Do You Know What Pulmonary Hypertension Is?

You might have it and not know it

May 5th is World Pulmonary Hypertension Day
But November is Pulmonary Hypertension Month

This is a horrible, debilitating and deadly disease
and much too little is known about it

Not well known

Pulmonary Hypertension is a fatal disease that many people have and don't know it. It is not well understood by most family physicians, and they will often diagnose asthma instead. Even some hospitals will refuse to treat a PH'er.

My wife has been on a Facebook group with other PH'ers, and we have lost several of them in the past two years. One of them went to her local hospital in a city of 50,000, and they refused to treat her. They sent her on a 5 hour road trip to the nearest hospital that would treat PH'ers. A few days later she died.

Symptoms

The major symptoms are:

Shortness of breath (dyspnea), initially while exercising and eventually while at rest
Fatigue
Dizziness or fainting spells (syncope)
Chest pressure or pain
Swelling (edema) in your ankles, legs and eventually in your abdomen (ascites)
Bluish color to your lips and skin (cyanosis)

Racing pulse or heart palpitations


What is it

Briefly, it is an increase in blood pressure between your heart and lungs. Left untreated, it can destroy your heart in as little as two years. With treatment, you can survive for another ten to twenty years but life will not be easy. There are no age restrictions that apply to PH; anyone is susceptible.

To find out more about this horrible disease please visit the Mayo Clinic.

For support or to make a donation to badly needed research, please visit the PHAssociation

‘Yemen War Crimes’ - British MPs Call for Inquiry

BAE evicts anti-Saudi protesters from shareholder AGM

Roger Carr, Chairman of BAE Systems. © Toby Melville / Reuters

BAE Systems evicted two shareholders from its AGM on Wednesday when they protested the firm’s sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which they claim were used to commit war crimes against innocent Yemeni civilians.

The shareholders-come-activists who are affiliated with Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) staged the intervention after the arms giant’s chairman Roger Carr took the stage.

Just five minutes into his address, the pair stealthily walked to the front of the room carrying placards denouncing BAE’s complicity in Saudi Arabia’s brutal military campaign against Yemen.

The posters, which were visible for all present to see, bore the caption: “900 children killed in Yemen. Stop arming Saudi Arabia!”



'Blood money'
Hannah Brock, 30, who was dragged out of the AGM by security staff soon after the intervention, told RT the pair's actions were justified.

“BAE Systems is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. The firm doesn’t just profit from war, it incentivizes it,” she said.

“The only time that BAE are legally obliged to face public scrutiny is at their AGM. It is our only chance to question the firm.”

Brock, who is a Right to Refuse to Kill program worker at global antimilitarist network War Resisters’ International, went on to explain she and her fellow campaigner felt compelled to draw attention to BAE’s complicity in grievous violations of international law.

“It’s particularly vital BAE is challenged on Saudi Arabia’s horrendous human rights abuses, as it continues to bombard Yemen, causing an enormous death toll,” she said.

The anti-arms activist accused Britain’s Tory government of protecting and supporting the arms giant. She called on MPs to implement an “outright embargo” on UK-Saudi arms sales and for a prompt inquiry into Britain’s role in alleged Saudi war crimes against Yemeni civilians.

Roughly 30 activists linked to CAAT had purchased shares in BAE to gain access to the AGM. They reportedly brought in a range of banners bearing quotes from people who had experienced airstrikes in Yemen, which they displayed to other shareholders. Some were dressed in black, red gloves and black veils for theatrical effect, while others questioned BAE representatives heatedly over the firm’s complicity in Saudi-led human rights abuses.


Saba Jallas turns horror into art in an attempt to maintain sanity as Saudi Arabia pulverizes Yemen
https://www.facebook.com/sabajallas2015/?fref=photo

Call for Inquiry

'Serious breaches of international law'
Britain's cross-party international development committee demanded an independent international inquiry into serious human rights breaches committed by all sides in the conflict in Yemen on Wednesday.

The move will likely anger UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who previously rejected global condemnation of Saudi Arabia. The Gulf state is a close British ally.

In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began a military assault on Yemen in a bid to influence the outcome of its bloody civil war. Leading a coalition of nine Arab nations, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes in Yemen in late March of that year and imposed an aerial and naval blockade.

There is a little more to it than that! The Houthi uprising is being supported, if not encouraged by Iran which is attempting to expand its influence in the Middle East. Yemen is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, ie between Sunni and Shia Muslims. 

The military campaign, which has caused large-scale bloodshed and human suffering, targeted Yemen’s Houthi population and a number of allied insurgent groups who support former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The intervention has been described as a humanitarian catastrophe by human rights experts, including key United Nations (UN) officials. By July 2015, the UN had described the humanitarian situation in the war-torn state as a “Level 3” emergency – the highest emergency level it ascribes.

A report published in September 2015 by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found that close to two-thirds of Yemeni civilians killed since March 26, 2015, had perished as a result of the Saudi-led airstrikes.

The following August, the UN special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict said 73 percent of the hundreds of Yemeni children killed since the Saudi-led military campaign began had died as a result of Saudi-led airstrikes.

BAE's stake in Saudi arms market
BAE’s AGM kicked off at 1100 BST and was held at a conference center in Farnborough, Hampshire.

Saudi Arabia is the arms giant’s third biggest market, according to CAAT. Large-scale arms sales date back decades and include BAE’s Tornado and Typhoon combat planes, which are being used in Yemen.

In 2016, 22 BAE Hawk aircraft were contracted to Saudi Arabia. The arms giant also brokered a mammoth £1.6 billion deal with the Gulf kingdom in 2012, involving the supply and support for 22 Hawk aircraft and 55 PC-21 Pilatus training combat planes.

BAE also employees 5,300 staff in Saudi Arabia, who support the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and the Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF).

RT asked BAE Systems to comment on why shareholders had been removed from the AGM. A spokesperson for the arms giant initially declined to confirm or deny the incident had occurred.

A second spokesperson for the firm later said: “There were a number of protesters removed from the meeting today. The AGM is the one time in the year that shareholders have the opportunity to hear from the board and ask questions about the business and we welcome all those who want to do that in a way that is courteous to other shareholders.”

BAE Systems chairman Roger Carr and CEO Ian King used the event to review the firm’s financial performance in 2015.

“Whilst economic and geopolitical conditions remain volatile, we have started the year with good momentum and the business is performing well,” King said.

“In 2016 and beyond, we are well placed to continue to generate attractive returns for shareholders.”

No kidding! The inventory of death is moving very nicely. You must be quite happy.

‘Surgical Strikes Hitting Surgical Wards’: UN Passes Resolution to Protect War Zone Hospitals

But will it actually make a difference?

Syrian army soldiers gather in front of the al-Dabit maternity clinic after it was hit by rockets fired by insurgents in government-held parts of Aleppo city, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on May 3, 2016. © SANA 

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution condemning attacks on medical facilities in conflict zones, following a spate of deadly hospital bombings in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan in recent months.

"Such attacks must end," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said prior to the vote. "When so-called surgical strikes end up hitting surgical wards, something is deeply wrong."

The pledge, which has no clearly-defined legal power, but can serve as a recommendation, was co-authored by New Zealand, Spain, Egypt, Japan and Uruguay, the non-permanent members of the UN’s executive body, and upheld by the permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The 14-point resolution, not only demanded a stop to attacks on hospitals, but also said all warring must provide immunity and safe passage to medical personnel in the conflict zone. UN bodies will now compile reports on violations in individual countries, while peacekeepers have been given a mandate to help keep medical areas secure.

The resolution was passed following an impassioned speech from Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) President Dr. Joanne Liu, who said that in Syria alone its affiliated hospitals had been attacked 94 times since the breakout of the conflict in 2011, as part of a deliberate strategy “where healthcare is systematically targeted, and besieged areas are cynically denied medical care.”

“Four of the five permanent members of this council have, to varying degrees, been associated with coalitions responsible for attacks on health structures over the last year,” Liu chided the Council. “These include the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Russia-backed Syrian-led coalition.”

The resolution was being discussed just as news came out of Aleppo that three people had been killed and at least 15 injured by an Islamist rebel attack in the city of Aleppo, the sixth such incident since fighting intensified around what was once Syria’s biggest city two weeks ago.


Burnt vehicles are pictured in front of the damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria April 28, 2016. © Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters

The most deadly of these attacks came last week, when what rebels said was a government strike, killed 55 people in an MSF facility. Damascus has denied responsibility.

Other notable attacks included one on a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz last October, which was ostensibly targeted at Taliban fighters hiding in the facility, but resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people.

MSF has called the incident a “war crime,” and said that there had been no armed combatants at the facility.

These are, indeed, war crimes, and should not be tolerated whatsoever. A condemnation with no teeth is not going to change anything. They need to state quite emphatically that hits on hospitals or clinics will be treated as war crimes and those responsible as criminals to be prosecuted in the Hague.


The damaged hospital in which the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) medical charity operated is seen on October 13, 2015 following an air strike in the northern city of Kunduz. © AFP

The NGO says that Saudi Arabia has destroyed three of its hospitals in Yemen over a period of several months, starting from last October, and that similar tactics were being applied in Sudan, the Central African Republic, and eastern Ukraine.


Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick (C), inspects damage at a hospital in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz January 21, 2016. © Anees Mahyoub / Reuters

France and the UK welcomed the resolution, while admitting that it did not propose anything that wasn’t already covered by other existing international legislation.

Russia also supported its text, but insisted that all reports of hospital strikes “must be verifiable” and cautioned against alleged hospital attacks being used for “media smear campaigns, for the purpose exerting political pressure in the interests of involved parties.”

German Intelligence - Fears, Mistakes, and Surprises

Hans-Georg Maassen

German intelligence chief: around 90 mosques

'under surveillance'

The head of Germany's internal intelligence agency has said that scores of mosques are being closely observed. The agency, the BfV, is holding a symposium analyzing the threat posed to Germany by the "Islamic State."

Currently, around 90 mosque communities in Germany are under surveillance and many of them are "predominately Arabic-speaking," the president of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) said in an interview on Monday.

"We are concerned that there are many Islamic mosques in Germany that we also need to examine," Hans-Georg Maassen told German public broadcaster ARD's "Morgenmagazin."


Belivers attend the Friday prayer at a mosque of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam in Berlin

Maassen said that many of the mosques and communities in question were so-called "backyard mosques" where "self-proclaimed imams, self-proclaimed emirs" rally their followers to deliver "hate-speech" and where they also "incite jihad."

However, the intelligence chief strongly cautioned against "throwing Muslims and religious extremists into the same pot."

"What we need here in Germany is a coalition against extremism," Maassen said. "And for that, we need the Muslims in Germany - the moderates - who want to fight with us against extremism on the basis of our constitutional order."
 

Jaafar's video blog #11: 'We are always treated as suspects'

As for the reasons behind the targeted surveillance measures, Maassen said that they were investigating links to the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS). "Naturally, we are looking into IS," he said.

Maasen said that while his organization was monitoring religious and political extremists, "what we're not monitoring, are the Muslims in Germany."

Maassen's comments prefaced Monday's BfV intelligence symposium in Berlin, which is focusing on the threat IS might pose Germany. Representatives from police and intelligence agencies are involved, also discussing counterterrorism measures.

"Islamic extremism, and jihadism in Germany is not possible without al-Quaeda and IS," said Maassen.

In April, Maassen admitted that authorities underestimated IS strategies to enter the country.

Maassen warns of increased threats

and demands increased powers

In a speech at a symposium on security in Berlin on 2 May, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen warned of "the deteriorating security situation in Germany, "adding that the political climate of the country was" much more difficult "now than before, in terms of the radicalization of the Germans and the activity of Islamist groups operating in Germany.

"For the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it is clear that Daesh wishes to launch attacks against Germany and German interests," noted Hans-Georg Maassen, quoted by Bild , adding that the agency was receiving at least four daily intels on possible jihadist attacks in Germany.

The official stressed that the threat posed by Islamists in Europe should not be underestimated because Daesh "established a command structure and cells in Europe to prepare and conduct terrorist attacks."

Of the 800 German jihadists believed to have joined the ranks of Daesh in Syria, about 260 trained militants have returned to Germany and now pose a huge security challenge, according to the agency's data.

Hans-Georg Maassen recalled that some jihadist fighters have infiltrated Europe among migrants as was the case with Daesh four suspected members arrested in a shelter in the Austrian city of Salzburg in December, or with two attackers Paris attacks, which reached the Old Continent via the Balkan route.

German intelligence head admits 'misjudgment'

on 'Islamic State' strategy

The chief of Germany's internal intelligence agency has said that authorities wrongly evaluated "Islamic State" strategies to enter the country. He has called the national security situation in Germany "very serious."

Security officials initially believed it was unlikely that "Islamic State" terrorists would use the recent influx of refugees to enter the country, Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) head told a Sunday newspaper.

"We thought that the risk was simply too high," Hans-Georg Maassen told the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag." "Although they did not need to mix their people among the refugees, they did it," he added, calling the move "a show of force."

Around 70 percent of refugees entering Germany do not have a valid passport and are registered based on the information they provide.

"I am concerned that we (the BfV) and our partner agencies may, in fact, have information about dangerous individuals saved in our databases. However, we might fail to notice that they are here because they enter with false identities.

When it comes to "IS," there was still much to learn, he said.
 

"IS" isn't just using the refugee crisis to enter the country: radical Islamists in Germany are also actively trying to win over newly arrived refugees. Maassen said the BfV was aware of around 300 attempts from conservative Salafists and other Islamists to recruit refugees.

There are now some 7,900 Salafists living in Germany. The term (based on the Arabic word "salaf," or ancestor, referring to the first three generations of Muslims that began with the prophet Mohammed) is an umbrella term for an "Islamist ideology formed by Wahhabism, which orientates itself by the ideas of the first Muslims and the early Islamic times." The word Wahhabism, in turn, comes from the 18th century Arab scholar Muhammad Ibn Abdalwahhab, whose purist ideas went on to determine the political regime of Saudi Arabia.

In other words - these are fundamentalist Muslims who take the Quran literally. Literally taken, the Quran promotes lying to and murdering any non-believer as an act of great sacrifice and reward. It also promotes whipping, stoning, beheading, the cutting off of hands, pedophilia, and sexual slavery. It abhors free speech and criticism is harshly punished.

"I'm particularly concerned about the many unaccompanied minors - this group is being deliberately targeted," Maassen said in the interview, adding that he saw a "huge radicalization potential" in these attempts to recruit people.

There have also been several cases where Germans returning from Syria were connected to uncovered attack plans. He said that the danger of German jihadists remains "virulent."

When asked how many Islamists in Germany were considered to be highly dangerous, he said there were around 1,100 people who were viewed as possible terrorism risks.

Maassen also warned that the security situation in Germany was "very serious" in light of a propaganda video released by "IS" on Tuesday which named the German capital, Berlin, as a possible target.


However, the intelligence head added: "At the moment we don't have any knowledge of any concrete terrorist attack plans in Germany."

German spy chief Gerhard Schindler sacked

in surprise move

The dismissal of the foreign intelligence boss comes as fears grow about an Isis attack in Germany

Gerhard Schindler is expected to be replaced by Bruno Kahl, an ally of Germany’s finance minister. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Reuters in Berlin

The head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency is being pushed out of his job, government sources have said, in a surprise move that comes at a time when Germany faces a growing threat from Islamic militants.

It was not immediately clear why Gerhard Schindler, who has led Germany’s version of the US Central Intelligence Agency since 2012, was being removed two years before he reaches retirement age.

Schindler, 63, came under pressure a year ago when it emerged that the BND had gone against German interests and spied on European partners at the request of the US National Security Agency.

But he appeared to have weathered that scandal after promising to centralise control over BND field offices, which he admitted had taken on a “life of their own”.

Schindler’s dismissal comes after Islamic State militant attacks in Brussels last month and in Paris last November raised questions about European intelligence cooperation. Germany, which has not suffered a major attack by Islamic militants on its soil, is supplying weapons and logistical support to local forces fighting the militant group in Syria and Iraq and has been declared a primary target.

Swiss Intelligence Monitoring Online Activity of 400 Possible Jihadists

Swiss authorities were monitoring the social media activity of about 400 possible jihadists who might pose a security threat, the NDB federal intelligence service said on Monday.

Switzerland is not a primary target for Islamist attacks because it is not part of the military campaign against groups such as Islamic State, but the security threat level has been elevated nonetheless, the NDB's annual report said.

The report showed a photo of a Swiss passport next to an explosive belt posted online by a suspected Swiss jihadist who had traveled to the Middle East, and an Islamic State video showing the Swiss flag among the 60 countries seen as targets.

"Attacks in Switzerland are more to be expected from lone wolves or small groups that would be conducted with simple means, little preparation and minimal logistical effort," the report said.

Authorities have been closely tracking suspected jihadists who return to Switzerland from countries, Syria in particular, where they are believed to get training in carrying out attacks.

A Swiss court last month sentenced three Iraqis for terrorism offences, a verdict that the senior prosecutor said should send a message to jihadists not to see the country as an easy target.

The three main defendants, who had denied wrongdoing, were arrested in early 2014 on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks and helping Islamic State militants enter the country.

The Swiss attorney general's office has more than 60 open cases linked to jihadist militancy, it said on Monday.

(Reporting by Ruben Sprich and John Miller; Writing by Michael Shields; Editing by Louise Ireland)

At least some of those jihadists appear to have entered Switzerland as migrants, while others might have been smuggled in. 400 jihadists in a small country like Switzerland ought to scare the daylights out of much larger countries with many times the number of migrants immigrating.

The Enchanting Story of a Cursed Village

How does a tiny Spanish village of just 62 souls come to be excommunicated in its entirety and cursed with a spell so strong that only the Pope can lift it?

By Inka Piegsa-Quischotte, BBC Travel

To find out more about this bizarre story of witchcraft, superstition, revenge, envy and power, I headed to the village of Trasmoz, nested in the foothills of the snow-covered Moncayo mountain range in Aragon. Trasmoz has centuries of witchcraft history, and I’d arranged to meet Lola Ruiz Diaz, a local modern-day witch, to learn the truth. As I waited for her in the freezing-cold hall of the half-ruined 12th-century Trasmoz Castle, perched on a hilltop above the village, I shivered in anticipation.


Once home to 10,000 inhabitants, Trazmos now has just 62 (Credit: Credit: Teresa Esteban/Getty)

Ruiz, custodian of the castle, greeted me with a broad smile. She had grey hair, green eyes, chic clothes and a laptop under her arm – a far cry from the crystal balls, black candles and Tarot cards I’d been envisaging. The only things that seemed remotely witch-like about her outfit were her earrings – dangling small gold owls with little feathers attached – and the gold amulets around her neck.

“The whole saga of witchcraft in Trasmoz starts here, at this castle,” she explained. “During the 13th Century, the castle occupants dedicated their time to forging fake coins. And to keep the people of Trasmoz from investigating all that scraping and hammering, they spread a rumour that witches and sorcerers were rattling chains and forging cauldrons to boil magic potions at night. It worked, and Trasmoz was forever associated with witchcraft.”


In the 13th Century, Trasmoz castle was rumoured to be a haven for witchcraft and black magic (Credit: Credit: Juanje 2712/Wikipedia)

Ruiz explained that at this time Trasmoz was a thriving community and powerful fiefdom, full of iron and silver mines and vast wood and water reserves. It was also lay territory, which meant it didn’t belong to the surrounding Catholic dominion of the Church, and by royal decree didn’t have to pay dues or taxes to the nearby monastery of Veruela – a fact that angered the Church. So when rumours of Trasmoz as a haven for witchcraft started to spread beyond the village boundaries, the abbot of Veruela seized his opportunity to punish the population, requesting that the archbishop of Tarazona, the biggest nearby town, excommunicate the entire village. This meant that they weren’t allowed to go to confession or take the holy sacraments at the Catholic church.

The wealthy community of Trasmoz, a mix of Jews, Christians and Arabs, didn’t repent  – which would have been the only way to remove the excommunication. The  disputes with Veruela continued for many years, finally coming to a head when the monastery started diverting water from the village instead of paying for it. In response, Pedro Manuel Ximenez de Urrea, the Lord of Trasmoz, took up arms against the monastery. But before an outright war could erupt, the matter was taken up by King Ferdinand II, who decided that Trasmoz’s actions were justified.


The abbot at Veruela Abbey excommunicated Tresmoz after hearing rumours of witchcraft (Credit: Credit: Emvallmitjana/Wikipedia)

The Church never forgave the defeat, and – with the explicit permission of Pope Julius II – cast a curse over the village in 1511 by chanting psalm 108 of the Book of Psalms – the most powerful tool the Church possesses to pronounce a curse. They alleged that Pedro Manuel and the people of Trasmoz had been blinded by witchcraft, and since the curse was sanctioned by the Pope, only a Pope has the power to lift it. None have done so to this day.

Psalm 108 sounds pretty shaky as a curse. In fact, I can't imagine using any scripture as a curse.

The years that followed were not easy for Trasmoz. The castle burned to the ground in 1520 and remained in ruins for centuries. After the Jews were expelled from Spain in the 15th Century, Trasmoz fell into decline, from about 10,000 inhabitants to a population of just 62, only half of which live here permanently. The village today has no shops, no school and only one bar. Many houses are in disrepair and the streets are mostly empty.

I would expect the decline of Trasmoz has more to do with the expulsion of the Jews than the curse. The presence of Jews often bring God's blessing, and Jews are very clever and industrious. 


The village of Trasmoz is surrounded the snow-capped Moncayo mountains (Credit: Credit: Miguel Ángel García/Flickr)

Back in the castle, Ruiz led me down the steep steps of the tower, which has been restored to house a tiny witchcraft museum and a collection of black magic paraphernalia such as brooms, black crucifixes and cauldrons. Crossing the courtyard, we came to a platform dominated by a wrought-iron sculpture of a woman. “This is La Tia Casca, the last witch to be killed in Trasmoz, in 1860,” Ruiz said. “A deadly epidemic had broken out and neither cure nor explanation was found. So they blamed La Tia Casca, as she was thought to be strange and secretive. They rounded her up and threw her into a deep well, on top of which we are actually standing.”

La Tia Casca may have been the last witch to be killed in Trasmoz, but the tradition of witchcraft seems to be alive and well in the Spanish village. Every June, during the Feria de Brujeria festival, a market sells lotions and potions made from the healing and hallucinogenic herbs and plants that grow in the surrounding Moncayo mountains. Actors re-enact historical scenes, such as the rounding up and torture of presumed witches. And one lucky person gets named as the Witch of the Year. Ruiz, who lives permanently in Trasmoz, is the latest.

“What do you have to do to qualify as Witch of the Year?” I asked.

“Obviously, you have to have a knowledge of herbal medicine,” Ruiz replied, “but, most importantly, you have to be involved in the history and promotion of all things connected with Trasmoz. To be a witch today is a badge of honour.“

“Can you cast a spell?” I finally blurted out .


The half-ruined 12th-century Trasmoz Castle is perched on a hilltop above the village (Credit: Credit: Julio Alvarez German/Getty)

For the first time, Ruiz’s easy smile disappeared. Seconds later, it was back. “Casting a spell? No, but I make a special liquid from sage and rosemary that you splash around you. People tell me it lifts depression, and that their streak of misfortune comes to an end as soon as they started using the liquid. Of course,“ she added, ”you have to believe in it, otherwise it won’t work.”

It was getting late, and the sun had begun to set, casting the ragged ruins and restored tower of Trasmoz into relief as the light disappeared behind the peaks of the Moncayo mountains. With that view – and a tiny bottle of Diaz’s herbal concoction in my hand – it was easy to fall under the village’s magical spell. Perhaps there really was witchcraft here.

I‘d brought with me a few grains of rice and a little sachet of salt – both time-honoured remedies to ward off evil spirits . As I turned my back on the village, I threw them over my shoulder. Just in case.

Number of Hate Crimes Against Jews in Britain has Reached Shocking High

Number of hate crimes against Jews soars as report says anti-semitism is at the 'core' of far-Left beliefs 

By MARTIN BECKFORD, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

The number of hate crimes against Jews in Britain has reached a shocking new high, campaigners warn today.

An alarming new report shows that police forces recorded almost 1,000 anti-Semitic offences in 2015 – a 25 per cent rise on the previous year.

Violent attacks on Jews soared by 50 per cent and yet there was a worrying decline in the number of cases where suspects were charged.


The findings come as the Labour Party is gripped by anti-Semitism allegations, some of which are levied at Ken Livingstone, pictured

Campaigners fear the worrying trend is being driven by Islamists, neo-Nazis and far-Left activists and students, who use social media to share sickening images similar to those seen in Nazi Germany.

As I have been saying: anti-Semitism will increase proportionately with the increase in the Muslim population.

In one shocking case, a mob shouting ‘Kill the Jews’ stormed a synagogue in Stamford Hill, North London, smashing windows and attacking worshippers.

The report says that there has been a ‘growth in anti-Semitism as a core part of far-Left’ ideology. The findings come as the Labour Party is gripped by anti-Semitism allegations: MP Naz Shah and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone have both been suspended in the past week, and an internal investigation has been set up by beleaguered party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Last night, Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which published the report, said: ‘This data should alarm those responsible for enforcing the law. They are failing British Jews badly.

MP Naz Shah, pictured, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone have both been suspended in the past week, and an internal investigation has been set up by beleaguered party leader Jeremy Corbyn

‘If the situation continues to deteriorate, the Jewish community will be faced with the kind of rampant anti-Semitism seen in other European countries, which has left Jews feeling fearful and abandoned, and many of them convinced that they have no choice but to emigrate.’

He added: ‘Britain’s fight against anti-Semitism and extremism cannot be allowed to fail.’

The charity asked every force in Britain how many anti-Semitic incidents and crimes they had recorded in each month of 2014 and 2015, as well as the number that involved violence, and the proportion that led to prosecutions.

Only 13.6 per cent of incidents led to charges in 2015.