Magic Statistics

This beautiful time-lapse video was shot somewhere in BC. 

 h/t: White Man Stew 

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Quebec agency investigating lack of French on DVD packages

MONTREAL — The Quebec agency that enforces the province's language law is investigating whether the packaging on some DVDs violates the Charter of the French Language.

Steve Gagne, a Quebec City resident, filed a complaint with l'Office de la langue francaise last week along with a list of more than 900 DVDs he had found in area stores that had a French soundtrack but unilingual English packaging.

In other news, a second Quebec overpass will be dismantled—just in case.

Speculation is mounting in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi that Russia may tighten the screws on Georgia by recognising two rebellious regions as separate republics.

Fears are growing here that Russia may up the ante in its escalating dispute with Georgia over Tbilisi’s arrest of four Russian officers on espionage charges.

Moscow has so far retaliated by imposing economic and transport sanctions against Tbilisi, deporting Georgian citizens and clamping down on Georgian businesses on Russian territory.

But analysts now fear that Moscow may turn the heat up even further by unilaterally recognising the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They’re also concerned that the growing tensions will provoke a new round of fighting over these territories.

South Ossetia is to hold an independence referendum on November 12.

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov warned that Russia would act if Georgia resorts to military action in the two breakaway regions.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia's central government in the early 1990s and Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the two regions since then.

"And if the Georgian leadership launches a military attack against our peacekeepers, Russian citizens, and if ethnic cleansing and genocide start there, Russia will not remain indifferent," Ivanov added.
. . .
Relations between Russia and Georgia have been strained by tensions over Georgia's two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to bring South Ossetia and Abkhazia back under Tbilisi's control. Georgia's parliament has demanded the pullout of Russian troops from the regions.

Ivanov’s announcement could easily encourage Russian nationalists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to take up arms against Georgia, knowing that Russia will intervene if Georgian armed forces try to suppress an uprising.

At the same time, however, Georgia has also initiated another approach to maintaining the allegiance of would-be separatist areas: government largesse.  By spending on infrastructure and public facilities, Tbilisi hopes to persuade them that remaining part of Georgia has its advantages.

Until just over two months ago, the Kodori Gorge was a far-flung outpost where local militiamen ruled and its 2,500 residents lived simple but isolated lives, growing grapes and tending pigs far from the government’s concerns.

But with Georgia locked in a bitter struggle to control the mountainous regions south of Russia, the gorge is rapidly being transformed. The militia has been run off by government soldiers. New schools, homes and government buildings have been built, courtesy of the Georgian government. The area has even been given a new name: Upper Abkhazia.

“Civilization is appearing,” said Olga P. Kordzaya, a doctor in Kodori for 20 years. Her newly renovated hospital now has three doctors, an ambulance service and, most important, Dr. Kordzaya said, links to the outside world.

If last week’s local elections are any indication, big spending in Upper Abkhazia is having the desired effect.  Voter turnout in support of the ruling party of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili was unusually high.

Previous related posts:

• Russia throwing out Georgian immigrants
• Caucasians and other minorities attacked in Moscow

Father Boulos Iskander, a Syrian Orthodox priest, was kidnapped three days ago in Mosul, Iraq.  Even though his family paid the ransom demanded by his Muslim kidnappers, his beheaded and dismembered corpse was found last night.

Father Boulos Iskander, 59, was snatched off a Mosul street on Monday afternoon (October 9) while searching for car parts at local mechanic shops.  The Muslim kidnappers telephoned the priest's oldest son soon afterwards, demanding $350,000 ransom from the family. After negotiations in several more calls, the kidnappers gradually reduced their demands to $40,000 but added another stipulation: that the priest's church must publicly repudiate Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Islam in his lecture in Germany last month.

The family managed to raise and pay the ransom, and the St. Ephram parish of the Syrian Orthodox Church placed 30 large signboards on walls around the city, distancing itself from the pontiff's comments. But then the telephone calls stopped. Fr. Iskander's dismembered body was discovered last night (October 11) at about 7 p.m. in the remote Tahrir City district, two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the center of Mosul.

Fr Iskander is survived by his wife and four children.

This is only one in an escalating series of attacks on Iraqi Christians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.  A Christian doctor was ambushed and killed.  A Chaldean Catholic church in Baghdad was surrounded and fired upon; fortunately, no one was injured.  An armed attack on the convent of the Iraqi Dominican Sisters in Mosul also caused no injuries.  Two car bombs set off near Baghdad's Assyrian Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary, however, killed four and wounded fourteen.  The Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul was attacked on two consecutive days, sending a guard to hospital.

Kidnappers are also targeting Christian young women and girls.

Last Sunday two young Christian women were abducted but under different circumstances: one at home as her helpless family could do nothing but watch; the other, at an open market where four armed men spirited her away in a car leaving behind a distraught mother.

It is believed that, in the last two weeks, 12 Iraqi Christian girls and young women have been kidnapped.  Some were raped by their abductors.

Christians in Baghdad and Mosul are living in fear.

Previous related posts:

• The “Talibanisation” of Iraq
• Christians persecuted in Iraq

A new report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide describes shocking violations of religious freedom and human rights abuses in Colombia.  At least six pastors and Christian leaders have been targets of assassination attempts, and at least three others have been kidnapped.  Violent attacks during worship services left four dead and 14 wounded.

In addition to the assassinations, the report also details the forced displacement of at least nine church leaders and their families because of their Christian work. Death threats made against at least nine Christian youths and their families after they resisted forced recruitment by the armed groups are also documented. At least five pastors reported receiving threats to them and their families after refusing to use church funds to meet extortion demands made by the various armed groups.

The report also documents extortion and intimidation of Christian businessmen and women.

Attacks have been carried out by armed groups from both extremes of the political spectrum as well as Colombian security forces.

h/t: Persecution Blog from Voice of the Martyrs