December 21 in the news....
- A baby was sent through an X-Ray machine at LA International Airport by a woman going through security. The incident sparked concerns that terrorists could smuggle babies onto airplanes.
- A German school bus driver could face jail time for giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute to pupils as they boarded each day. Germany's Basic Law bans the use of Nazi symbols, punishable by up to three years in prison. Children wanted for support of this bus driver are rumoured to have escaped through ratlines to South America, particularly Argentina.
- An overweight passenger has sued Air France after being told he was too fat and forced to buy a second seat to accommodate him on a flight. Jean-Jacques Jauffret, a French scriptwriter, said he had felt humiliated by Air France staff who had measured his waist in public at New Delhi airport in 2005 and decided he was too big for a single seat. When asked in court why he had lost his battle with the weight so badly, there was a moment of silence from the Frenchman, then everyone laughed with him.
- Al-Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video tape aired today that Palestinian elections would not free Palestinian land and would deal a blow to holy war against Israeli occupation. "Retreating in the face of the West will not satisfy it, no matter how adept we are at manoeuvring and negotiations," Egyptian militant leader Zawahri said, "any path other than jihad will only lead us to loss and defeat". He then added "And may I wish all infidels a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a swift beheading by the Sword of Allah."
- Russia on Wednesday denounced as "exceedingly cruel" the death sentences passed by a Libyan court on six foreign medics convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS. A spokesman clarified: "I mean it's not like they were actively working to expose President Putin's activities."
- US rocker Pink has been slammed by farmers and politicians for trashing Australian wool and our treatment of sheep. Treasurer Peter Costello questioned how much Pink knew about sheep after she accused Australian wool growers of cruelty over the practice of mulesing. New Zealand, though, has leapt to her defence claiming sheep are for 'loving and companionship not capitalist profit'.
- The UK government’s chief scientist has sponsored a report that details how robots will have rights in the future, similar to humans. In response to this the Iranian government's chief scientist mocked 'Secular Western Robots' and noted that Islamic robots will have martyrdom rights as their highest principle.
