Bits and Bites From Around the World > CNN's Blitzer Lost in Scotland; Shooting in "Stop the Violence" Event; Doug the Ugly Potato

..

People ask why CNN journalist is in Edinburgh for COP26…

while the summit is in Glasgow

1 Nov, 2021 14:15

© Twitter / @wolfblitzer

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer has caused a stir on Twitter as he posted a photo of himself in Edinburgh in the buildup to the United Nations Climate Change summit. But as many have pointed out, the event is being held in Glasgow.

On Monday, Blitzer, the anchor of CNN's The Situation Room, took to Twitter to share that he and the CNN team were now in Scotland for the COP26 summit. “I’m now reporting from Edinburgh in Scotland where 20,000 world leaders and delegates have gathered for the COP26 Climate Summit,” he wrote, sharing an image of himself on set, with the capital’s castle in the background. 

However, as hundreds, if not thousands, of people have pointed out, the COP26 summit isn’t being held in Edinburgh. The summit is being held some 45 miles (72 kilometers) away in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. 

And while Blitzer likely meant that 20,000 people would be descending on Scotland as a whole, not Edinburgh, it hasn’t stopped a torrent of merciless mocking. Former UK MP, Douglas Carswell was among many jokingly accusing the CNN anchor of “Fake news” adding “COP26 is happening in Glasgow.” 

Media Guido, a right-wing satirical news agency, labelled the post as a “Classic American tourist's mistake.” Australian comedian Craig Reucassel followed suit, noting “Say you are American without saying you are American.” 

“Forgive me if I get my information from a news organization that managed to go to the right city,” wrote author James Felton, who shared a meme based on a sketch from the US TV show ‘The Office’, in which an American journalist fails to distinguish the difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

Specsavers, a company in the retail of prescription eyewear, wrote “Should’ve gone to Glasgow,” playing on their famous and long-running advert “should have gone to Specsavers.” 

FT assistant editor Janine Gibson joked that there was probably “a very sensible health and safety rule” for putting the Situation Room a minimum of 50 miles from the Actual Situation. 

One person chimed in sharing directions to Glasgow from Edinburgh, noting: “Glad your at least made it to the right country.” 

When Americans travel....Glad your at least made it to the right country🙄I've attached a train schedule for your perusal 👇😂 pic.twitter.com/8bQv0WpVZH

— Frank I Am 💉💉 (@_frankiam) November 1, 2021

Meanwhile, a parody account for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Blitzer appeared to have “all the necessary attributes to become my next Foreign Secretary.” 

While it is understood that some 20% of the 25,000 COP26 attendees will be staying in Edinburgh and commuting to Glasgow, Blitzer's situation room is well over an hour away from where world leaders gathered on Monday. 

The event brings together some 200 nations, who are being asked to put forward their plans to cut carbon emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The pledges are part of a global agenda to keep global warming less than 2C above pre-industrial levels.

Tragic irony: Man killed in shooting at ‘Stop the Violence’

boxing event in Florida

1 Nov, 2021 15:01

FILE PHOTO of a police car in St. Petersburg, Florida, and (inset) a boxing event aimed at stopping gun violence.

© Getty via AFP | Twitter @FadiaTVNews

A Florida 'Stop the Violence' event including an outdoor boxing match was marred when gunfire broke out and one man was killed, with one of the fighters speaking to local press and revealing a possible motive for the incident.

According to St. Petersburg police, a temporary ring was set up to accommodate a neighborhood boxing league card as part of a 'Guns Down, Gloves Up' pledge.

Owned and leased out by Councilwoman Lisa Wheeler-Bowman, a brother of one of her employees, Trevor Barton, aged 21, was slain in the fracas.

According to officials, this was caused when two opposing groups confronted one another at the event attended by around 200 people.

In addition to Barton's passing, two men and two women were injured by the gunfire with another 21-year-old, Robert Cooley, already charged for carrying a concealed firearm and discharging a firearm in public. 

Speaking to Spectrum Bay News 9, Neighborhood Boxing League member Pielay said: "Every time I'm boxing it relieves a lot of stress." 

As a visiting fighter, a video shows him knocking out his opponent from the local town while donning grey shorts. And according to Pielay, the mood soon soured after he ended the bout, which was the last of evening.

"They were real deal mad about me knocking him out," Pielay said, insisting: "We were already on our way back to Tampa." 

"I'm thinking why is stuff like this going on at an event that says 'Gloves up, Guns down?'" he asked.

"The purpose of the [Neighborhood Boxing] League is to bring down violence," finished Pielay, who claims to have participated in over a dozen fights as part of the league with nothing of this nature ever occurring before.

In a statement, the Neighborhood Boxing League stressed that it doesn't promote gun violence "in any shape or form" and wants to "acknowledge that the shooting that took Saturday night was not a result of the event". 

Doug the ugly New Zealand potato could be world’s biggest

By NICK PERRY

yesterday

Donna Craig-Brown holds a large potato dug from her garden at her home near Hamilton, New Zealand Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. A New Zealand couple dug up a potato the size of a small dog in their backyard and have applied for recognition from Guinness World Records. They say it weighed in at 7.9 kilograms (17 pounds), well above the current record of just under 5 kg. They've named the potato Doug, because they dug it up. (Colin Craig-Brown via AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Colin and Donna Craig-Brown were weeding their garden in New Zealand when Colin’s hoe struck something huge just beneath the soil’s surface.

As the couple knelt down and began digging around the object, Colin wondered if it was some kind of strange fungal growth, a giant puffball. After Colin pried it out with his garden fork, he scratched away a bit of the skin and tasted it.

A potato.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Donna said. “It was just huge.”

And not exactly pretty. Donna describes its appearance as more of an ugly, mutant look.

But it’s quite possibly the largest potato on record. When the couple lugged it into their garage and put it on their old set of scales, it weighed in at a remarkable 7.9 kilograms (17.4 pounds). That’s equal to a couple of sacks of regular potatoes, or one small dog.

In the weeks since their unusual find on Aug. 30, the couple’s potato has become something of a celebrity around their small farm near Hamilton. They’ve named the potato Doug, after the way it was unearthed, and Colin even built a small cart to tow Doug around.

“We put a hat on him. We put him on Facebook, taking him for a walk, giving him some sunshine,” Colin said. “It’s all a bit of fun. It’s amazing what entertains people.”

A more official weigh-in at a local farming store put Doug at 7.8 kg. The Guinness World Records entry for the heaviest potato is a 2011 monster from Britain that weighed in at just under 5 kg. The couple say they’ve applied to Guinness to have Doug recognized and are waiting to hear back.

Guinness said it couldn’t share information on the application and that the British potato remained the record-holder, for now at least.

Colin said he doesn’t have any secret gardening tips. Usually they throw a bunch of cow manure and straw onto their garden and see what happens. He said they’d been growing cucumbers in that area of their garden before the weeds took over and hadn’t planted any potatoes. Doug must have been self-sown, and quite possibly growing for a couple of years or more.

“It’s a mystery to me,” Colin said. “It’s one of nature’s little pleasant surprises.”

But Doug hasn’t proved an easy charge to look after. As the couple showed the potato off, it began drying out and losing weight. Mold started growing from its wounds.

“He was getting a bit pongy,” said Colin, referring to the potato’s smell.

So Colin cleaned up Doug as best he could and put the potato in the freezer, where it remains.

But Colin may not be done with Doug yet. An amateur brewer, Colin said he’s keen to turn Doug into a nice drop of potato vodka.

Koran Reading in Glasgow Church ‘Denigrated Jesus,’ says Queen’s Chaplain

Bishop 'distressed' by row following Qur'an reading at cathedral

David Chillingworth of Scottish Episcopal Church says he regrets widespread abuse received by St Mary’s Cathedral

The Qur’an reading lead to a backlash with the cathedral saying it had received offensive messages on social media. Photograph: Alamy

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent, Guardian

The leader of the Scottish Anglican church has said he was deeply distressed at the widespread offence caused by a reading from the Qur’an at a service to mark the feast of the Epiphany at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow.

David Chillingworth, the bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, and primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, said in a statement: “We also deeply regret the widespread abuse which has been received by the cathedral community.” He has launched a review of interfaith work.

His comments followed a row over the inclusion in the service of passages from the Qur’an read in Arabic from the cathedral’s lectern by a local Muslim student. The cathedral said it was part of efforts to build relationships between Christians and Muslims in Glasgow.

The student, Madinah Javed, 19, read from the book of Maryam, which tells the story of Jesus’s birth. It includes the Islamic teaching that Jesus was not the son of God. Muslims, however, revere Jesus as a prophet.

The reading triggered a backlash. The former bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, said: “Christians should know what their fellow citizens believe and this can include reading the Qur’an for themselves, whether in the original or in translation.

“This is not, however, the same thing as having it read in church in the context of public worship. The authorities of the Scottish Episcopal Church should immediately repudiate this ill-advised invitation and exercise appropriate discipline for those involved.”

The church's reading from the Koran for its Epiphany service has been criticized by the Queen’s chaplain, who said the reading was inappropriate because Christians are “suffering dreadful persecution at the hands of Muslims in the Middle East.”

The cathedral said it had become the target of offensive messages on social media, which it reported to the police.

A Police Scotland spokesman said last week: “We can confirm we are investigating reports of offensive comments made towards St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow and inquiries are ongoing. Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of hate and encourages all communities to work together to ensure no one feels threatened or marginalised.”

The cathedral’s provost, Kelvin Holdsworth, defended the reading, saying similar events had “happened a number of times in the past in this and in other churches, and have led to deepening friendships locally, to greater awareness of the things we hold in common and to dialogue about the ways in which we differ”.

The statement from the bishop said the Scottish Episcopal Church had a long commitment to interfaith work. “Over many years, we have sought to develop friendship, understanding and mutual respect between our Christian faith and the other great world religions,” he said.

Chillingworth added: “Those who seek to work in the area of interfaith relationships must weigh carefully whether the choices which they make are appropriate or otherwise.

“In today’s world, those judgments must give careful consideration to good relationships which have been carefully nurtured over many years in a local context. They must also weigh carefully the way in which national and international issues shape perceptions of what is appropriate or inappropriate.

“The decisions which have led to the situation in St Mary’s Cathedral are a matter for the provost and the cathedral community, but the Scottish Episcopal Church is deeply distressed at the widespread offence which has been caused.”

Chillingworth said the church would bring together “all those who are involved in the development of interfaith relations ... to explore how, particularly in the area of worship, this work can be carried forward in ways which will command respect”.

It's curious, none of these statements contain any reference to what Jesus might think of this mess. Chillingworth and Holdsworth seem only concerned about what people might think or do and how this might damage interfaith relationships. But to read a passage from the Quran that denies the deity of Jesus from the pulpit during a 'worship' service is utter blasphemy. Who, or what were they worshiping? It certainly was not Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

What a disappointment that neither the Provost nor the Bishop seemed concerned about what God thinks. Their excessive concern for Muslims is not unlike the Police and Council of Rotherham who sacrificed 1400 girls, most of them many times over, on the altar of political correctness. 

Then there is the matter of truth. Is the Bible true? Do Chillingworth and Holdsworth actually believe what the Bible says? If they did, how can they give equal weight to the Quran when it clearly contradicts the Bible? 

Jesus came, among other things, to complete the Law so the world could live under 'grace' not under the Law. Mohammed, on the other hand, came to put the world back under the Law, and a distorted version of the Law. The point is, either the Bible is true and the Quran false, or the Quran is true and the Bible is false. You can't preach them both!

Both the Bishop and the Provost need to get on their knees and get in touch with God, or they should resign their posts and go into social work.