On A Monday

For a relaxing long week-end...


How is that "degrading" thing going?

The Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to Islamic State (IS) after government forces abandoned their positions, officials say.

Also:

Militants seized part of the town of Tadmur on Saturday, which is located on a strategic east-west route next to Palmyra's World Heritage-listed ruins. 

Nearly 300 have reportedly died in four days of fighting.

 Taking a break from the pointless destruction of priceless history.


Racism is alright when other people do it:

A couple and an 11-year-old boy were driven out of their home on a Quebec reserve by people protesting the presence of the woman's non-native boyfriend.

There are mixed opinions as to why residents of the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal are protesting the relationship between Amanda Deer and her non-native boyfriend. 

Protesters gathered outside Deer's home Sunday and demanded the family leave. She said she's not sure whether protesters were there because her boyfriend has a criminal record, or if it's because they were trying to enforce a territory law that says any Mohawk who marries or lives with a non-native must move away.

(Sidebar: yeah, that must be it.)

"Two people in the pro-eviction [group] and they were trying to break my front door down. They started handling the handle, banging on the door, banging on the porch, Deer said.

"People were on the side of my porch in the back where the pool is. I had the back door gate locked by the pool, they're trying to kick it in. 'Get the f--k out of here, get the hell out of here. We want him out!' And the police are standing there doing nothing."

 
Whatever one does, do not point out the vile bigotry that keeps that reservation's engine running.


Sore losers:

Russia will be sanctioned after their players showed a lack of respect to Canada following a 6-1 loss in the final of the world championships in Prague, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) said on Monday.

Most of Russia's players left the ice straight after Sunday's defeat and headed for the dressing rooms without waiting for the national anthem of Canada to be played, which goes against the etiquette of the sport.

Scientists get a chance to study life on a newly-formed island:

The new Nishinoshima, a respectable 2.46 square kilometres (0.95 square miles), the Japan Coast Guard said in February -- roughly the size of 345 football pitches -- is currently almost all bare rock, formed from cooling lava.

But scientists say it will one day be humming with plant -- and possibly animal -- life, as nature moves in to what is being called a "natural laboratory" on one of the latest bits of real estate in the Pacific Ocean.

"We biologists are very much focusing on the new island because we'll be able to observe the starting point of evolutionary processes," said Naoki Kachi, professor and leader of Tokyo Metropolitan University's Ogasawara Research Committee.

After the volcanic activity calms down, "what will probably happen first will be the arrival of plants brought by ocean currents and attached to birds' feet," he said.