that the vote is "illegal".

Military observers from the OSCE have already been blocked from entering Crimea - on 8 March, shots were fired by pro-Russian troops.

Russia plans to send 24 MPs to observe the referendum and eight election officials to oversee the vote.


What is the likely outcome?

With pro-Russian forces firmly in control of Crimea politically and militarily, the result seems to be a foregone conclusion in favour of Crimea being incorporated into Russia.

Crimean parliament speaker Volodymyr Konstantynov said it was merely a matter of "legalising" opinion which was already known. "There will be no surprises. Do not even hope," he said on Ukrainian TV.

Ethnic Russians make up a majority of Crimea's population (58%), according to the last census, which was taken 13 years ago. Ukrainians are estimated at 24% and Crimean Tatars at 12%.

The referendum commission is expected to announce the result no later than 10 days after the vote.(bbc)

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted'

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted'

IleJadi - The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.

According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours.

He said the "movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane".

The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.

Mr Razak stopped short of saying it was a hijacking, saying only that they were investigating "all possibilities".

He said the plane could be anywhere from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean.

The developments have added further uncertainty to the relatives of the 239 people on board the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

Some in the Chinese capital said the news had made them more hopeful that their loved ones are alive, but one woman said they were on an emotional rollercoaster and she felt "helpless and frustrated".(bbc)

Christmas crowds gather in town

Christmas crowds gather in town

IleJadi - Large crowds have begun to gather in the biblical town of Bethlehem to kick off Christmas Eve celebrations.

Tourists packed Manger Square in a party atmosphere, a BBC correspondent says.

The nearby Church of the Nativity sits on the spot where the Bible says Jesus was born.

The number of visitors to Bethlehem has been steadily rising in recent years as peace talks to resolve the Middle East conflict have resumed.

Despite the erection of Israel's separation barrier with the West Bank, which appears as a high concrete wall around the town, three gates have been opened for Christmas to allow the Christmas procession led by the Latin Patriarch coming from Jerusalem to enter the city.

In Vatican City, Pope Francis has made a Christmas visit to Pope Emeritus Benedict, 86, and said he found his predecessor looking well.

Francis, who was elected in March, spent about 30 minutes with Benedict in an ex-convent on the Vatican grounds where the former pope has been living since he stepped down earlier this year, the Reuters news agency reports.(bbc)

Al Qaeda: We're sorry about Yemen hospital attack

Al Qaeda: We're sorry about Yemen hospital attack

IleJadi - It's something you don't often hear from the leaders of a terrorist group known for violence: We're sorry.

But that's just what the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in a video message Sunday, apologizing for a hospital attack in Sanaa earlier this month that left dozens of people dead.

The attackers were directed not to assault the hospital or mosque in an attack against a Yemeni Ministry of Defense compound on December 5, but one fighter made a mistake and attacked the hospital, leader Qassim Al-Raimi says in the video.

"We confess to this mistake and fault. We offer our apologies and condolences to the families of the victims," Raimi said in the video, which was published by al Qaeda media outlet Al-Malahim. "We did not want your lost ones; we did not target them on purpose. This is not of our religion or our morals."

Footage shows Yemen gunman open fire
It's unusual to see "such a direct, fast, public apology" from al Qaeda, CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen said.

"Al Qaeda leaders seem to be waking up to the fact that if they position themselves as the defenders of Muslims, their large-scale killing of Muslim civilians needs to stop," Bergen said.

The apology comes after Yemeni government officials released surveillance video showing the hospital under attack.

The surveillance footage showed patients nervously looking out of the hospital windows, then running after an explosion.

In another clip, patients and staff huddle in a hallway. They watch as an attacker walks calmly toward them, activates an explosive and lobs it in their direction.

"We saw what the Yemeni channel broadcast: a gunman entering a hospital . ... We did not order him to do so, and we are not pleased with what he did," Raimi said. "Moreover, it wronged us and pained us, because we do not fight in this manner."

The U.S. government has designated al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as a foreign terrorist organization and says the group has orchestrated "numerous high-profile terrorist attacks." (cnn)

Clinton says she'll decide about 2016 next year

Clinton says she'll decide about 2016 next year

IleJadi - Hillary Clinton says she'll decide in 2014 about whether she'll make another run for the White House in 2016.

"Obviously, I will look carefully at what I think I can do and make that decision sometime next year," Clinton said in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters that aired Wednesday night.

Clinton, who was named Walter's "Most Fascinating Person of 2013," was quite open in the interview about her feelings towards launching another presidential campaign, but also emphasized again that it's too early to be obsessing about the next race for the White House.

"It's such a difficult decision and it's one that I'm not going to rush into ... and I don't think we should be looking at the next election,"Clinton said. "I think we should be looking at the work that we have today. Our unemployment rate is too high. We have people getting kicked off food stamps who are in terrible economic straits. Small business is not getting credit, I could go on and on, so I think we ought to pay attention to what's happening right now."

Since Clinton stepped down as Secretary of State at the beginning of the year, speculation has mounted that she'll run again for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then-Sen. Clinton battled then-Sen. Barack Obama in a marathon fight for their party's nomination in the first half of 2008 before she bowed out in June.

Now, for the first time in decades, neither Clinton or her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are in public office, which she calls a "relief."

"I knew that I wanted to get off this high wire that I had been on for so long," Clinton said. "To spend time just doing things that give us a lot of joy, playing with our dogs, going to movies, just hanging out."

Asked whether her husband wants her to run, Clinton said that Bill Clinton has been "very respectful," adding that he wants her to "do what I think is right."

Asked if she wants to see a woman in the White House, Clinton answered, "of course," but said, "I don't know the exact timing of it or who that might be."

If she decides to run, Clinton would instantly become the overwhelming frontrunner for her party's nomination, and she's been miles ahead of the other potential Democratic White House hopefuls in every public opinion poll.

A new national survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University indicates that if the 2016 race for the nomination were held today, 63% of Democrats would back Clinton as their party's nominee, with no other possible contender even cracking  double digits. According to the poll, which was released Thursday, Clinton grabs the support of 66% of liberals, 61% of moderates and 58% of the smaller faction of conservative Democrats.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll was conducted December 9-15, with 1,002 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.(cnn)