Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, February 24, 2015.
OND is a regular
community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Celebration by Kool and the Gang
News below Aunt Flossie's hairdo . . .
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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Yle to read The Koran cover to cover on radio series
By (BBC)
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The holy book of Islam, The Koran, will be read in its entirety on Yle’s Radio 1 channel in Finnish starting on March 7. The unprecedented project is intended to increase people’s knowledge of The Koran and Muslim culture in Finland.
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Each instalment will begin with a discussion between Imam Anas Hajjar, a leader of the Finnish Muslim community, and the translator of the text into Finnish, Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila. In these introductory discussions, the two men will explore the religious and historical context of the text to be read.
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Hämeen-Anttila says he doesn’t believe it is necessary to be careful with one’s words when discussing the Koran, even if it is a holy book. Yet he admits he is aware that the ancient text still functions as a daily guide to over a billion people.
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“The programme is an important step in understanding one another. It is an attempt to tell the story of The Koran and what it contains,” he says.
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What a 20-year biomass battle tells us about environmental justice policy
By Brentin Mock
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Back in 1994, environmental justice activists in Flint asked the EPA to block construction of the biomass plant, arguing that low-income African Americans have already suffered enough from the concentration of pollution and poverty in the northeastern quarter. The EPA noted the request, and it’s on the agency’s list of civil rights complaints, filed July 1, 1994 as one of the few cases accepted for investigation. But here we are, over 2o years later, and the situation hasn’t been resolved. The plant has been up and running since 1995, burning wood to energy to its merry delight.
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The plant in Flint burns wasted wood and pellets from dying trees and old houses. Schmitter and other community activists are concerned that it could be using wood that is tainted with dangerous levels of lead-based paint — the kind of lead that some scientists attribute to the crisis-levels of violence experienced throughout the 1990s (as heard in graphic detail in Top Authority’s songs).
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Gov. Rick Snyder also includes biomass as part of his “no regrets” energy future plan for ridding the state of coal-powered electricity. He is under further pressure from the EPA to bring the state into compliance with the Clean Power Plan, which also has the goal of weaning us off of coal — and, yes, the agency counts biomass as part of its accepted renewable energy alternatives. (In a recent report, experts at the World Resources Institute agree that we could do worse than biomass.)
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This is why the issue is so complicated. The EPA is desperately trying to get us off of coal in an attempt to address climate change, which is also a civil rights issue given that hits people of color and the low income the hardest. It just goes to show that not all EJ issues are black and white. But after 20 years, the EPA, at the very least, owes Flint an explanation.
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Why aren’t more news organizations protecting their e-mail with STARTTLS encryption?
By Kevin Gallagher
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The Guardian published a shocking story a few weeks ago showing that in 2008 Britain’s spy agency GCHQ collected and stored the e-mails of some of the world’s biggest news organizations, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and BBC. We wanted to find out which news organizations are still vulnerable to this mass spying technique, so we conducted a survey of 65 major news organizations to see if they have implemented a common security protocol known as STARTTLS that can protect their e-mails from being intercepted as they travel across the Internet.
We found that news organizations like the Associated Press, Le Monde, LA Times, CBS News, Forbes, Baltimore Sun, and Der Spiegel are still not protecting journalists and their sources from this type of surveillance, and are putting all of the people who communicate with them at risk of being spied on. You can see the full results of our survey below.
STARTTLS is a form of encryption which allows e-mails sent from one e-mail server to another server to be encrypted in transit. If implemented correctly at every newsroom, it would largely prevent the type of surveillance done by GCHQ described in the Guardian article. Without it, e-mails directed to a certain mail server can be snooped on at any point between the sender’s mail provider and that of the recipient, and eavesdroppers can obtain the entire contents of the e-mail, assuming PGP isn’t being used. Yet even with PGP it's still useful since it guards the metadata (subject line and other headers). STARTTLS functions as a simple extension to common e-mail transmission standards such as SMTP.
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E-mail was not designed with privacy in mind. The pervasiveness of the passive bulk interception dragnet, as exemplified by the routine tapping of fiber-optic cables, and NSA’s infiltration of the links between datacenters of Yahoo and Google, is one of the greatest threats to press freedom today. To be clear, STARTTLS is not a silver bullet, especially against such adversaries—in particular it’s vulnerable to downgrade attacks and certificate validation issues, so its deployment should be combined with OPSEC practices and security tools like PGP in order to achieve confidentiality. It’s also important that the type of encryption used has a property called forward secrecy. EFF’s STARTTLS Everywhere project is designed to address many of the concerns.
The use of transport encryption with e-mail protocols has increased in recent years. But many of those groups which are most at-risk—namely news organizations—have a ways to go before they can be said to be taking security and privacy seriously.
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Why thousands are standing behind one Muslim lawyer
By (BBC)
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Why are Australians rallying behind one Muslim lawyer? Because she has become the target of racist abuse online from far right groups and white supremacists around the world.
The story starts with a vest on sale at Woolworths. Last year, branches of the Australian retailer began selling a singlet carrying a controversial patriotic message. Underneath a picture of the Australian flag, the caption on the vest read "If you don't love it, leave".
The slogan could be read as a hostile message aimed at immigrant groups in the country, and that's how it was taken by Mariam Veiszadeh. She's a lawyer, and prominent advocate for the Muslim community in Australia. She tweeted a picture of the vest on sale in the shop, saying "I'm outraged that #WOOLWORTHS are allegedly selling these bigoted singlets at their Cairns stores". Her message of anger began to trend online, and the retailer quickly pulled the item in question.
But that wasn't the end of the story. In the months since, Veiszadeh has been subjected to online hate from extremists around the world. . .
Right on cue, trolls began tweeting Veiszadeh messages of abuse - and in response she called on her followers to report the offending accounts to Twitter. She herself was one of the first to use the hashtag #IStandWithMariam.
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International |
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Amnesty calls on UN powers to lose veto on genocide votes
By (BBC)
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Amnesty International has urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to give up their power of veto in situations of mass atrocities.
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It argues that if the use of the veto in the Security Council had already been restrained in this way then it could have prevented Russia using its veto repeatedly to block UN action over the violence in Syria.
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Amnesty's report said that 2014 had led to one of the worst refugee crises in history, with four million Syrians displaced by war and thousands of migrants dying in the Mediterranean.
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Amnesty also used its report to urge governments to adhere to a worldwide agreement on arms.
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Suicide blasts at Nigerian bus stations leave 24 dead
By (Al Jazeera)
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Suicide bombers have struck two bus stations in different parts of northern Nigeria, killing at least 24 people and wounding scores.
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Boko Haram fighters have increasingly used young girls and women as human bombs, with so-called "soft targets" such as markets and bus stations.
The latest blasts underline the severe security challenges facing Nigeria in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections on March 28.
The elections were initially scheduled for February 14 but were delayed by six weeks to give the military and its allies more time to secure and stabilise the northeast to allow people to vote.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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US offers $3m reward for arrest of Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev
By (BBC)
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The US has offered a $3m (£1.94m) reward for information on a Russian hacker, the highest the US authorities have ever offered in a cybercrime case.
Evgeniy Bogachev was charged last year in the US for being behind a major cybercrime operation that allegedly stole more than $100m (£64.7m).
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Victims were tricked into downloading malware - malicious software - which then searched specifically for financial information.
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Chicago's Mayor Emanuel faces election run-off
By Mary Wisniewski
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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to get more than 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election, and must face a run-off against second-place finisher Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in April.
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Garcia, 58, a progressive Democrat, was hugely outspent by Emanuel, who put $7 million into television ads, including one featuring a hug from Obama.
Garcia has argued that Emanuel paid more attention to the city's upper class and downtown than the poor and communities outside the commercial center.
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Emanuel, known for his sometimes abrasive style, has argued that he had to make tough choices to rein in the city's budget deficit, which is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by next year due to an increase in payments to public pensions.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
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We spoke with group leader, Robert "Kool" Bell. When we talked with Kool, his group had the Number One selling record in the United States - "Celebration".
Q - Kool, where do your song ideas come from?
A - They come from various areas. When we're on tour we might pick up a certain vibe from the audience when we're playing. We might take that same idea to the studio, lock into a certain groove and say, hey, let's try this groove we tried in such and such a city. We kind of write what people are into, the lifestyles of people.
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Q - How do you guys manage to stay friends when you're always around each other?
A - We did grow up together. We know each other pretty well. When we have any problems, we're not afraid to sit down and bring 'em out. We sit down at the table and discuss what the problems are. We can always relate back to what our purpose is and what we want to do as musicians. That's the key for us. That keeps the unity together.
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Q - I have to ask you...where'd you get the name Kool?
A - That's a nickname from the neighborhood I grew up in here in Jersey City. It's a faddish thing and I just happened to take the name Kool 'cause I'm kind of a laid back person.
Q - What would you like to do in the future?
A - We'd really like to do a tour with The Doobie Brothers. We respect them as muisicians and we're kind of like in the same direction musically. We'd like to be as successful as Earth, Wind & Fire and The Commodores.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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The windmill could get a snazzy green facelift, thanks to Dutch architects
By Ana Sofia Knauf
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The Wind Wheel’s design, made of two massive rings and an underwater foundation, plans to incorporate other green technologies, including solar panels, rainwater capture and biogas creation. The biogas will be created from the collected waste of residents of the 72 apartments and 160 hotel rooms that are planned for the inner ring.
The outer ring is set to house 40 cabins that move along a rail like a roller coaster, giving tourists a view of the city and the surrounding countryside, much like the London Eye or Las Vegas’ High Roller, which became the world’s tallest observation wheel when it opened in 2014. The cabins have glass “smart walls” that project information — the current weather, for example, and the heights and architects of buildings — onto the panorama. A restaurant and shops are also planned within the proposed structure.
While aspects of the Wind Wheel’s design seem futuristic, the technology will have several years to advance before final construction gets underway. Duzan Boepel, the project’s principal architect, says that the Wind Wheel is still in its beginning phases. … He says if they prove that the wheel’s bladeless turbine tech can be scaled up for use in the Wind Wheel, the building may be finished by 2025. |
Spy cables: Greenpeace head targeted by intelligence agencies before Seoul G20
By Kumi Naidoo
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The head of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, was targeted by intelligence agencies as a potential security threat ahead of a major international summit, leaked documents reveal.
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He was linked in the intelligence request with two other South Africans who had been swept up in an anti-terrorist raid in Pakistan but later released and returned to South Africa.
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Another document sheds some light on the CIA’s involvement in climate change issues.
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Within the US federal government, the Pentagon, like the CIA, has shown enormous interest in climate change, anticipating potential conflict as a result of climate change. In the document, the CIA suggests the four intelligence agencies look jointly at the role of renewables in tackling climate change, with the UK taking the lead in alternative fuels for transport to offset oil and the geopolitics of renewable energy while the CIA looked at issues such as “possible unintended consequences”.
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Science and Health |
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Why Don’t You Want to Sing and Dance in Public?
By Lan Nguyen Chaplin and Michael I. Norton
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. . . We . . . measured children’s awareness that others might be judging their performance, using a task that measures “Theory of Mind”—or our ability to understand that others have minds and opinions that differ from ours. Children heard a story about a dolly named Sally who places a toy car in a basket and leaves the room; another doll, Anne, then moves the car to a box without Sally seeing the move. Children are then asked where Sally will look for her doll when she comes back. Those with Theory of Mind understand that Sally will look in the basket, because they understand that they have knowledge that Sally does not. Those lacking Theory of Mind guess that Sally will look in the box, because they lack the ability to realize that Sally does not share their knowledge and view of the world.
Who guessed right? Older children, overwhelmingly. 3- and 4-year olds were very unlikely to guess correctly, while 11- and 12-year olds nearly always got it right. Most importantly, this developmental increase in Theory of Mind was strongly and negatively correlated with children’s desire to sing and dance: the higher children scored on our Theory of Mind test—the more children understood that others can have a different opinion of their abilities—the more likely they are to refuse to perform. And this trend held among our youngest participants: 3- and 4- year olds with a more developed Theory of Mind were more likely to avoid singing and dancing.
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While our investigation stopped with 12-year olds, our casual observation of adults suggests that the tendency to refuse to sing and dance lingers long after adolescence (especially in the absence of alcohol). What are we forgoing with our refusal to perform? Research shows that activities like singing and dancing are associated with benefits for health and happiness, but even more qualitatively: have you ever seen a group of happier individuals than 4-year olds belting out “Let It Go” from the Disney movie Frozen? Our results suggest that grown-ups could learn something from children by letting it go ourselves and getting out on the dance floor.
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Vaccine Exemptions and the Church-State Problem
By Dena S. Davis
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The current measles outbreak has brought public attention to the ease with which vaccine exemptions are available. As the media continually inform us, 48 states allow for religious exemptions, while 19 states also offer exemptions based on some sort of personal philosophy. The New York Times featured a snarky column by Ginia Belafonte dismissing most religious claims by pointing out that “the Bible, the Quran and the texts of Sanskrit were all obviously written before the creation of vaccines.” By that standard, Jewish males would have no obligation to cover their heads (a relatively late development in Judaism) and Catholics would have no opinion on abortion (not mentioned in the New Testament).
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From one perspective, religious exemptions would seem to be about free exercise—the state shouldn’t make you go against your religious beliefs, at least not without a strong reason. But any time the state offers an exemption, it runs into establishment clause issues as well. If the state is supposed to be neutral on issues of religion, why should it offer exemptions based on religious grounds and not on equally serious philosophical or personal grounds? Should the state be labeling religious reasons as “better”?
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In 1958, Dan Seeger, a young man on a spiritual journey from Catholicism to Quakerism, claimed to be a sincere pacifist but not too sure about a Supreme Being. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which, quoting theologian Paul Tillich, adopted a more expansive view of religion as the “ground of being,” without requiring belief in a Supreme Being. In 1970 the other shoe dropped, when Elliott Welsh successfully argued that the law could not privilege religious beliefs over purely secular, philosophical ones. Fortunately, the draft ended before our current era, when draft boards would have had to listen to an endless array of people earnestly explaining that they were “spiritual but not religious.”
Returning to vaccination, we now see that trying to separate religious from “personal” reasons won’t work, either as a neat way to draw a line or by using “religious” as a proxy for “serious.” Requiring a certain amount of formality might be useful—perhaps every parent seeking an exemption should be required to show up for a hearing, or speak with a health educator. Or maybe it’s time to end exemptions altogether.
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Do blind people really experience complete darkness?
By Damon Rose
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Though I've had the cord cut between my eyes and my brain, it seems that the world has not turned black. All metaphors, similes, analogies, and literary flourishes about blindness and darkness should henceforth cease to be used because I'm saying it's far from dark. It is, in fact, quite the opposite.
So what replaces 3D technicolour vision once it's gone? The answer - at least in my case - is light. Lots of it. Bright, colourful, ever-changing, often terribly distracting, light.
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I miss those peaceful moments of near darkness: walking at night-time while focusing on the streetlights ahead, the atmospheric shadows in a room with a real fire burning, or travelling home late in the back of my dad's car glimpsing cat's eyes lighting up in the middle of the road.
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When I first went blind I thought the brightly coloured lights were a sign my eyes were trying to work again. It gave me some hope and I was quite fascinated by it. I used to sit and stare at it. Now I know that it's my brain making up for the fact that it no longer receives any pictures.
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Technology |
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Reddit Finally Banned Stolen Porn
By Kate Knibbs
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Reddit is finally slamming the banhammer on porn posted without the permission of the people it depicts. This means no more leaked nude photos, no more revenge porn, and no more creepshots*. In an announcement, the Reddit team admitted that they'd "missed a chance to be a leader in social media when it comes to protecting your privacy" by allowing this sort of stuff to go down:
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Reddit's mission to provide a forum for open discussion has always been enmeshed with ideas that the platform must be inherently agnostic about its content, and that any limitations were tantamount to censorship. It was even reluctant to ban subreddits full of child porn in 2012, assuring readers that it did not make the decision lightly.
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It'll be interesting to see how enforcement works. According to the new privacy policy, people who want a photo taken down can contact Reddit and explain the situation, but it isn't clear whether each subreddit's mods will be the ones actually removing the content or if there will be a separate task force.
This is going to piss off some old-school redditors (and pervs), but the new guidelines are specific enough that the only type of content getting banned is both illegal and potentially enormously damaging for its subjects. It shouldn't be something to agonize over. While fostering communities without censorship is a worthy cause, making this type of explicit ban is something Reddit should've done a loooooong time ago.
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Is Weibo on the way out?
By Celia Hatton
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Those with Weibo accounts don't seem to be using them very much. Ninety-four per cent of the messages on Weibo are generated by just 5% of its users, or 10 million people, according to one study published last April by the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre. The same study found that almost 60% of accounts had never posted a message.
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In 2012, the government issued a long list of rules banning Weibo posts that "threatened national security, reputation or interests". The Weibo accounts of prominent government critics were also closed, igniting a campaign to clamp down on Weibo's most prominent users, known as the "Big Vs".
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Ordinary people have also been warned to tone down their Weibo activity, or make sure it is unremarkable. Users face up to three years in prison if any controversial post they write is viewed more than 5,000 times, or is forwarded more than 500 times.
In one instance, a 16-year-old boy in China's western Gangsu province was arrested after writing on Weibo that "government officials shield one another". The state media made sure to use his case as an example to others.
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Cultural |
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India outrage after Hindu leader attacks Mother Teresa motive
By (BBC)
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Mohan Bhagwat is the powerful head of Hindu nationalist organisation RSS, which is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government.
Opposition politicians criticised the remark and many Indians took to social media to express their outrage.
The comments come days after PM Modi vowed to protect religious freedom.
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"Mother Teresa's service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian," Mr Bhagwat said while speaking at a function in Rajasthan on Monday
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The comment sparked a howl of protest from Christian leaders, opposition politicians and ordinary Indians.
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Nigeria's fashionistas upset by falling oil prices
By Lucy Fleming
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The prices at Alhayat Global Synergy women's fashion house in the Sky Memorial Complex have gone up because the Nigerian currency, the naira, has lost 20% of its value in the last three months, as a consequence of the oil crisis.
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Nigeria's government receives more than 75% of its revenues from oil exports - and in the last six months prices on global markets have more than halved.
"My suggestion to government is that it needs to diversify its source of income and do away with a monoculture economy," says Mr Kyaure before answering a query about a price.
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"It affects the entire society because we solely rely on oil and a slight change of oil price on the international market invariably affects society."
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Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already. |