EUROPEAN UNION RULES ASYLUM SEEKER TESTS FOR HOMOSEXUALITY UNLAWFUL

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that gay asylum seekers do not need to undergo a test to prove they are homosexual, reports Big News Network.

The ECJ had ruled last year that persecuted gay people from Africa have grounds for asylum.

Due to severe anti-gay laws in a number of African countries there has been an increase in the number of asylum seekers in the European Union (EU).

The decision came after three men failed in their attempts to seek asylum in the Netherlands after the Dutch court ruled they had not proved their sexuality.

The ECJ said determination of a refugee's sexuality must be in accord with EU law and cannot infringe on rights to privacy and dignity. The court added authorities can discuss sexual matters with asylum seekers but cannot ask about personal sexual practices or demand "medical tests" or recordings of sexual acts.

However, the court also found that although “the starting point in the process of assessment,” a mere declaration of homosexuality, is insufficient grounds for asylum.

In September, Egypt’s Forensic Medicine Authority found that nine men are “not homosexuals” after they had appeared in a recording of a “gay marriage”.

Salt-Water Powered Car Gets Approval In Europe – Yes It’s Real

It works just like a hydrogen fuel cell except that the liquid used for storing energy is saltwater. This isn’t far from the water powered car, an idea labelled as a conspiracy by many despite the massive amount of evidence behind it. You can read more about that here.

In this case (saltwater) the liquid passes through a membrane in between the two tanks, creating an electric charge. This electricity is then stored and distributed by super capacitors. The car carries the water in two 200-litre tanks, which in one sitting will allow drivers to travel up to 373 miles (600km). Overall, the four-seater is 5.25 metres (0.4ft) long, 2.2 metres wide (7.2ft), the 1.35 metre (4.4ft).

“After making its debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show (pictured) in March, the saltwater technology has now been certified for use on European roads.” (source)

Nanoflowcell AG is the company behind the design, and they are currently preparing the technology for mass production.

‘We’ve got major plans, and not just within the automobile industry. The potential of the NanoFlowcell is much greater, especially in terms of domestic energy supplies as well as in maritime, rail and aviation technology” - NanoFlowcell AG Chairman of the Board Professor Jens-Peter Ellermann.

This is huge news, and is another example out of so many that clearly show how we have so many ways to do better here. Although money remains an issue, it doesn’t have to be.

All cars should be required to be made from this type, or other similar types of clean green energy. A few years ago, if you told somebody it’s possible to fuel a car by pouring saltwater into it, they would have called you a conspiracy theorist.

Luxembourg Parliament Prepares To Vote On Gay Marriage

Luxembourg, the small Grand Duchy that puts the “lux” in “Benelux”, is on track to legalize gay marriage by the end of 2014. Justice Minister Félix Braz announced earlier this year that the government would vote on a same-sex marriage bill this summer. The legal affairs committee in Luxembourg’s parliament Wednesday approved the proposed bill--n°6172A--which will now face a vote before all of parliament sometime “after the Pentecost holidays and before the summer”, the Luxemburger Wort reports:

The bill, which also includes reforms on other aspects of family law, was first introduced at the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies in May 2012, and has taken over two years to pass to a vote in parliament.

Several changes were made along the way. Most importantly, same-sex couples were granted the right to both closed and open adoption. A previous version of the bill had foreseen that same-sex couples would only be allowed open adoption, in which birth parents retain access to information about their child.

The Luxembourg State Council, however, ruled that this was discriminatory and threatened to withhold approval should closed adoption not be made available to same-sex couples also.

Luxembourg, whose Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is openly gay, would become the 9th EU nation to legalize same-sex marriage if the bill is approved, joining the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, France and the UK.

Eurovision Hosts Told They Can't Wear Rainbows To Support Gay Community

"I'm not allowed to be political. Because east Europe is such a big part of Eurovision. They just need to chill the fuck down. But Eurovision is inherently political, surely. I asked them if I can wear rainbows. No. We're not allowed to be political. It's about music, not politics. But music and politics, you can not divide them. Not in my mind. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland always give each other top points in Eurovision. If that's not politics, I don't know what is."

- Eurovision host Pilou Asbaek, speaking to theGuardian.

Russia kicked out of G8, Putin rehabilitates Stalin

In this week’s “they’re back” news, Russia was kicked out of the G8 today, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has been trying to rehabilitate the image of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Stalin killed, by conservative estimates, four to ten million Russians during his tenure (some estimates go as high as 60 million killed).

First the G8, I mean G7

The G7 is an organization representing the world’s most industrialized nations.  It includes the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy – and added Russia in 1998, to become the G8.

Today that changed, and they’re back to the G7, with Russia kicked out for its invasion and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea.

Per a larger declaration from a meeting of those leaders today in the Hague:

This Group came together because of shared beliefs and shared responsibilities.  Russia’s actions in recent weeks are not consistent with them.  Under these circumstances, we will not participate in the planned Sochi Summit.  We will suspend our participation in the G-8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion and will meet again in G-7 format at the same time as planned, in June 2014, in Brussels, to discuss the broad agenda we have together.  We have also advised our Foreign Ministers not to attend the April meeting in Moscow.  In addition, we have decided that G-7 Energy Ministers will meet to discuss ways to strengthen our collective energy security.

While it may be only symbolic, it is at least strongly symbolic. Russia had been wanting for a while to be accepted into the big-boys’ club of world leaders, including membership in the G8.  So while his expulsion from the group won’t get Putin out of Crimea, it does exact a real cost on Russia’s overall aspirations to be viewed as a world power, rather than a sclerotic pariah.

Romanian Parliament Blocks Civil Union Bill

A bill that would have extended civil unions to same-sex and opposite-sex couples in Romania was blocked last week by the Juridicial Commission of the country’s lower house Chamber of Deputies, Stiri pentru viata reports.

One of the more vocal opponents of the legislation, MP Diana Tusha, delivered an intervention last month in front of her fellow lawmakers in which she expressed her views that the bill was antithetical to Romanian values and tradition.  

Said Tusha:

 

Despite appearances, civil partnership is not about simple fiscal or housing benefits for unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples, but about the very definition of family and therefore about its future.

For the first time in Romania’s history, somebody tries to shift the focus of this institution from monogamous heterosexual marriage to a simple – I quote: ‘non-discriminatory’; end of quotation – civil contract between two persons regardless of their sex. […]

We have the terrible example of countries like France, Spain and England, where this attack went so far that the government, after legislating for marriage, adoptive filiation and assisted reproduction for same-sex couples, also replaced the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ in the civil status registries with the allegedly more neutral terms of ‘parent A’ or ‘parent B’.

It’s hard to imagine a graver aggression towards nature and ultimately also against citizens.

And since we’ve mentioned the citizens, we are here to represent the majority of Romanians, who believe that family based on marriage between [persons of opposite] sexes is the first and foremost centre of social life.

Tusha went on to use the right-wing Arizona brand of logic by saying that while she as a Christian is opposed to discrimination, it doesn't really count as discrimination when you're limiting the rights of gays.