Australian Doctors, Scientists Fear Alternative Medicine

The traditional medical establishment fears the mainstreaming of alternative medical practices so much that a group of doctors and scientists in Australia are asking the country’s university policy makers not to allow courses in alternative medicine to be offered.

Iran: American Aggression Is Suicide

Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Reza Sajjadi, promises swift and hefty military retaliation to any U.S. military adventurism against his country. The ambassador said on Wednesday that any U.S. aggression will be met with Iranian military strikes on U.S. targets throughout the world, to which Sajjadi claims the Iranians have “full access.”

American Embassy Closed In Syria

Due to a recent surge in violence in Syria, the Administration of Barack Obama decided on Monday to remove U.S. diplomats from the country. The State Department had requested that Syrian President Bashar Assad provide additional security at the American embassy, but the requests were not granted.

Canadian Man Arrested After Texting Staff 'Blow Away' Competition

A Moroccan-born Canadian businessman is suing the Quebec provincial police force for $100,000 after being deemed a terror suspect for texting his sales staff. Last month, Saad Allami was arrested and detained after sending a text to his sales staff saying that he intended to “blow away” the competition.

Jerusalem, The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore

After reading the amazing history contained in Jerusalem, The Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, I couldn’t help but be thankful that our Founding Fathers established a country that allows all citizens the rights to their own religious beliefs and keeps government out of it. (At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.) As a lesson about what happens when governments and religion become intertwined, Jerusalem, though, is a cautionary tale. Because the saga of conflict told in Jerusalem not only sheds light on an astounding history of warfare among countries, empires, ethnic groups and civilizations, it demonstrates what happens when militaristic religious leaders decide to rid the Earth of their rivals. The result is a kind of never-ending ethnic cleansing.

The fact that Jerusalem is the center of the spiritual world for so many people seems to make politics there frighteningly complex and deadly. Consequently, if you have any interest in understanding why the area in and around Jerusalem is such a contentious piece of real estate, Jerusalem explicates, in exquisite historical detail, the thousands of years of fighting over a piece of ground that so many people want to possess. Sometimes, the details supplied by Montefiore are a bit overwhelming. But the historical tidbits, footnotes, archeological gossip and descriptions of what we know or think we know about what historical figures did to each other in this part of the planet are never less than fascinating and illuminating.

Does The Muslim World Still Want Salman Rushdie Dead?

In 1989, a novel penned by British Indian novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie resulted in Iran’s then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s declaration of a fatwa­ — a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar — calling “good Muslims” to assassinate the author. Now, more than two decades after the novel’s publication, the Islamic community is still up in arms over The Satanic Verses.

War Rhetoric Heating Up

U.S. officials say that Iran, in response to mounting tension from the West, is prepared to launch terrorist attacks within the borders of the United States. As aggressive rhetoric toward Iran continues to come from U.S. officials, high-ranking members of the Islamic Republic are pushing back through the country’s state-run media.

China Bests United States In Several Industries

China’s gross domestic product is measured at about $6.5 trillion and America’s GDP is more than $15.2 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund. Last year, China’s economy expanded at more than 9 percent. America’s GDP grew only 2 percent. Most economists expect China’s economy to surpass the United States’ in the next decade or two.

Bin Laden SEAL Team Rescues Hostages In Somalia

The same Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden rescued two hostages, one of whom is an American citizen, from kidnappers in Somalia in a raid Tuesday night.

IMF: For 2012 China Dominates Global Economy, U.S. Stalls, Europe In Decline

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said that it predicts slowing global economic growth and a rising risk of global economic calamity if governments fail to act appropriately.