News Round Up - January 7th, 2018
Today's most interesting news articles with links and brief summaries...
President steps in over Islamophobic abuse of Austria's New Year Baby
Unlike the President, Mr Kurz and other members of the newly formed government, have kept quiet over racist comments made towards the infant.
One hostile message referred to the country's new far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, saying he "Is going to send you out of the country. He's the man to do it."
In response, Caritas, a Catholic charity that works with migrants and refugees, launched a campaign of support for the infant and her parents, Naime and Alper.
"It is a completely new dimension of online hate, targeting an innocent newborn," said Klaus Schwertner, head of Caritas in Vienna.
Mr Schwertner said the Facebook page for the newborn, which had been taken down over the furore, should be reinstated.
"We want to show that love is stronger than hate, on Facebook just as in real life," he said.
Suicide at Chinese iPhone factory reignites concern over working conditions
A US-based China workers' rights organisation has claimed that a factory at a firm that produces Apple's iPhones in China, died after jumping from a building on Saturday.
China Labor Watch said that Li Ming, 31, jumped to his death from a building in the city of Zhengzhou, in the east-central Chinese Henan province, where he had been working for Foxconn.
The death has triggered comparisons with a wave of suicides in 2010 and 2011 at Foxconn factories in China amid concerns over working conditions.
The organisation told The Telegraph that he had been working for Foxconn fortwo months and lived in factory dormitories.
Feel free to breastfeed here, Pope tells mothers in Sistine Chapel
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis baptized 34 infants during a long ceremony in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday and told their mothers to feel free to breastfeed them there if they were hungry.
During the ceremony that lasted more than two hours, Francis baptized 18 girls and 16 boys, including two pairs of twins.
"If they start performing a concert, or if they are uncomfortable or too warm or don't feel at ease or are hungry ... breastfeed them, don't be afraid, feed them, because this too is the language of love," he said in a short improvised homily.
The most famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel - the ceiling scenes and the Last Judgement wall - were painted by Michelangelo.
5,000-year old rock art found in India is likely the oldest depiction of a supernova
Scientists say this is likely what happened back in 3600 BC. Astrophysicist Mayank Vahia and his colleagues at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Believe a rock painting found in what is today part of the Kashmir region of south Asia is the oldest record of a supernova and likely the oldest sky chart ever drawn.
In other words, the rock art is likely a sky chart and, if it is, it would be the oldest sky chart on record.
Working with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Vahia has studied many more pieces of rock art from the region, but couldn't find any other skycharts.
That is why, on its own, Vahia's rock painting isn't enough to definitively prove itself to be the oldest human-made star chart and supernova record.
Australian Medical Association wants tax on sugary drinks and ban on junk food ads
The Australian Medical Association has called for a tax on sugary drinks to tackle obesity and for water to be the "Default beverage option" with meals.
In a position paper, released on Sunday, the AMA backed a number of measures to decrease obesity including banning junk food ads targeted at children.
One-third of food intake comes from highly processed junk foods and beverages and half of Australian adults have a body weight that puts their health at risk, it said.
Researchers have suggested a tax on sugary drink combined with a subsidy on fruits and vegetables could save the health sector $3.4bn. The AMA statement notes that 22% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in households that have run out of food and not been able to purchase more at some point in the past 12 months.
Documents reveal Canada called U.S. diplomats in Havana targets of "acoustic attacks" months before U.S. acknowledged them
LINK: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/havana-cuba-acoustic-attacks-new-documents-canada-us-state-department/
WASHINGTON - Newly disclosed declassified documents from Global Affairs Canada obtained by CBS News reveal Canadian officials were calling incidents affecting American diplomats in Havana, Cuba, "Attacks" as far back as April 26 - months before the U.S. State Department first publicly acknowledged them as such.
In a May 26 internal email update on the situation - that also affected Canadian personnel - a Canadian foreign service officer wrote: "Starting in late November and lasting until April 21, U.S. diplomats posted to Havana have been a target of acoustic attacks."
According to the documents, on June 18, Health Canada Overseas Medical Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Chernin arrived in Havana for meetings with Canadian embassy staff regarding "Possible injuries due to exposure to an acoustic device."
Despite the State Department's Canadian counterparts calling them attacks for months, the U.S. only first publicly acknowledged them as "Incidents" to CBS News Aug. 9